THE LITTLE HEALTH OF LADIES. 



357 



emotion in reading in novels the doleful tale of 

 wrong of the " ill-used race of men that cleave 

 the soil " — without dreaming of going down 

 among them to make that tale less dismal. 



That these women, these Epicurean goddesses 

 of the drawing-room, should be so often the poor, 

 fragile, suffering creatures we behold them, un- 

 able to perform half the duties of life, or taste a 

 third part of its pleasures — this is a pure perver- 

 sity of things which ought surely to provoke re- 

 volt. 



What are the causes of the valetudinarianism 

 of ladies ? 



First, of course, there is a considerable class 

 of inherited mischief, feeble constitutions, con- 

 genital tendencies to chronic troubles, gout, dys- 

 pepsia, and so on, due to the errors of either 

 parent, or to their evil heritage of the same. All 

 that need be said here on this topic is that such 

 cases must necessarily go on multiplying ad in- 

 finitum till mothers regain the vigor which alone 

 permits them to transmit a healthy constitution 

 to their children. 



Next to hereditary petite sante, we come to 

 cases where the habits of the sufferers themselves 

 are the cause of the mischief; and these are of 

 two kinds — one resulting from what is good and 

 unselfish, and one from what is bad and frivolous, 

 in the disposition of women. 



Women are generally prudent enough about 

 their money; that is, of their own money, not 

 that of their husbands. I have heard an ob- 

 servant man remark that he never knew a well- 

 conducted woman who, of her own fault, became 

 bankrupt. But, as regards their health, the very 

 best of women have a propensity to live on their 

 capital. Their nervous energy, stimulated either 

 by conscience or affection or intellectual inter- 

 ests, suffices to enable them to postpone perpetu- 

 ally the calls of their bodies for food, sleep, or 

 exercise. They draw large drafts on their physi- 

 cal strength, and fail to lodge corresponding sums 

 of restoring rest and nutriment. Their physical 

 instincts are not imperious, like those of men ; 

 and they habitually disregard them when they 

 make themselves felt, till poor Nature, continually 

 snubbed when she makes hor modest requests, 

 ceases to press for daily settlement of her little 

 bill, and reserves herself to put in an execution 

 by-and-by. The vegetative and the spiritual part 

 of these women nourish well enough ; but (as 

 Kingsley's Old Sandy says) " There is a lack of 

 healthy animalism " between the two. They 

 seem to consider themselves as fire-flies issuing 



out of a rose, flitting hither and thither to brighten 

 the world, not creatures of flesh and blood, need- 

 ing to go to bed and eat roast- mutton. 



If we study the condition of Mr. John Bull in 

 his robust middle age, we shall notice that for 

 forty years, with few interruptions, he has en- 

 joyed those " reg'lar meals," on which Tennyson's 

 Northern Farmer lays such stress as the founda- 

 tion of general stability of character. He has 

 also walked, ridden, rowed, skated, smoked his 

 cigar, and gone to his bed (as nearly as circum- 

 stances permitted) when the inclination seized 

 him. If now and again he has omitted to gratify 

 his instincts, it has been for a business-like reason, 

 and not merely because somebody did not hap- 

 pen to wish to do the same thing at the same 

 time. He has not often waited for an hour, half- 

 fainting for want of his breakfast, from motives 

 of mere domestic courtesy ; nor sat moped in a 

 hot room through a long, bright day to keep some 

 old person company ; nor resolved his dinner 

 into tea and muffins because he was alone and it 

 was not worth while to trouble the servants ; nor 

 sat up cold and weary till three in the morning 

 to hear about a parliamentary debate wherein he 

 took only a vicarious interest. At the end of 

 the forty years of wholesome indulgence, the 

 man's instincts are more imperious and plain- 

 spoken than ever, and, as a reward for his obe- 

 dience to them, his organs perform their respec- 

 tive offices with alacrity, to the great benefit of 

 himself and of all dependent upon him. Pretty 

 nearly the reverse of this has happened in the 

 case of Mrs. Bull. Almost her first lesson in 

 childhood was to check, control, and conceal her 

 wants and miseries ; and by the time she has 

 grown up she has acquired the habit of postpon- 

 ing them, as a matter of course, to the smallest 

 convenience of A, B, C, and D, father, mother, 

 brothers, even servants, whom she will not " put 

 out of their way " for herself, though no one 

 would so much as think whether they had a way 

 to be put out of, for her brothers. The more 

 strain there is upon her strength, by sickness in 

 the house or any misfortune, the more completely 

 she effaces and forgets herself and her physical 

 wants, recklessly relinquishing sleep and neglect- 

 ing food. When the pressure is relieved, and 

 the nervous tension which supported her relaxed, 

 the woman breaks down, as a matter of course, 

 perhaps never to enjoy health again. 



It must be borne in mind, also, in estimating 

 a woman's chances of health, that, if she neglect 

 to think of herself, there is seldom anybody to 

 do for her what she does for her husband. No- 



