PART II
For over a hundred years woman had been gradually developing in strength and stature, and had by this time attained as great a height as man formerly possessed. ‘Woman’s weakness’ was an unknown term, except from ancient literature, for owing to the various athletic exercises which for generations had been the universal custom for girls and women to engage in, and also to the increased physical strength attained by abstemiousness from much child-bearing, they had almost overtaken the males in vigour, and endurance. Courage being the accompaniment of bodily strength the myth of a woman running away from a mouse was regarded as a silly invention of their ancestors for the purpose of pleasantry, or a playful manner of showing up the difference of the organisation of the sexes. But there were cynics to be found who averred that the comic papers of the nineteenth century in their skits on society gave as true a reflection of its condition, from one point of view, as the most veracious and trustworthy historian could have afforded.
It appeared, indeed, utterly absurd to the twentieth-century mind, when they turned over the leaves of some ancient copy of Punch to see the joke portraying the bald-headed pater looking aghast when the monthly nurse presents him with the twelfth consignment, which are twins!
‘Why the man ought to be dandling his grand-children at his time of life, he is actually bald, and babies coming still!’ the reader of those ancient cynicisms would exclaim.
They could not understand the imprudence of parents bringing children into the world for almost the whole of their natural lives. Leaving themselves without leisure or ease to enjoy the fruits of their industry in middle age, while yet youthful enough to appreciate the pleasures of life.
The nursery story—most artistically illustrated, of course,—descriptive of the condition of their ancestors formed a curious revelation to twentieth-century children.
‘This is the man who toiled all day to fill the mouths of seven hungry children that didn’t get enough.
‘This is the woman all worn with care, who was wife to the man that toiled all day, to fill the mouths of seven hungry children that didn’t get enough.
‘This is the strap the woman used, all worn with care, who was wife to the man that toiled all day to fill the mouths of seven hungry children that didn’t get enough.
‘This is the pup that eat up the strap the woman used, all worn with care, who was wife to the man that toiled all day to fill the mouths of seven hungry children that didn’t get enough.
‘This is the cat that clawed the pup, that eat up the strap, the woman used, all worn with care, who was wife to the man that toiled all day to fill the mouths of seven hungry children that didn’t get enough.
‘This is the tank that drowned the cat, that clawed the pup, that eat up the strap the woman used, all worn with care, who was wife to the man that toiled all day to fill the mouths of seven hungry children that didn’t get enough.’
This melancholy record of the fortunes of the nineteenth-century representative peasant, was doubtless a variation of the legend of the old woman that lived in a shoe. Nevertheless it amused the little tots of twenty-first century time. For the extraordinary picture of seven little children inhabiting one poor little cottage appeared utterly absurd to their advanced minds, which could scarcely comprehend the folly of a poor man possessing more mouths to fill than was possible. ‘What did he want with all those?’ they innocently inquired.
But their nurse could only reply—‘She didn’t quite know: it was a way they had in nineteenth-century times.’
The laws of health were so strictly taught in all schools that no individual could possibly grow up ignorant on those points; and every man, mostly, knew how to take charge of his own body.
Nevertheless professors of medicine still flourished on the face of the earth; but the masculine sex had for generations past lost the monopoly of the profession.
As a rule, however, the lady doctor was in no greater demand than her male rival, men still holding their own to some extent; for the world will ever see those women who prefer men to dance attendance on them.
The profession was, indeed, pretty equally divided between the sexes; most mothers preferring females to prescribe for their children in times of dangerous sickness, believing that they were more successful in their treatment of the troubles of childhood. Besides, it followed as a natural consequence that as the lady accoucheur brought the child into the world, which was the invariable custom, it was only fair that she should have the medical care of the little one afterwards.
The serious infant mortality which prevailed among the lower orders up to the close of the nineteenth century, was now so reduced, that parents, as a rule, succeeded in rearing their families intact.
Greater enlightenment in the methods of their upbringing, together with superior sanitary arrangements of the domicile, no doubt tended largely towards effecting this change.
Small families being the rule, instead of the exception, it must be admitted that with a lesser number to provide for, greater care and comfort could be bestowed upon their offspring; so that the reduction of the birthrate had the effect of reducing the death-rate; this fact combined with increased longevity of the adult, quite doubled the average of human life.
The difference in dress between men and women was not great; the sexes were mostly distinguishable by the method of dressing their hair.
Men had ceased cutting their hair closely, for it was found that this practice materially injured its growth, and finally ended in making all the males bald before they were twenty years of age.
Specialists averred that the cause of the trouble arose from two sources. By constantly cropping the hair an unnatural stimulus was imparted to its growth, which quickly impoverished the hair follicles, and so brought about their early decay. Also, the scalp being unduly deprived of its natural covering of long hair was left an easy prey to every germ, or fungus that chose to make its home there. For these reasons men decided to wear their hair long, and usually kept it from six to twelve inches in length, in curls about their neck, which had the effect of giving them a very romantic appearance.
Women allowed their hair its full natural length, arranging it in coils and plaits, pretty much in the manner of the ancients.
At this time there were persons with fads who affected high art in gastronomical matters; preferring to patronise the food-chemist rather than the butcher and baker. Chemical foodstuffs for the supply of the waste of the various tissues of the body were arranged in pills and tabloids, the quantity allowed for a meal being printed on the label.
This practice however, failed to meet with anything approaching popular favour, for mankind still loved too well the pleasures of the table to give up a good dinner for a pill. For who would prefer a nitrogenous tabloid to the delicacies of the banquet, which form the necessary concomitants of the soul-inspiring nectars usually quaffed by the appreciative Teuton on every available occasion?
Indeed, to him the loss of the sensations of that comfort and satisfaction which follow a good meal was tantamount to bidding adieu to the most substantial pleasure of life.
Besides, their internal arrangements had something to say in the matter; and their utter collapse for want of some substance to keep them in position proved a warning to the daring experimenter.
Notwithstanding all the arguments of advanced scientists, the food-chemists failed in disestablishing the old-fashioned system of eating and drinking.
Moreover there were physiologists who declared that it was an impossibility as man is constituted, to sustain life by means of elemental substances being introduced into the system unless a complete reconstruction of the organisation could be effected.
For the various organs that acted together, forming a laboratory for the change of foodstuffs into vital force, having no occupation must necessarily languish, and get out of gear through sheer inanition.
Thus the revolution in animal economy was perforce left over for the people of a more advanced period to deal with.