Ladies...let loose your corset strings, and run...

lupaglupa

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One finds the oddest things in old newspapers...

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From the Memphis Daily Appeal, April 26, 1862
 
What an entertaining piece! I experienced the freedom of it while reading it, and I think my favorite part was 'more pudding and less piano' :D I guess with all that exercise you're going to 'run' the pudding off fairly quickly :smile coffee:
 
The author really went hard on the "pining, screwd-up, wasp waisted, doll dressed, consumption-mortgaged, music-murdering, and novel devouring daughters of fashion and idleness" :eek: I guess it wasn't always a barrel of laughs sitting in the parlor having to listen to young ladies trying to hold a tune or practicing their newfound skills on a piano :laugh: Somebody had to say it!
 
I've seen comments about reading novels in other things. Evidently there was a widespread belief during the 19th Century that novels were frivolous and led young women to be shallow and flighty.
And what's interesting about that to me is apparently Ulysses S. Grant enjoyed reading novels and actually helped to form a book club at West Point which I think was somewhat 'secretive' as such may have been frowned upon. Not to mention they were a favorite in camp during the CW as well. But, I do believe probably for both men and women there was a sense that novels were frivolous, and took people away from the harsh realities of life. What better reason to read a novel :smile:
 
Hmmm ... in an odd way it almost seems like a nineteenth-century sort of feminism: abandon your frivolous ways and get a real job. Of course, it's also almost the opposite as it says a woman's place is as a wife in the home (which, of course, at the time wasn't questioned much) which would send modern feminists into a frenzy. Seems like pretty good advice for the day.
 
I think it's the idea that just being a 'pretty little thing' with all those wonderful feminine qualities (though not according to the author!) was not going to cut it as far as wifely material was concerned. She needed to be able to get 'stuck in' and make herself useful :laugh: I think he was actually doing women a favor by saying 'cut the ****' and creating an opportunity for women to really step into their own. At the same time, a man would need to be able to handle a strong woman and I'm sure some men were just happy to have the piece of 'eye candy' resting on their arm. He really is challenging men as well as women in this piece. In other words, look for a worthwhile challenging woman. Then again, perhaps I am reading too much into this ... :smile coffee:
 
It is always a good reality check to remember that opinions were as varied back in the day as they are now. Women were pressured then to have tiny waists and yet obviously there were people pushing back against the wasp waist as an ideal. Fashionable pallor was also a thing - so much so that women poisoned themselves using powder that had arsenic in it. And yet here is someone saying they hate that look and recommend that women abandon it. I'm sure some folks picked up this paper and nodded in agreement the the "sermon" and other shook their heads and thought "What a fool!"
 
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