Our Girls Part 20

ANOTHER ROSE-BUSH.

We selected another vigorous bush, and simply put a board cover over it, leaving the sides open; and then we removed even this cover one hour in the middle of each day. When this treatment had been continued for eleven days, we took away the cover, and asked a few lady friends to visit the garden with us. On coming to the clump of rose-bushes, they exclaimed:--

"Oh! how beautiful; how very beautiful."

"Young ladies, which of all these rose-bushes do you most admire? I must first tell you that, some days since, I asked the Deacon which he thought the most fresh and beautiful, and he selected this one."

"What, that one?"

"Yes, he thought this one looked the strongest, and had the richest colors."

"Now, is that really so?"

"Yes, I brought him out here on purpose to ask him, and he selected this one at once."

"Well, he must have queer eyes. That's just like these men, they don't seem to know anything; why, that is really the meanest one in the whole lot. It looks as if it had a fit of the dumps."

Then I had to tell them that the Deacon was right, and that, in his selection, he had shown the characteristic discrimination and taste of men! but that, during a number of days, the great solar artist had been partially interrupted in his exquisite touches upon this particular bush,--in fact, I gave them a little lecture, then and there, upon the relations between sunshine and beauty.

EXPERIMENT UPON A ROSE-GIRL.

One of my neighbors, Major P----, has a daughter, whom we will name Rose. The Major not having a rose-bush, tried an experiment on his Rose-girl. This was his method:--

In the first place, he sent her up into New Hampshire in June, and kept her there, living out in the sunshine, till the last of September. Then he brought her in town, and we all had a chance to examine her. She was really in a very strange condition. In the first place, her manner of walking was singular. I cannot describe it better than to say that she seemed to go by jerk. In putting one foot forward to take a step, the foot behind gave a sudden and vigorous push.

My opinion, as a medical man, was not asked; but my diagnosis, before a medical cla.s.s, would have been this:--

"Gentlemen, in the case of Miss Rose P---- there is considerable physical vigor, which seems to show itself by an extraordinary activity and strength of muscle, and an unusual ebullition of animal spirits. And, gentlemen, although these manifestations are extraordinary, and very rare among young ladies, I do not regard the case as immediately alarming. Indeed, gentlemen, it is my opinion that this remarkable malady will disappear without active treatment, if the patient be confined in a strait jacket, and kept quiet in a dark room.

"That peculiar sparkle of the young lady's eyes will, likewise, soon disappear, under this treatment."

Without asking my opinion, or a prescription, the Major did exactly what I have suggested. The daughter was laced in a strait jacket, or a corset, (which squeezes a good deal harder,) and she remained in a dark parlor and curtained bedroom all but about an hour a day; and then, unless it was particularly bright and pleasant, she rode during that one hour in a covered carriage.

In two months the experiment was a complete success. As in the case of the rose-bush, so in the case of the Rose-girl, the absence of sunshine had produced a limp, weak, sick state.

Miss Rose had lost all the elastic bound in her manner of walking, all the hearty ring in her laugh, all the color in her face, all the shine of her eyes, all her power of diffusing joy about her.

There are other experiments of a similar kind in progress, and persons who are interested in this sort of scientific observation, will, by calling at their next door neighbor's, find very interesting opportunities to prosecute such studies.

Shade-trees, piazzas, blinds, curtains, carriage-tops and parasols produce weak eyes, weak nerves, weak digestion, weak spines, weak muscles, weak volition, and, in brief, weak women.

As argued in my recent work, "Talks about People's Stomachs," the function of digestion is powerfully affected by the light.

Place the richest earth and plenty of water about a potato-vine in the cellar; it can't digest its food, and must remain pale and weak.

Go up stairs into the drawing-room, and you will find girls, (excuse me, I mean young ladies,) who look so exactly like the potato-vine in the cellar, that you are not at all surprised to find them under the same roof, for they are clearly members of the same family,-- the anti-solar family.

The next system of treatment for invalids will be the "Sun-Cure."

Inst.i.tutions will be established, to which patients will flock for the cure of chronic maladies. Affections of the stomach and liver, will, by the "Sun-Cure," be relieved almost as if by a miracle. One, two or three hours a day, patients will be exposed nude, to the sun, either in part,--for example, the abdomen or back, or over the entire person, when the fault is one of digestion and a.s.similation. Young ladies in the matrimonial market, who are such ghosts that the men shudder and run away front them, will spend three months in one of these inst.i.tutions, and return as brown and sweet as their admirers could wish. In the coming "sun-cure," diseases which are now regarded as well-nigh incurable, for example, some forms of neuralgia, will be quickly relieved.

Whether the banks pay specie or not, whether trade flourishes or languishes, whatever may be our success or failure in life, let us keep wide open the flood-gates of life; let us be true children of the sun, worshipping, not with prostrate forms, but, standing upright in the image of G.o.d, express our grat.i.tude by baptismal evolutions in the all-glorious light.

A WORD ABOUT BATHS.

My dear girls, I want to speak to you very plainly about baths.

The clearness of the mind, the brightness of the spirits, the beauty of the skin,--in one word, the purity of the whole system, depends upon the free escape of the worn-out matter. You all know about this economy of nature.

Look at this dish of fruit,--grapes, peaches, pears; how beautiful, how fragrant, how delicious. How lusciously they melt in the mouth!

Transfer them to the stomach. If we could watch the interior processes, we should find, in a few hours, these exquisite fruits changed into filthy, poisonous liquids and gases. How shall we get rid of this stuff? The most simple avenue of escape is found in millions of small holes through the skin. Out of these the effete, poisonous matter pa.s.ses away.

OILY SECRETIONS OF THE SKIN.

The skin is constantly secreting oil. It oozes out and lies on the surface.

We live in an atmosphere filled with dust, besides, there is constantly escaping from our clothes, dust and dirt of various kinds. These things, with the oil of the skin, plug up a portion of the pores, so that the effete, dirty matter cannot escape.

Keeping these poisons in the system, not only produces pimples upon the face, and discoloration of the skin, but dullness and heaviness of the whole system. The mind becomes foggy, the spirits low, the muscles stiff and sore, the breath and perspiration offensive, the whole system unclean.

Those portions of our skins that we cover with clothes are somewhat difficult to keep clean. Roll up your sleeve when your arm is perspiring, and rub the skin hard with your naked hand. You will be surprised at the rolls of dirt which the rubbing will bring away.

You may rub some minutes in the same place, before the little rolls will stop coming. This dirt is held by the oil of the skin.

IMPORTANCE OF SOAP.

Nothing cleans the skin like soap. Wetting the skin every morning with simple water, and wiping it off, will not keep it clean. Such simple water baths contribute to cleanliness, and are useful; but the cleanest condition of the surface cannot be secured by such means.

DETAILS OF THE BATH.

Let me tell you just how to manage your daily baths. You must have a bathing mat, which you can procure at any rubber store. It consists of a circular, thin rubber sheet, four or five feet in diameter, with the edge turned up two inches. This, during the day, has been folded up and thrown aside. When you want to bathe, spread it out, and you have a tub four feet in diameter, and just as good as though the sides were two feet high. This is all the bath-tub you need. Perhaps I ought to say, that if it is not convenient to purchase one of these at a rubber store, you can make one with a large piece of oil-cloth, by sewing a rope into its edge. Of course you must have a wash-bowl with two or three quarts of water. Next, a pair of bathing mittens,--simple bags,--loosely fitting your hands. These are made of the ends of a worn-out cra.s.s or Turkish towel, though any thick linen will do.

Now with a piece of good soap,--it matters little what kind,--you are ready.

You have removed your night-dress, you are standing upon the centre of your bathing mat, with your mittens or bags upon your hands.

Seize the soap, make abundant soap-suds, and go over every part of the skin. Rub the soap several times, that every portion of the skin may be thoroughly covered with soap-suds. Now, dipping your hands into the water, rinse off the soap, although if it is winter, and the free use of water chills you, you may apply very little water, and wipe the soap-suds from your skin. Indeed, with many persons, it is an excellent practice to leave a certain portion of the soap on the skin. It will continue the process of neutralizing the oil. I have myself derived advantage and satisfaction, during the cold season, by the free use of soap, with very limited quant.i.ties of water.