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Tfie (Jreat Les.r on Women MU.S L Learn from the WSI"
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By Valentine de Saint-Point,
. ¥he Parisian Poetess and Grandniece of the
. Great Lamartine.
HE. war has come, terrible, insatiable,
involving, one after the other, nearly
\;u all the great nations. Even irom neu
countries innumerable volunteers have
flocked to place themselves among the com
batants. Thus all nations, belligerent or neu
tral, 'are affected by the great war.
This terrible conflict, which the most thoughi
ful person of past centuries would never have
imagined; is a veritable carnage. Every day.
every hour, of this war lays low a magnificent
crop of European youth.
It s, indeed, the younz that are most ex
posed to slaughter and most often destroyed.
This unparalieled war will make a red barvest
of all our youth in arms. It is the hocnomg
of the eliie of several races. The flower of
the nations will be cut off before having pro
- duced any fruit.
" At this moment the fighting nations heve
their eyes fixed upon the fleld of battls. They
think only of the enemy who is armed with
shells and bullets. They forget internal en
emies, enemies vho 40 not destroy with grest
sound and “io'eace like the cannon. but who
nevertheiess destroy the race of the old and
the young civilized peoples of Europe and
America—the Oocidental race.
Among these insidious and silent enemies
We must put in the first place habits and cos
tumes that have hindered the propagation of
the race.
For centuries, by means of improper cor
Qmm shoes and other foolish fashions, the
of civilized woman has been ceformed.
martyred. These fashions are not only
erfine against art, they are a socia; crime
this crime is made still more odious by
outbreak of war, because it interferes with
Mmaternity and contributes to depopulation in
& very large degree
: Woman Must Do Her
mmmuwuu bas alwars
Been the continuation of the race For a long
Miime, In centres of eivilization. in ous cities,
Woman has been failing more and more in hery
sacred mission. In the modern life of cities
large families are a burden and life is it eult
for them. The woman who desired maternity
Was becoming rare for that reason. But fool
b fashions and soclal customs ha.+ ins.d
ously checked maternity sven among (hose
Who did not wish to avold it. They no! only
Jod many women to sterility but also trans
=ol bealthy and normal maternity into a
and painful iliness with lasting conse
quences.
This torture naturally had no stiraction for
. They needed true herolsm to be
to run such great risks. In the entire
large families were thus tecoming
m:u more rare. For many years statis.
in all countries had sounded & cry of
alarm, dut very few women troubled them
roelves about 1. it was & mistake on (heir
¢ :!. & serious mistake, but only a mistaké.
the disastrous future was still far away
But the war came. and then it was seen that
what had been before the war simply an error
would become tomorrow a crime,
When men are fighting on the battlefield or
in the sconomic world 1o reestablish peace,
fndustry and barmony in the world, women
Ust accept maternily as a sacred duty. They
|must become the willing conscripts of ma
ternity
Many women thisk that they have fulbilec
. fhelr duty when they have m:z 1o nurse the
wounded or to clothe the sigh men. Those
are very well, but they are very litle,
are but play compared to the veritable
rn which nature has confided to them
place of the fatal tihe of blood, which the
of all nations are vhn. wOmAn owes
to the country omen must realize
all the dead men must live again and thet
o them 1o create that which the
> Bate of the nations destroys every
. They must create new generations for
labors of peace
misslon of creating s so magnificent
& womans should forget the burdens of n
Wother who concelves & ehild crestes the
Toe In and You Won’t Have Flat Fe=t
NE of the most annoying modern
aflictions of the feot s the
brokes areh, or fSatfoot. This
malady Bas of yecent rear: become 0
prevalent that it has attracted much at
tention from phreicians and scrgeons se
well as military officers
. Pallen arch and fatfoot are oaused
Sargly 57 abuse of the fes! In wrongly
Gostgned shoes Ustil very recent years
e health and comfort of the feet have
Qean wholly smetifond 16 fantastic shapes
Qnd ridis slone heels
Bince the milltary auiborities st West
Point siaried heir elaboraie investigs
Vot in perterting an anstomivnily correet
Oy matrhing shoe basing Thelr recom
Wevdations largelr on the concluslone of
& treatise on the subjeet by Majer Sal
E.d the Swite army. this couniry
andergone » wave of isterest in
for the feel, o 8 which depend
Madame de Saint-Point, the Gifted Parisian
Poetess and Social Leader, Says Women
Must Abandon Their Silly and Unhealthful
Clothes and Devote Themselves to Maternity
‘he
orso
by
odin,
future from the past. As for the sufferings
inseparable from maternity, women will reduce
them in proportion as they suppress the hor.
rible customs which destroy their health and
cause them pain, entirely against nature.
There is no physical joy like that of successful
maternity.
Thanks to abominable and unnatural clothes,
we have lost a precise knowledge of the fe
male body as nature intended it to be. Since
the fourteenth century, the period when sash.
sons began to be ugly and degrading, improper
corsets and unhealthy contrivances have over
and over again changed the female n‘m:e ac
cording to the whim of the moment in size, pos
ture aud weail, cvery 6ther respect. Every time
that the stupid and ridicnlous fashion of the
small waist has prevailed the corset has been
& true instrument of torture. To display
it women have shown as much heroism
as the soldier in the trenches, but it
was a sadly misplaced heroism.
Woman has become, through her
slavery to fashion, the worst enemy of
the human race. Instead of beautify
ing her body she makes it ugly. To-day
her figure bears only a distant resem
blance to the natural body of woman
Let every woman among my readers
“Future womanhood should model its ideals after the noble Venms
Genetrix and discard the inartistic distortions of fashion.”
compare her undraped body with a 2 classic
“mm-u'mnunmmnum
bave not the same form. While the statue has
harmonious curves and a line which oniy turne
0 & little bit at the walst, to spread out gestly
ot the hips, the figure of the modern woman s
sharply bollowed out at the waist. causing the
Mpe to stick out brutally asd ungracefully
Evidently, moderns women have destroyed the
satural harmony of their bodies
How oftes 40 we see a woman who cansol
ot down, rise. bend over o 1 execate any aataral
motementis harmoniously’ Hhe cannot sit on
8 low seat or display any supplencss of move
ment. Hhe Is no more In harmony with the
natural life of the body She is an artificial
Moreover, she puts In Maßy cases 5 prems
health and poise of the hody and mind
The West Polnt officers found that
fatfoot. which disables & man for all
future usefulness in the army s ransed
both by high beels which throw the foot
out of Na proper rocking balance, and
by sarrow and misshapen lasts which
rowd the meiatsreal bones
Te correct the moders tendency 1o
folion arcihes the arm; is sow Instrocteq
o march with the feet cextended oiraight
forvard or even tocingis Te walk
always *ith feet fosing outward b
invite weakening and failing of the areh
Jost s & spring s fattencd when o
tonded
Walking *ih the fest slightly tosing
mward induces the natural cupping of
he ares he springy step,
mucg‘hmmu-cu:ru
ruasers all toe in, whereas those whe
ARt G 0 Lhis Jose s tßances of properl;
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ture end to her youth. Binding up and com
pressing the most important muscles of the
body, she deprives them of exercise and their
normal contractions. Thus they become weak
ened and atrophied.
Women owe to foolish fashions, tight shoes
and improper corsets many of the diseases that
afflict them—defects of circulation, weakening
of the abdominal muscles, which are no louger
able to support the most sensitive and essen
tial organs, feet that cannot bear the weight
of the body, a complexion without life, and
what is most serious, sterility.
A healthy and vigorous human being has no
need of artificlal aids. In youth the free
muscles acquire their vigor through Larmo
nious exercise; later, if left free, thev pre
serve their form.
%
.
If country women Erow old earlier than eity
women it is not, as certain cynical farhionsleg
pretend. because they live naturally. but be
nu-fllutrmdmlnm
Proper care of the body. Our peasart womes
destroy lhomnuuhm“u“
work they share; they are the ineviiable do
formities of their ealling. To be bent all day
m.«nthufll:uhfi““
with Riges pafpet y ‘”w
m&m-“nw:l;‘ -
it women who undersiand
- onmm:' for themselves, would wear
&n‘lflmfim.mtl”mh
Wote peautiful and emjoy betler heal'th, they
would be better mothers and more prolifie
Ones. Seing squested in. a 8 our fashionanie
Women 100 often are, does not prevest them
appiving 'heir natursl foot
and leg leverage,
Anocther point werthy of
tote in this connection W
the faet that modern civd
ilamd reces have developed
the great toe 1o he saery
fee_of strength B all the
others. The great ‘os does
practically all the lifting
and propeliing wors while
the ofl T are s sseless ae
%0 many disjoisted sticks
This s due 6 Lght shoss
which compress the Mtle toee and com
Pl ihe wonrer to @ireet hie foet outeard
for relle! whes walking Primevsl races
on the contrary, have all See taee of the
feor well goveloped and we'l coparatod
e the Bagere of Ihe hand. for ladividual
ctlos aßd astictancs in the work io be
Copyright. 1916 By Ihe Blar Compans Grest Beiiais Rights Beserved
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e comer
When we consider et owr fost &
more physionl work in the course of the
day thas any other part of e body.
Seept (he hoart we 10 poriage be wore
willing 1o give some stiention to thelr
e ee Ponetioning
from acquiring fat. On the contrary, the im
mobilized muscles are no longer able to burn
up the rat by their activity as they would do
if they were free, s
Woman has made the mistake of concerning
herself almost exclusively with her face. If
her face is handsome and appears young, she
is satisfied, because everybody sees it. He:
body may be deformed, but she does not care
because she can hide it in fashionable clothes
That is to value beauty as an appearanc- and
not as a reality. Perfect beauty is, of course
rare and is not given to every
woman. What is given to every
woman, however, is the oppor
tunity to become a perfectly har
monious and healthy ereature
capable of easy and repeated ma
ternity.
We need not think that the
loose ancient draperies, which
are 50 beautiful, harmonious, are
the only kind of clothing possible
for the modern woman. That is
a great mistake. Many styles of
dress are possible, and we should
alm to wear that which is in harmony wit
modern life. The only essential is that
the natural undeformed outline of the human
body should be preserved.
It our women do not choose to learn by
themselves that maternity is to-day a primor.
dial necessity we shall have to force them to
understagd . After the war the public au
thorities will have to consider seriously the
manner in which the frightiul slaughter has
affected the problem of depopulation.
Woman Needs a
New Moral Education.
Bven before the war our public authorities
had been concerned with the question. Various
measures were proposed, Lut they all ended In
& proposition of taxation: & tax to be paid by
the bachelor or a rellef of tasation for large
familles. These measures are lnetiicacious, for
they are too gentle. However high the ta:
may be on bacheiors, it will always be less
than the cost of supporting & Tamily. It will
" be necessary o find & more efficacious melhod
Heads of governmenis, presidents, kings, em
perors and ministers + L] be obliged to con
sider It. To counterbalance the expense, which
is constantly growing heavier, of & larze (amily
f’t will be secessary to show it some very sub
stantial {avors. The first shou'd be the com
plete education and instruction of the children
by the State, & training that will ensure them
s lhiving
A compiete solution simply by fSsancial
methods cannot be brought about However
valuable they may be. they will not be sul
ficient 10 salance the modern tendency o
sterility. Merely 10 make the ralsing of ehil
dren less expensive would not be sufficlent to
restore 1o women the love of maternity. We
must begin & vasi moral propaganda. We
wmus! make women regard thelr social duty as
an ideal, make them feel the beanty of it and
make them love It. A whole system of nen
education must be begun.
We must above all succesd in making o
vilized women accept intellectually the mission
which uncivilized women accomplished natur
ally. The lost instinet must be replaced by the
conscious will. and the second will be Inh
witely superior to the Sret.
It will be & propaganda by example, & props
ganda by word and set. That s what the war
cvae rendered imperstively necessary for us
Citizens of negiral countries must also ald in
the wark. They have sullered less by the
war. and they owe (his contribution to the
future of humasity.
We must persuade women .1o consent
this voluniary conscription. They mast lears
te love maternity and, carrying on thelr gwn~
war, sacrifies on the altar of their Bea! the
foolish and ovil foshions thal have been the
crael enemy of beauty and maternity
Lot woman leave her hipe free. Lot her ne
longer martyrise hor body. which has receiveg
the sarted miscion of perpetusiing bumanity
By ber conscions and resolete will Jet her
become oßce mare, wilh the grave joy of duty
sccomplished, the “Venus Genetrin” the eng:
sl Bre, the mother of humasiy
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Madame Valentine de Saint-Point, the Beautiful Parisian Postess, Whe s
Leading o Fearless Crusade for Healthiul Clothing. :
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