Part 7

Then Mrs. Judge Reeve, and my mother and aunts, would meet and read works of history, or travels, or some classic English literature. Miss Mary Pierce was an accomplished elocutionist, and when Judge Gould suffered from weak eyes, would go day after day to read works of literature and discuss the topics introduced. Miss Sarah Pierce was head of the largest and most celebrated female school of the nation, and was overflowing with acquired knowledge, as well as poetic treasures.

Now not one of these ladies had studied a line of Latin or Greek, or of mathematics or other college studies which women are now seeking so earnestly at the sacrifice of health and all domestic culture. And yet when they met these gentlemen of the highest talents and education, they were regarded as fully their equals in mental power and intellectual debate. Indeed, some of my brothers educated in this circle, honestly maintained that women were endowed by nature with intellectual powers superior to men; and one brother argued in defence of this position in a public college exercise. Moreover, six brothers had a college education, while none of my sisters studied any part of the college course; and yet there has been no marked inequality of mental power and culture in this diverse training.

In that day, novels, by most women, were either deemed an unlawful indulgence, or were taken as condiments only, while the substantials of literature and science were their chief intellectual pabulum. And having but few books and those the choice works of the best English classics, they were perused and reperused with such interest as rarely is given in colleges to the literature of Greece and Rome. And it was a frequent fact, that women were far better read in English classic literature than were their brothers and friends in colleges.

Now at the present day, when mothers and housekeepers meet gentlemen in social gatherings, is there anything in their conversation and pursuits to show the superior advantages of the female High Schools and Colleges, which have nearly supplanted the intellectual domestic training of a former generation? Have not novels, magazine stories, newspaper literature, and the fashions and accomplishments of the age taken the place of the more vigorous mental culture so common at a former period?

A variety of intellectual training which is pursued in connection with such interesting practical results as woman's employments involve, tends to produce a vigorous and well balanced mind, far more than devotion to one or two professional pursuits such as the business of most men requires. And even in science and literature, we not unfrequently find some of the most learned men entirely deficient in intellectual balance and executive power; while their less learned mothers or wives are respected as wise and practical counselors.

The diminution of domestic exercise in the family state by mothers and daughters has equally tended to the loss of physical development and vigor in the present generation of women. The Creator has wisely adapted the physical organization of woman to her appropriate duties, so that the alternating sedentary and active exercises of the nursery and household are exactly those best fitted to sustain and invigorate the organs which now are so extensively displaced or diseased. And the artificial modes of exercise to remedy these evils, now so successful in the Movement Cure, are to a large extent in imitation of these domestic muscular movements demanded in the nursery and in other household labors. The tending of infants, the bending, twisting, and stooping constantly practiced in these domestic labors are exactly what are demanded to preserve in health and activity the muscles most important to womanly development and vigor; while the interchanging employment of the needle and other sedentary domestic pursuits, when in proper proportion, equally tend to healthful results. Very different are the influences on woman's health as she stands six and eight hours behind the counter or in shops and mills in one continuous and unvaried toil, or sits day after day over the needle without intervening healthful exercises. Not less are the evils to the daughters of wealth and ease, whose brain and nerves are never relieved and strengthened by the exercises of domestic life. Still more lamentable is the common practice of those who, when sending daughters to the public schools, free them from domestic labor, that they may give their whole time to study and school duties. If instead of this, these pupils were required to engage in domestic labor two hours each day and this amount of time was deducted from school duties, not only health but higher intellectual development would be secured.

If a time should come when the aims of the Woman Suffrage party are attained, and women are trained for the pulpit, the bar, the political arena, and other professions drawing woman from domestic life, still more disastrous influences will show the great mistake of taking woman from her true sphere and giving her the work designed for man. If, on the contrary, women are trained to both the science and the practice of their true profession in all its varied departments, and with the honor and emolument that now are given exclusively to the professions of men, every woman will be in demand for the services of the family and the school, and will regard the employments of men as less important and less inviting than her own sacred ministries.

It is often said that it is mothers who must give the domestic training to daughters, and that school duties should be confined to literature and science. This might have been true in former days, when daughters and mothers performed most of the family labor, and when the style of living was simple and economical. But with the present style of houses and expenditures, demanding two, three or more servants, it is utterly impossible for a mother and housekeeper to add to her multiplied cares the scientific domestic training of her daughters; nor can anything of this kind be successfully connected with large boarding schools. The demand for _scientific_ domestic training is greatly increased by improved modern conveniences.

The one item of selecting and superintending the management of stoves and furnaces, demands much scientific study and practical instruction, and there is no one point where family health and economy suffer more than for want of them. The inhaling of poisonous gases, the sudden changes of temperature, and the want of proper ventilation probably are doing more to destroy the constitution and health of families than any other cause, and owing greatly to the want of needed science and skill in housekeepers.

In various other departments, the increase of civilization and its elegancies and conveniences have greatly increased the need of scientific training for mothers and housekeepers, who, never having been thus instructed themselves, are not qualified to train their daughters.

As to the virtue of economy, in our nation among the more wealthy classes, it seems to have become one of "the lost arts." The art and skill of domestic economy can no more be acquired without instruction and training, than any of the mechanical trades. As eldest daughter of a poor minister, and the pupil of a most ingenious mother and a vigorously economical aunt, I know that by proper training, a young lady can dress with taste and propriety at one half the expense required by one untrained; and that a housekeeper without such a preparation needs double the means of one who is properly instructed. Not that there are not women as well as men, who have natural gifts that enable them to excel in handicraft and skill without any training, so as to equal those properly instructed. But these are exceptional cases.

To illustrate the fact that the more civilization increases the enjoyments and refinements of the family state, the more it multiplies the responsibilities and cares of a mother and housekeeper, I will reproduce a specimen of such conversations as I have repeatedly had with familiar friends. The lady introduced, is a mother of five young children all attending some primary, or some higher schools, and in reply to her remark that she had no time for solid or systematic reading, I enquired,

"How many servants have you?"

"Three; a cook, a chambermaid, and a boy for errands and care of yard and garden."

"Now suppose," said I, "that you give me an outline of your ordinary daily routine, that I may appreciate your difficulties; for I think few understand how much is demanded of mother and housekeeper in these days. At what hour do you rise?"

"Usually about seven; and then beside dressing myself, I must see that the little ones are washed and dressed properly, as all the servants are busy. Their hair must be combed and braided, their teeth and nails in order, and their clothing be all whole and clean for school, which often demands an extra stitch, or some change that I must regulate. This takes till near breakfast hour, when I go down to see that all is right on the table and in the kitchen. When I have a good cook, and second girl, I have not much to do; but the frequent changes oblige me often to be training, or overseeing one or the other. Then at table, I serve the tea and coffee, and also take care of the two youngest, to supply proper food, and see that they behave properly."

"Cannot your husband take some of this care."

"Oh, no; he is so hurried in business and so anxious to get off as soon as possible.

"Then we have prayers, and I must collect all the family, and see that all the children behave properly. Then I make a memorandum of errands or purchases for my husband to execute. Then I must see that all the children are prepared for school, their books all collected, their hair dressed, and shoes in order, and all their little wants supplied.

"Then I go to the kitchen and make arrangements with the cook for the day, giving written orders for the grocer and butcher. Then I arrange the work for the second girl for the day. I go over all the rooms and chambers myself, and always find in my drawers and closets something that needs care or labor, that I must do myself, or arrange for others to do. Oh, the making, the mending, the altering, the washing, and the care of clothing for young children which our present fashions require! And yet I always hang back and do as little as possible without being odd, or making the children fear lest all their companions should outdo them.

"By noon I am so tired and nervous I can not do anything more than sit down quietly and look over the morning paper. Then comes the noon lunch, when I again have all the table serving and care of children. After lunch, I send out the children to play, and then comes the family sewing and mending, the shopping—to buy dresses, bonnets, shoes, gloves, trimmings, and all the numerous et ceteras of the wardrobe for husband, children, and self. The mantua-maker must come some days, and then what worry and work! Then the sempstress comes other times; then company calls that I must entertain; and then comes the children's music practice, and their hard lessons in arithmetic or geometry, where I must help or oversee.

"Then comes the dinner at 5 or 6, when company often is added, and I must see that all is in order, and the children well behaved, and the table served aright. For an hour or two after dinner comes a little time to talk with my husband and children; but again I am called on to help in the lessons of the older children, or to aid them when sewing or drawing. Then I must go to prepare the little ones for bed, as both servants are busy after dinner.

"All this is what I do when I have no visitors, and when there is no baby. But when there is a nurse and a baby, and visitors staying in the family to entertain, I am sure I do not know how I get through all. I only know that most of my married life I have suffered constant weariness, and a pain in head or back, and that all put together make life such a burden that often I should willingly lay it down were it not for my dear husband and children.

"And all these beautiful things around me, and my lovely home, seem to double my cares because I have so much to keep in order. For all these rich and delicate things are soon ruined if left in the hands of servants, and the more we get, the more we have to watch and work to save from injury or waste."

"If we lived in such a convenient little cottage as you have put in your American Woman's Home, and had a highly educated governess, and then all of us united to do the family work, except washing and ironing, how much easier and happier life would be!"[140:A]

[140:A] This book is enlarged and has questions for a text book for schools. Its title is "_Principles of Domestic Science_," and it is published by J. B. Ford, Park Place, New York. The second part entitled _The House Keeper & Health Keeper_ is in press and will be published in the fall by the Harpers.

But at present my thoughts and efforts are most engaged to accomplish that department of a Women's University which relates to the preservation and restoration of health. When often asked what is the reason that our women are so delicate and unhealthy, and that our young girls so often suffer what in former days was rare and then only in connexion with maternity, my reply often is, that it is because parents and teachers are doing every thing they can do to produce such mischiefs.

Sleeping in unventilated chambers; living in schoolrooms and parlors heated to excess and charged with poisonous gases; exposed to sudden variations of temperature from mismanagement; eating unhealthful food at irregular hours and to a dangerous excess; supplied with unhealthful confectionery to eat at any hour; indulged in exciting amusements with late hours for sleep; the brain stimulated by a multitude of school duties and studies unrelieved by muscular exercises; the dress contrived to impede vital functions, compressing the most yielding parts so as to force the upper organs on to the lower, generating the most cruel displacements and mental and bodily diseases; over-heating the parts most injured by such treatment, and exposing the parts most important to keep warm; compressing feet and ankles so as to impede circulation, with high heels throwing all the muscles out of natural play so as to increase all the dangerous tendencies to internal displacement; these are only one portion of the many contrivances adopted or allowed by parents and teachers to destroy the health of women and young girls.

The public press is now circulating such charges against the most cultivated Protestant women of our country as, if true, will verify the assertion that in one important respect, "Protestantism is a failure." For maternity in its normal aspect, involves what scripture represents as the extremity of physical suffering. If to this is added the protracted tortures of mind and body consequent on such outrages on nature as are narrated above, it is not the graduates of boarding schools, and High Schools and Colleges who are to be the mothers and educators of this nation, but those rather who are protected from these sins and sufferings by humble means, daily toil, and a vigilant and politic priesthood.

All through my early days, no such charges against womanhood were even imagined, for I saw a cheerful, healthful mother each second or third year of her whole married life with another healthful infant, and all received by my father as a precious "heritage from the Lord" and through his long life his "chief joy and crown of rejoicing." And this, which is now so rare an example, was a common experience, in that more simple and healthful generation.

My opportunities for noticing the decline of health in women of this generation, and forming opinions on medical subjects, have been extensive, as for over forty years I have been taxing the science and sagacity of medical men in all parts of the nation, residing in many health establishments, reading medical works, and consulting all classes of medical practitioners. In this course I have secured perfect health and also learned many lessons that I hope will enable me to aid others in gaining the same blessing.

And the most important of these lessons is, that most diseases are consequences of violating the laws of health, (which are as really the laws of God as any in the Bible), and that the surest and safest remedies are found in conforming to these laws. This will be illustrated by a short account of my experiences while so long a wandering invalid.

During this period, as results have proved, I had no organic or functional disease, except extreme prostration of the overworked brain and nerves, increased by a punctured nerve, adding to the debility of the connected sciatic nerve. Thus came inability to walk without supporters, and little ability for any kind of either mental or physical exercise.

The treatment to be narrated was in all cases but one, by regularly educated physicians, most of whom were regarded as among the highest in talents and skill, often the professors of medical colleges. The first physician prescribed a heaping teaspoonful of carbonate of iron three times a day, which was taken with no benefit. Next, a learned professor, for a slight fever bled twice, and, to allay consequent nervous excitement, gave camphor till temporary deafness ensued. Next, another medical professor conjectured that the lameness resulted from the state of the stomach, and gave small doses of rheubarb three times a day with no advantage. Then another considered the spine as the diseased point, and applied irritating ointments. Another prescribed galvanism, but could give no rule as to time or manner, or expected effects, but hoped that somehow it might do some good. Several prescribed local applications to the limb, which in all cases increased the difficulty.

These all failing, I commenced my rounds to health establishments. The first was conducted by a sagacious and learned German physician, who conjectured that the cause of the lameness was the state of the blood, and used cold water to produce a skin eruption which came without any good result. But during a year's residence there, I saw most remarkable cures of many diseases, by treating the skin with alternations of heat and cold connected with simple food, and outdoor exercise. In repeated cases I saw thin, pale victims of tubercular consumption, some apparently in the last stages, changed to rosy, plump and vigorous women by this treatment. Here I also gained in vigor of mind and body, though under the most heroic water treatment, but the weak limb was unrelieved.

Then I resorted to an establishment where the treatment was confined to simple food, only one or two articles being allowed at one meal. To this was added short gymnastic exercises, alternating with short periods of rest. Here I found that by reducing the quantity of food, and taking only one or two articles at a meal I gained both in flesh and strength, but the weak limb prevented the required exercises and was unrelieved.

Then resort was had to an establishment where many women were cured of internal displacements and consequent evils, but a lady physician by proper investigation, decided that my lameness resulted from no such cause. There the physician instructed me in a course of exercises by which a forward curvature of the spine, caused by debility and use of supporters, was remedied, and the figure restored to the natural position, while at the same time the chest, and thus the breathing capacity, were enlarged so as to demand three inches added to waists and belts. Other cases I often have met of similar restoration of the figure, and enlargement of the chest, and compressed lungs, in several health establishments.

In addition to all these, I have tried Sulphur and Vapor baths, Russian baths, Chemical baths, Turkish hot air bath, and the Sun bath, and have seen patients benefited in all. Owing chiefly to my own knowledge and caution I was not injured myself by any, though I saw others, who, from ignorance, imprudence, or want of skill and care in the physician were seriously injured in every one.

I have also met persons who were benefited by the Grape Cure, and the Lifting Cure. Several friends have been treated by an ignorant tailor who taught his patients that the centre of the nervous system was the navel, and that he cured by operations that disentangled the nerves that were gathered in bunches and knots. His method was to spend an hour daily with each patient in a continuous pressure and pinching of all parts of the body, which resulted in some remarkable cures in spite of his ridiculous theories.

My final and only successful experiment was at the Swedish Movement Cure, under the care of Dr. Geo. H. Taylor. This method so far as I have observed, is the most reliable and efficacious remedy for debilitated nerves, and for the internal displacements and diseases consequent on the courses by which so many women weaken the constitution or ruin the health. By this method the weak limb was first relieved, and after this, by a strict obedience to all the laws of health, for several years I have enjoyed perfect health. I have also been every year gaining in strength and in the increased power of faculties usually diminished by age. And should burnings, and crushings of railroads, and other casualties be escaped, I have a fair chance for at least another twenty years of health, and active usefulness.

But this result has been gained not by any one method of medical treatment, but rather by faithful obedience to the laws of health, while it is preserved and continued only by the same. For whenever I failed in any one respect, my enfeebled nervous system, especially the weaker member, reported the wrong with marvelous precision.

What has been gained is continued only by a faithful and diligent course, securing pure air by night and day; regular and abundant sleep in the hours of darkness, and no mental or physical labor except by day; a daily towel bath in cool water in the sun or by a fire, except in hot weather; living in light and well ventilated rooms, and often sitting in the sun; abstinence from stimulating drinks of all kinds; a simple diet of properly cooked food in a moderate quantity, and only at regular hours; daily outdoor exercise by walking, riding, and use of the muscles of the arms and trunk; clothing that never compresses any part and always protects from chills; abstinence from over excitement of all kinds; the cultivation of a cheerful and quiet spirit; healthful amusements; benevolent activity never to exceed the strength; and all this prayerfully pursued as a religious duty owed to God, to my fellow men, and to myself.

Another lesson illustrated by my experience, is the advance of medical science in detecting the _causes_ of diseases so as to apply remedies intelligently. My case was simply prostration of the nervous system by mental care and labor, increased by a punctured nerve. And yet my medical advisers, most of them distinguished in their profession, treated me, one, for diseased stomach, another for diseased spine, another for diseased blood, and most of them applied stimulants to the weak part, always thus increasing the weakness. That was nearly forty years ago. Since then nervous diseases are better understood, while animal chemistry, the microscope, and the thermometer have furnished new means for intelligent search for _causes_ of disease.