738

THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

out in detail, would result in the complete physical and moral regeneration and sal­vation of the nations of the earth. I would make physical health and development the solid foundation of all spiritual and intellectual work. I would place the dignity of the body on a level with that of the spirit and the intellect. I would make physical laws pertaining to the health and preservation of the body as sacred and binding as the most sacred moral law. So much for theory. Now how shall we obtain prac­tical results? In all efforts for the improvement, the uplifting, the advancement of our fellows, I hold that we should take advantage of and utilize to the uttermost all the natural instincts and impulses, only one of which, in so brief space, shall I attempt to discuss. I refer to the almost wholly misunderstood instinct for physical personal beauty, involving the universal desire to be pleasing to others. This instinct is usually characterized as vanity, sinful, selfish, ignoble. The desire to please is so deeply root’ed, particularly in the feminine breast, that it certainly must be recognized as a natural instinct. If it is a natural instinct it is of God, and is intended to serve some wise and useful purpose. As such, it should neither be ignored nor suppressed. In fact, its total obliteration, if such a thing were possible, would result in utter paralysis and stagnation of the entire being. If we closely scrutinize humanity, we find that every natural impulse, when rightly directed, serves some high and necessary end, promoting true development in some direction. We also find that in order to accom­plish development or regeneration in any desired respect, the surest and easiest method is to stimulate the natural impulse tending thereto. This is nature’s method, and we can not possibly improve upon it. Now in this desire to please, usually and fash­ionably denounced so unsparingly as woman’a vanity, I can see a lever by which womanhood can be moved to its very depth, and woman may be made to strive most ardently for self-improvement along all lines—physical, spiritual and intellectual. For is it not manifestly better economy to utilize a force already in existence than to attempt the double task of suppressing the natural motive and creating an artificial one? By the inductive method I would teach women to strive for perfection in all things. Upon the broad and enduring foundations of the necessary and the useful 1 would rest the development of the beautiful. Women must learn that beauty is soul deep, or it is not true beauty. The old saying, “ Beauty is but skin-deep,” originated in an unscientific age. Modern science brings forth records to prove that there never has been a beautiful idiot or a really comely lunatic, Shakespeare to the contrary, not­withstanding. It is fully proved by all asylum records that the downfall of spiritual empire obliterates whatever of beauty the unfortunate may have once possessed. The features lose their harmony of contour; the divine light vanishes from the eyes, which now become either dull or fiendish; the skin becomes coarse and of repulsive color; the very hair degenerates, growing harsh and lusterless.

It is not necessary to argue in this enlightened day to convince women that a per­fect physique is desirable. The day of the artificial is wholly past. The wasp waist, drooping shoulders and invalidism in general, which under the name of delicacy were wont to be admired, are now, thank Heaven! out of fashion. Women, the world at large, have learned that nothing is beautiful which is artificial; or, in other words, a perversion of nature. Consequently any new theory or system of physical culture advanced today must, at the very outset, prove itself to be scientific—strictly in accord with the sacred laws of health—or it will be promptly rejected. True beauty can not be cultivated without the most careful observance of health laws, conse­quently the development of physical beauty has today the full sanction of modern science, and rests upon a sound scientific basis. Listen: if you would be beautiful, if you would have an admirable physique, you must have exercise in the open air, pure air in the house, proper food, sensible hygienic clothing, frequent baths and plenty of refreshing sleep. Again, if you would be truly beautiful, you simply must practice self-control. You must not, at the peril of your beauty, indulge in evil passions, such as envy, hatred, malice and anger. Why? do you ask. Because all violent emotions by unduly contracting the facial muscles, not only rob the face of its calm dignity,