University for Women as the one here indicated, commencing with seeking
endowments for the Health and Domestic departments in connection with
some flourishing literary institution, for the purpose of restoring
women teachers to health, and also for training pupils to become
health-keepers in families, schools, and communities.
The importance of this last measure will appear in the following
extract from a public address of a regularly educated American
physician:
It is much to be deplored that we have no chair devoted to
_Hygiene_ in any of our medical colleges. During four courses
of Lectures, that I attended, one of them in Paris, I never
heard a single lecture upon the Laws of Health; and when on one
occasion I asked one of our Professors if he would not devote
one or more of his course to this subject, he replied, that he
ought to, but feared he would not find time; and then jokingly
remarked, that we would find it more to our interests to learn
how to cure people than to keep them well; that we would get
gratitude and money for healing the sick, but neither the one
nor the other for preserving the health of the people, however
well we might do it.
I have since found that there was more truth in the remark then
I was then willing to admit. Still, I cannot help thinking
that we should have such Lectures in every medical school,
if for no other purpose but to enable its graduates to heal
the sick—confident that more can be gained in this way by
a thorough knowledge of Hygiene, than by any other means
whatever. No drug or medicine is as powerful for good in
disease as a wise advantage of Nature's laws.
We spent in one Session over three weeks in the study of
Mercury, its different preparations, effects, etc.; not
one hour in learning the value of Light, Air, Sleep, Food,
and Clothing. The result was we know much about Calomel,
and literally nothing about the Laws of Health; so we sat,
something over four hundred students, for five or six hours
daily, in a room—an amphitheatre—the seats extending from
the floor to the ceiling—so small, that another hundred
could not possibly be packed into it—and not a window opened
all winter—no ventilation whatever—a regular "black hole of
Calcutta"—the air heavy, foul, offensive with bad breaths—the
odors of tobacco, liquor, onions—poisonous in the extreme—not a
fresh cheek among the four hundred. Many of the students drank;
most of them used tobacco, coffee, sausages, pork, in short
lived like barbarians. A large proportion of them were ill
all the time, and some died before the session closed, others
soon after, and many since. The professors themselves were
often ailing—not very healthy men. If any of my readers will
step into any of the medical lectures in any of the colleges
of this city, some winter afternoon, he will be able to verify
the truth of this description. Their presiding genius seems to
have no respect for fresh air, sunlight—in short for the laws
of health. How then shall these schools inspire respect for
these laws in others? How can they teach them when they know so
little of them?
Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, in a recent public address also has
lamented the fact that a Woman's Medical College should be the first
one sustaining a Chair for instructing in Hygiene, as if it were a
conceded fact that it is not the business of physicians to _prevent_
disease in a community, but only to cure their patients with medicines.
Is it not a proper time and measure for the women of our country to
ask for benefactions, both private and legislative, to secure equal
advantage for their professional duty as _health-keepers_, such as have
so long and so liberally been bestowed on men to train them for their
professions?
Believing that such a measure would meet wide approval, the following
form of petition is drawn up, which might be used in every State:
_To the honorable members of the Senate and House of
Representatives of the State of ——_:
We the undersigned, ladies of the State of —— and gentlemen
citizens of the same, respectfully petition that an
appropriation be made to endow one department of a _Woman's
University_ under charge of the Trustees of —— Seminary;
the object of which shall be to train school-teachers and
house-keepers in all that relates to health in schools and
families, and that this endowment be made equal to what has
been or may be given to endow Scientific Schools for young men;
and also that this be given on condition that the citizens
of the place give an equal sum to promote the scientific and
practical training of women for their distinctive professions.
It is believed that there is not a single state in the Union where such
a petition signed by a large portion of the intelligent women of the
state, would fail. The difficulty is not that the fathers, husbands,
and brothers are not ready to bestow all that such women would unite
in asking, but rather that women do not so feel the importance of such
measures as to unite in such a petition.
It appears in the preceding pages that the daughters of the more
wealthy classes who are educated in boarding schools and most academies
and female colleges cannot enjoy advantages equal to what are given
gratuitously in our best public High Schools to the children of the
poor. Instead of following in the rear of public schools, those who
have wealth should aim to elevate the public schools by the example of
institutions of the highest order for their own daughters. And they
also would be doubly blest if they would set an example that should
both dignify labor and protect their daughters from helpless poverty
should reverses come, by having them _trained to some profession_ by
which they could earn an honorable independence.
When the precepts and example of Jesus Christ fully interpermeate
society, to labor with the hands will be regarded not only as a duty
but a privilege.
TO THE FORMER PUPILS AND PERSONAL FRIENDS OF THE WRITER.
If this enterprise succeeds in Connecticut its example will be followed
in other States, and this volume is sent to many former pupils and
personal friends that they may co-operate in the several ways suggested.
As the writer in former times has received such aid and co-operation,
with funds also to employ at her discretion, and for several years
has had no official organs to report results, it is proper to state
that her personal expenditures for many years have been in a style of
economy which she has seen practised to such a degree nowhere else, and
that _all_ her income not thus employed has been devoted to plans from
aiding her own sex to prepare for and perform their sacred ministry.
The question as to _how much_ of our income it is _our duty_ to give
for the cause for which our Lord came and suffered is a difficult
one to settle. But He instructed the rich young man, "Sell all that
thou hast and give to the poor and come and follow us," and he also
approved the poor widow who gave her last mite to the service of God.
In following out the spirit of these teachings, even in this life, to
the writer has been fulfilled His gracious promise, "Give and it shall
be given, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over."
And the added rewards will increase through eternal ages, as immortal
spirits, rescued from ignorance and sin, will carry forward the same
noble work of training immortal minds to virtue and happiness.
Those who spend their money and time for earthly enjoyments that perish
in the using "have their reward" in the short lived pleasures. Those
who most literally follow the Divine Master lay up treasures that fail
not, but draw interest through everlasting ages. This is written for
the comfort and encouragement of those who by the writer were trained
to "seek _first_ the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
NOTE A. Mrs. Livermore, in her address which followed this,
expressed the wish that I had noticed more directly the main point, (i.
e.) woman's natural, as well as constitutional right to the ballot.
This I will briefly attempt here.
It will be conceded by all, that neither man nor woman has any right
to anything which is contrary to the _best_ good of society. The
question then is, does the best good of society demand a _division of
responsibilities_, so that man shall take those out of the family, and
woman those in it? In other words, shall man take the responsibilities
of nursery and kitchen in addition to his outside business, and shall
women take charge of government, war, and the work men must do in
addition to her home duties? Past laws and customs demand the division,
and it is probable that it will be retained.
As to the constitution of the United States, and the 14th and 15th
amendments, the question all turns on the use of the terms _citizen_
and _people_. Both these words, (as the dictionaries show,) have two
uses, a wide, and a limited. In the widest sense they include men,
women, and children. In the limited sense they include only a portion
of society with certain qualifications which the _best_ good of society
requires. It is not probable that any court will ever decide that the
framers of the constitution, or of the two amendments, used these terms
in the widest sense, thus including not only women, but children.
If the best good of society requires women to be law-makers, judges
and juries, she has a right to these offices; if it does not, she has
no right to them. As to taxation, it is probable that the best good
of society _does_ require that _women holding property_ shall have
the ballot, for this would increase the proportion of responsible and
intelligent voters, and not add a mass of irresponsible and ignorant
ones, as would universal woman suffrage.
It is owing to this that in Europe the statesmen are aiming to give
suffrage, not to _all_ women as demanded here, but only to those
who hold property and pay taxes; for this, in reality, is a method
of increasing the proportion of intelligent voters. And if this
measure were adopted here it probably would add to the safety of our
institutions.
It is worthy of notice that a large portion of those who demand woman
suffrage are persons who have not been trained to reason, and are
chiefly guided by their generous sensibilities. Such do not seem to be
aware that all _reasoning_ consists in the presentation of evidence
to prove that a given proposition is included in a more general one
already believed and granted, and also that in this process there must
be definitions of the sense in which terms are used that have several
meanings.
Instead of this, they write and talk as if _reasoning_ were _any kind_
of writing or talking which tends to convince people that some doctrine
or measure is true and right. And so they deal abundantly in exciting
narratives and rhetorical declamations, and employ words in all manner
of deceptive senses.
For example, when Mrs. Livermore pleads that women should have equal
rights with men before law, everybody grants it in _some_ sense. But
the question is in what sense is she to be made equal? All will allow
that law should be so framed that woman's highest usefulness and
happiness shall be treated as equal in value to that of man's. But this
is not relevant to the question whether laws be framed by fathers,
husbands, and brothers, or by women. Most women believe that it is for
their best good that the responsibility of making and enforcing laws be
taken by men and not by women.
But however clearly these distinctions are urged, Mrs. Livermore and
her party will keep on saying that women should be made equal with men
before the law, without stating in what sense they used these terms. So
also they will insist that all "citizens" and all the "people" have a
right to vote, without stating what they mean by "a right," or in which
sense they use the words "people" and "citizens."
NOTE B. The author of this volume is preparing a new edition
of her works on Domestic Science and Economy with many improvements.
Its name is to be _The Housekeeper and Healthkeeper_, and it is
designed for a complete Encyclopædia of Domestic Science and Practice.
It will be published this winter by the Harpers.
It will offer these new and peculiar features:
1. The recipes for food and drink will be in two portions. The first
portion will embrace a _very_ large collection of simple and economical
dishes, which, according to _all_ medical and physiological rules, are
_perfectly healthful_. The second portion will be a collection of more
elaborate and expensive articles, which, according to _all_ rules,
are of at least doubtful character as to healthfulness. Thus, every
housekeeper will have safe and intelligent guidance in her selections.
2. There will be _exact directions_ as to _flavors and seasonings_,
such as in most receipt-books are to be "according to the taste," thus
leaving young housekeepers to the mercies of untrained cooks.
3. It will contain exact directions for preserving and restoring health
by the _scientific_ use of the _natural agencies_ of water, heat, cold,
light, diet, exercise, and pure air, and such only as will be approved
by scientific men of _all_ medical schools.
NOTE C. All the creeds of the large Christian denominations
agree in the following, viz.: that God created angels and our first
parents with a "holy nature," and also created such a constitution
of things, that by a single sin they changed their holy nature to
a "depraved nature" and also transmitted to all their posterity
not the holy nature but the depraved one. In consequence of this
constitution of things made by God, all our race, except those who are
"regenerated," go to everlasting misery in Hell.
As intelligence and Christian feeling have increased, multitudes
educated in these views deny the doctrine of future punishments and
hold that the righteous and the wicked all go to Heaven at death.
Others hold that God creates all infant minds perfect as to _nature_,
being "in his image," yet imperfect in development, and that holy
_character_ and action can be secured only by training, knowledge and
self-control; that "the deeds done in the body" influence character
and happiness through an eternal existence; that _some_ form such a
character in this life as secures eternal happiness and that _some_, by
voluntary resistance to the highest possible good influences, form a
changeless character of selfishness and consequent misery, so that it
were "better never to have been born"; that with others the training to
virtue goes on during the intermediate state, in Hades where Christ, at
his death, went and preached to those that lived before the flood; (see
I Peter, 3: 18, 19, 20,) that the day of judgment is the time when the
final separation of the righteous and the wicked will take place; that
the punishment of the wicked is only the natural result of perpetuated
selfishness in a world from which all the good are removed; and that
this separation will not take place until God and all good beings have
done all in their power to rescue as many as possible from selfishness
and sin.
There are many modifications of these general views in various
denominations; but all except a small number agree that Christ teaches
that there are awful dangers in the life to come; and that it should
be the chief aim of every parent and educator to train all within the
reach of their influence so to live and act in view of these dangers as
to follow Him in self-denying labors to save as many as possible.
It will be found that in all ages the _fear_ of dangers in the life to
come has been the basis of the most earnest labor and self sacrifice
to save men from ignorance and sin. "The _fear_ of the Lord is the
_beginning_ of wisdom," and those who throw aside this principle loose
the most powerful motive in training to safety both for this and the
future life. And there are modes of presenting this doctrine so as not
to implicate the justice and mercy of our Heavenly Father as do some
representations from which humanity more and more revolts.
The fact that sin and suffering exist in a universe created by a
perfectly benevolent, wise, and almighty Being, is proof that "almighty
power" is not the power to work contradictions, and therefore _in
this respect_ is limited. In the words of my venerated father, "God
cannot govern the stars by the ten commandments, nor free agents by the
attraction of gravity." This limitation of God's power in governing
free agents, is expressly taught in the Bible. For our only idea of
power is causing anything by _willing_ it, and _want_ of power is
inability to cause a thing by willing it. And God repeatedly declares
that he is not willing that any should perish; and that he did all for
the people of Israel that he could do to make them obedient.
The parents and teachers who hold that _all_ are to come out good
and happy at last, however negligent or criminal in this life, or
that _all_ have a second probation, never can train the young to the
self-denying labors to save men which Jesus Christ has taught by both
precept and example, to be the duty of his followers. It is very
certain that the whole course of my life would have been changed for
the worse had I believed either that there was little or no danger in
the life to come or that _all_ had a second probation after death.
NOTE D. The following chapter is a part of my small work
entitled _Letters to the People on Health and Happiness_, published by
the Harpers, who have loaned the stereotype plates here used.
Before reading it, I would ask that my _definitions_ be borne in mind
when I class the degrees of health, and also the fact that when I give
my own observations I am confined to those persons whom I know well
enough to ascertain exactly their state of health, while there may be
others in close vicinity not noticed, whom on enquiry I might find to
be vigorously healthy women.
Every woman who has any kind of liability to be a mother, or a nurse of
the sick, or to meet other exhausting emergencies of the family state
needs a _reserved_ force of vital strength which many women who seem
to be in perfect health find lacking in such emergencies. This want of
this is one cause of the frequent failure of health after marriage, and
is one result of a transmitted delicate constitution.
I also ask special attention to the fact that women in the country
of the industrial classes have not the robust health of earlier
generations. In addition to other causes, for this, is the overworking
and anxiety consequent on increased civilization. The fashions and
expenditures of cities stimulate the country, and the mothers strain
every nerve to secure for sons and daughters a style of dress and
furniture in former days unknown. This and the desire to accumulate,
wears out many a wife and mother before half her days are accomplished,
making her a perpetual invalid or sending her to an early grave.
LETTER EIGHTEENTH.
STATISTICS OF FEMALE HEALTH.
During my extensive tours in all portions of the Free States,
I was brought into most intimate communion, not only with my
widely-diffused circle of relatives, but with very many of my
former pupils who had become wives and mothers. From such, I
learned the secret domestic history both of those I visited
and of many of their intimate friends. And oh! what heartaches
were the result of these years of quiet observation of the
experience of my sex in domestic life. How many young hearts
have revealed the fact, that what they had been trained to
imagine the highest earthly felicity, was but the beginning
of care, disappointment, and sorrow, and often led to the
extremity of mental and physical suffering. Why was it that
I was so often told that "young girls little imagined what
was before them when they entered married life?" Why did I so
often find those united to the most congenial and most devoted
husbands expressing the hope that their daughters would never
marry? For years these were my quiet, painful conjectures.
But the more I traveled, and the more I resided in health
establishments, the more the conviction was pressed on my
attention that there was a terrible decay of female health
all over the land, and that this evil was bringing with it
an incredible extent of individual, domestic, and social
suffering, that was increasing in a most alarming ratio. At
last, certain developments led me to take decided measures
to obtain some reliable statistics on the subject. During my
travels the last year I have sought all practicable methods of
obtaining information, and finally adopted this course with
most of the married ladies whom I met, either on my journeys or
at the various health establishments at which I stopped.
I requested each lady first to write the _initials_ of _ten_
of the married ladies with whom she was best acquainted in her
place of residence. Then she was requested to write at each
name, her impressions as to the health of each lady. In this
way, during the past year, I obtained statistics from about two
hundred different places in almost all the Free States.
Before giving any of these, I will state some facts to show how
far they are reliable: In the first place, the _standard of
health_ among American women is so low that few have a correct
idea of _what a healthy woman is_. I have again and again been
told by ladies that they were "perfectly healthy," who yet, on
close inquiry, would allow that they were subject to frequent
attacks of neuralgia, or to periodic nervous headaches, or
to local ailments, to which they had become so accustomed,
that they were counted as "nothing at all." A woman who has
tolerable health finds herself so much above the great mass of
her friends in this respect, that she feels herself a prodigy
of good health.
In the next place, I have found that women who enjoy universal
health are seldom well informed as to the infirmities of their
friends. Repeatedly I have taken accounts from such persons,
that seemed singularly favorable, when, on more particular
inquiry, it was found that the greater part, who were set
down as perfectly healthy women, were habitual sufferers from
serious ailments. The delicate and infirm go for sympathy, not
to the well and buoyant, but to those who have suffered like
themselves.
This will account for some very favorable statements, given
by certain ladies, that have not been inserted, because more
accurate information showed their impressions to be false. As
a general fact, it has been found that the more minute the
inquiry, the greater the relative increase of ill health in all
these investigations.
Again, I have found that ladies were predisposed usually to
give the _most favorable_ view of the case; for all persons
like to feel that they are living in "a healthy place" rather
than the reverse.
Again, I have found that almost every person in the result
obtained, found that the case was worse than had been
supposed, the proportion of sick or delicate to the strong and
healthy being so small.
It must be remembered, that in regard to those marked as
"sickly," "delicate," or "feeble," there can be no mistake, the
knowledge being in all cases _positive_, while those marked as
"well" may have ailments that are not known. For multitudes of
American women, with their strict notions of propriety, and
their patient and energetic spirit, often are performing every
duty entirely silent as to any suffering or infirmities they
may be enduring.
As to the terms used in these statements, in all cases there
was a previous statement made as to the sense in which they
were to be employed.
A "perfectly healthy" or "a vigorous and healthy woman" is one
of whom there are _specimens_ remaining in almost every place;
such as used to _abound_ when all worked, and _worked in pure
air_.
Such a woman is one who can through the whole day be actively
employed on her feet in all kinds of domestic duties without
injury, and constantly and habitually has a feeling of perfect
health and perfect freedom from pain. Not that she never has a
fit of sickness, or takes a cold that interrupts the feeling of
health, but that these are out of her ordinary experience.
A woman is marked "well" who usually has good health, but
can not bear exposures, or long and great fatigue, without
consequent illness.