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This story was told by lame Lewellyn Sangster to his aunt Margaret,
uncle Fred, cousin Anita and Sam the hired man.
Nan Heberlein and Lula Manting were fast friends. They were fond of
meeting at each others’ homes and pretending to sew; sometimes they did
sew; sometimes they promptly adjourned and went to the movies; sometimes
they called in their lady friends who were of the same order of busy,
and played 500, or bridge, or some other game; but always they talked;
and laughed; and ate. They were not singular people: they fitly
represented the average American lady who does most of her own work,
feeds and dresses her children and sends them to school, and in the
afternoon finds an hour or more to relax.
Nan was tall and slim, Lula was getting plump—at least so her friends
called it; her unfriends said she was pursey. But no one was so
conscious of her too great rotundity as Lula herself. It was constantly
in the back of her mind and frequently in a front pew. She liked to
discuss it with her friends and her husband—complainingly, anxiously,
plaintively, contemplatively, suggestively and in various other ways.
Jake listened and grunted; sometimes he forgot to listen and grunt while
his mind was dwelling on the quantity of sugar, or molasses, or
something else needed in the store. She occasionally noted this lack of
attention on Jake’s part but did not really resent it, for, she thought;
if he doesn’t pay much attention to it he probably still likes me all
right. But if he should notice much, or if it should increase, I must
certainly do something. But this something, what should it be? What
method must be adopted? She consulted the doctor on his next visit. That
much harassed and suffering servant of humanity suggested more exercise
and careful avoidance of fat and sugar in the diet. He also suggested
that it would be well to eat very sparingly and always leave the table
hungry. This gave her something to do, and she straightway began a
course of sprouts with herself. It was a sore trial to eat too little,
but she did it. Was it not worth something to retain Jake’s admiration
and desolation to lose it?
This whole matter was duly discussed and thoroughly considered,
forwards, backwards and sideways, when she and Nan next met. After which
Nan trotted out _her_ trouble. It was necessary, she said, that she
should gain weight. Tom had commented on her slimness, compared her to a
rail and several other articles more noted for length than breadth. Nan
only weighed 115. She should weigh at least 140. How could she increase
her weight? Lula had been reading up about such matters in a book
recommended by Dr. Dash, and she would see what he said and report.
This was done and Nan was recommended to eat plenty of raw eggs every
day. A dozen a day would not be too many. If she could not afford so
many eat as many as she thought she could afford; and drink lots of
milk. If this would not make her fat nothing would. It was necessary,
too, to take lots of exercise. The doctors say that exercise is
necessary to health, and whether you are to get thin or fat exercise is
of first importance.
After two weeks of self denial and exercise to excess, as she thought,
Lula, who had weighed 160, found her net reduced to 155. This seemed to
her hard lines. The game was not worth the candle. But she persevered
and at the end of two weeks more had fallen to 150. This was
encouraging, but she began to fear she would not be able to hold out
forever. She was so desperately hungry! Her dreams began to be haunted
by luscious feasts. She woke up in the night, ravenous. She told Jake
that if she were not desperately fond of him she would bite him. At
this, Jake only grunted. The worst deprivation was candy. She was
extravagantly fond of it, but the doctor sternly forbade it. Candy, fat
and sugar, as well as starchy foods were to be eschewed; even potatoes
were forbidden.
Nan, on the contrary, had eaten raw eggs and milk until she gagged every
time she undertook to eat a raw egg in milk. Lula suggested using a
little brandy to give a flavor, but this soon palled. She did manage to
reach 118 but halted there. Lula halted, too, on the downward path, at
150. No amount of fasting or exercise seemed to avail. About this time
she discovered that her skin was getting wrinkled and that, worst of
all, wrinkles were forming on her face. After much consultation it was
decided that a visit to a beauty doctor might possibly remedy this.
Instead of one visit several were required. All this time her appetite
was growing mightier and mightier. Finally she fell. They had been
shopping together. She had seen candy displayed until she was reckless.
In this mood, after leaving Nan, she hurried into a candy shop with the
air of a criminal, bought and ate half a pound. Nothing serious happened
immediately, so in a few days she bought and ate again—clandestinely.
Made reckless by lack of immediate results she resumed her old habits
and presently found her weight increasing rapidly—more rapidly than it
had gone down.
Nan had become discouraged. She felt well—better than she had felt for a
long time. She had, in fact, before this been eating too little. Too
many meals had been passed with nothing eaten but tea and toast—now she
was really nourished for the first time in years.
About this time she heard some one remark that yeast was a very
fattening food, and that she herself had put on twenty pounds by eating
a cake daily for three months. So Nan bought a cake and ate it with many
qualms. It was certainly not very agreeable to the taste. She
persevered, however, and after two weeks discovered that she was indeed
gaining. In fact she began to get fat. Slowly but steadily she put on
weight until she became alarmed. She was obliged to buy an entire new
outfit and although she stopped the yeast cakes she still swelled. Now
in despair she began, like Lula, to diet.
But imagine if you can all the discussions, the visits to and fro, the
consultations without end to which these fluctuations led. In mercy I
have not recounted them—but they took place.
Lula did her own washing, rolled on the floor every morning, practised
calisthenics. Wonderful to relate, she began to lose flesh steadily; her
skin wrinkled and her color faded. She became alarmed and consulted the
doctor who failed to find anything wrong. Now Lula is desperately trying
to lay on flesh while Nan is just as determinedly reducing.
* * * * *
“I never realized before,” said Lewellyn, “what an awful thing it must
be to be a woman.”
“It is indeed piteous,” said Sam. “The poor things have to wear skirts;
they are not allowed to put their feet on the table or spit tobacco
juice on the stove. But then they are freely allowed to do the washing
and such light work as taking care of ten or twelve children.”
“You must remember the disabilities she suffers,” said Fred. “She is not
allowed to go to war, nor is she expected to haul out manure in the hot
weather. When the time comes for putting in wheat I know of nothing more
enjoyable than hauling out manure and spreading it on the field. The
smell is appetizing, and like most perfume, it clings. The flies are
active and make the horses playful. I seldom enjoy life so much as then;
and it worries me that the dear ladies are not privileged to
participate.”
“Sam is right,” said Anita, “The women are privileged to bring up the
children. They bear the brunt of their childish impatience, recklessness
and disobedience. They stay up with them nights when they are sick and
they are expected to be patient and long suffering with husbands and
children when they can scarcely drag one foot after the other. I _have_
known of cases,” she continued, “where the women hauled coal out of the
cellars habitually, and cases are known where women plow, haul manure,
clean out dirty stables and help in the field. I don’t really think the
women need complain that their work is lacking either in quality,
quantity or variety.”
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