Then I had to tell them that the Deacon was right, and that, in his
selection, he had shown the characteristic discrimination and taste
of men! but that, during a number of days, the great solar artist
had been partially interrupted in his exquisite touches upon this
particular bush,--in fact, I gave them a little lecture, then and
there, upon the relations between sunshine and beauty.
EXPERIMENT UPON A ROSE-GIRL.
One of my neighbors, Major P----, has a daughter, whom we will name
Rose. The Major not having a rose-bush, tried an experiment on his
Rose-girl. This was his method:--
In the first place, he sent her up into New Hampshire in June, and
kept her there, living out in the sunshine, till the last of
September. Then he brought her in town, and we all had a chance to
examine her. She was really in a very strange condition. In the
first place, her manner of walking was singular. I cannot describe
it better than to say that she seemed to go by jerk. In putting one
foot forward to take a step, the foot behind gave a sudden and
vigorous push.
My opinion, as a medical man, was not asked; but my diagnosis,
before a medical class, would have been this:--
"Gentlemen, in the case of Miss Rose P---- there is considerable
physical vigor, which seems to show itself by an extraordinary
activity and strength of muscle, and an unusual ebullition of animal
spirits. And, gentlemen, although these manifestations are
extraordinary, and very rare among young ladies, I do not regard the
case as immediately alarming. Indeed, gentlemen, it is my opinion
that this remarkable malady will disappear without active treatment,
if the patient be confined in a strait jacket, and kept quiet in a
dark room.
"That peculiar sparkle of the young lady's eyes will, likewise, soon
disappear, under this treatment."
Without asking my opinion, or a prescription, the Major did exactly
what I have suggested. The daughter was laced in a strait jacket, or
a corset, (which squeezes a good deal harder,) and she remained in a
dark parlor and curtained bedroom all but about an hour a day; and
then, unless it was particularly bright and pleasant, she rode
during that one hour in a covered carriage.
In two months the experiment was a complete success. As in the case
of the rose-bush, so in the case of the Rose-girl, the absence of
sunshine had produced a limp, weak, sick state.
Miss Rose had lost all the elastic bound in her manner of walking,
all the hearty ring in her laugh, all the color in her face, all the
shine of her eyes, all her power of diffusing joy about her.
There are other experiments of a similar kind in progress, and
persons who are interested in this sort of scientific observation,
will, by calling at their next door neighbor's, find very
interesting opportunities to prosecute such studies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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