Teaching the Child Patriotism

by Kate Upson Clark

Is it reasonable that the Creator should have made woman to be a natural invalid,—to have powers and faculties which she could never fully employ and enjoy? Of what use are our hard-won educational advantages, if they are going simply to a band of sickly, half-dead girls and women? It is a monstrous and blasphemous thought that our Maker designed women for such a destiny.

Huxley says that nine-tenths of the impediments to women's health are not inherent, but are due to her mode of life.

She was made to be strong and helpful. Her body is wonderfully wrought and fashioned for motherhood, and for the accomplishment of the high spiritual mission to which the woman-soul aspires. One is driven to the conclusion that at the root of her physical enfeeblement is the costume which has been imposed upon her by the false ideals and hyper-refined standards of past centuries, and of nations which have admired most the class of women who do not prepare themselves for motherhood.

The costume which women wear is intended chiefly to give an impression of slenderness. It is not suited to the hard work of the busy housewife, nor to that of the cramped and confined office- or shop-worker, nor to the life of the schoolgirl. A hard-working man, dressed in the modern corset and in the usually closely-belted blouse of the girl and woman of to-day, would fail physically and resort to the operating-table as universally as do his wife and sisters. That so many of them survive the ordeal and are able to perform some useful work in the world is, says one prominent physician, "one of the wonders of our time." "Pauline Furlong," in a recent issue of a widely circulated journal, begs that the corset and the closely fitting costume of the present be discarded, and replaced by something light, loose and hung entirely from the shoulders.

The recent remarks of Mr. Edison upon this subject are sound. He says, "There should be no pressure upon any part of the body, if the organs within, which require perfect freedom in order to do their work efficiently, are to perform their functions."

We shall never have a strong and healthy nation, though we may make volumes of sanitary laws, until there is a radical change in the dress of women. That, just as a girl is approaching the age when she is likely to marry and bear children, the organs of motherhood should be subjected to strong pressure and largely deprived of activity, so that the delicate milk-ducts are often atrophied, and the muscles most needed to support the child are weakened; while the chief organ of all is frequently displaced, leading to painful and sometimes fatal complications;—all this is so discreditable to the intelligence of our people, that future ages will doubtless look back upon our period as one of densest ignorance regarding eugenics.

You may ask, "What do you advise to take the place of the present mode of dress?"

Only the experts in such matters can answer this question. It seems likely that some combination of the best points of the oriental costumes offers the best solution. The new dress should be perfectly loose; light in weight; should depend entirely from the shoulders, like a man's, thus bringing no pressure to bear upon the important but loosely hung organs of the abdomen; and the legs should be allowed the utmost freedom.

Women who have long depended upon a corset for support will doubtless find it uncomfortable, or even dangerous, to lay upon their enfeebled muscles alone the task of upholding their bodies. Girls who do not wear corsets will not "look well" (according to our modern distorted ideas) in any but the prevailing costume. The dancers say that if a truly hygienic mode of dress is introduced, the modern dance will have to be reformed,—which may not be the least of the benefits of such a mode!

These are some of the objections raised to radical changes in women's attire. But the health of our girls, and especially of our mothers, is a vital matter, and must be made paramount. There will always be causes enough for illness; but it must be emphasized that we shall never have a strong and healthy nation, in which but a small percentage, instead of the enormous one of the present draft, is rejected for physical defects, until the motherhood of the nation is properly equipped for motherhood. Neither will our girls be ready to fulfill nobly their new political duties.