The Milwaukee Leader

Listen, girls. This is a friendly chat about health and good looks and fun and not a word about sin, character, reputation or morals. Strictly speaking, I am going to talk about health: good looks depend on health, of course, and so does fun. Can't have much fun if you haven't good health.

Dr. S. Adolphus Knopf, famous authority on tuberculosis, says that although there has been a 50 per cent decrease in the prevalence of the disease among the general population in the last 35 years, statistics from various cities of the country indicate that tuberculosis is actually increasing among young women. How come?

Dr. Knopf enumerates several predisposing causes. Thus, he thinks the "flimsy modern dress" of girls in their teens is one factor, but candidly I desire to tell the world that Dr. Knopf is off the reservation here--he knows his tuberculosis, but he is no authority at all on health and hygiene. So if my daughter wants to go back a long way toward Eve, I say "Atta girl, don't let Dr. Knopf worry you," so far as health and hygiene may be concerned. For that matter, I've struggled through this winter without once putting on my heavy underwear--the first winter I have done so, and hence I picked a mild winter for the adventure.

But I do earnestly agree with Dr. Knopf on all the other predisposing causes of tuberculosis in young women. First, there is the insane desire for a slender figure, and the dabbling with "diet," or worse yet, the hideous practice of inducing vomiting after a meal, a practice cultivated by not a few foolish girls, and the dangerous trifling with humbug obesity cures. As a hygiene teacher I want to throw up my neighbor's hat and cheer for the latest edict of the arbiter who stages the Follies--sunken-chested, angular, skinny frights are out and curves are now used to spell pulchritude.

So don't fail to be there at breakfast, and when lunch time comes keep your date with little old appetite.

If we assume, just for the sake of argument, that a girl can use a perfectly harmless rouge, lipstick and other vanities--I believe a few of these things are in themselves harmless enough--is it good or bad for her health and happiness to doll up with these artifices? Bad in every way, no question at all about that. But it is harmful only indirectly--you see, if you have the skill or art to apply the makeup so that it really looks well, right there you kill that wholesome vanity which makes every woman wish to look well. If you can look well by putting on a disguise, you take little or no interest in the natural ways of health. That is certainly bad for any girl.

Then, too, some girls in their early teens begin to develop the very curves that have lately come back into fashion, and not being burdened with brains they commence wearing tight brassieres or girdles or other harness that purport to confine, compress or extinguish curves and give the poor simpleton a "boyish" figure. Why, there are not a few feminine dupes of the garment trade who actually fear to take a full breath lest it give them a truly feminine figure. They cultivate a posture that cries to high heaven for a swift kick, lest they look like a regular woman.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

It Is Just Imagination.

Can you suggest anything that will cure imaginary pain? I always imagine I've got appendicitis * * * (Miss H. H.)

Answer--Imagine you are having an operation. That ought to relieve it, all right. But don't imagine you are paying the doctor's fee--too many people do that, and it is very unsatisfactory.

Winter Mosquito Culture.

What can we use to kill mosquitos in a damp cellar? What will keep them from hatching? (Mrs. A. L. O.)

Answer--You must drain or empty any standing pools or vessels of water. If this is impossible, spray some crude oil on the surface of all standing water, to keep a film of oil on the water. This suffocates the mosquito larvae or wigglers.

Specialists and Specialists.

Please explain the difference between an eye doctor (not an optician but a real oculist) and an eye, ear, nose and throat doctor. In what way do they differ in their treatment of the eyes? (L. A.)

Answer--A real oculist or ophthalmologist is a physician who limits his practice to diseases of the eyes. An eye, ear, nose and throat specialist is a physician who does not welcome night calls in bad weather, does not treat corns or flat feet, but otherwise may be pretty good at taking out tonsils. Some communities are fairly overrun with ambitious young doctors and tired old ones who seek to build up a comfortable practice in all these several lines. In my judgment at least 95 per cent of them are a bad bargain for any patient. If a doctor thinks he is good enough in any particular line of practice to become a specialist in that line, hurrah for him, we need such men everywhere. But when he undertakes to serve as an all around specialist or a specialist in what have you, that is a misfortune for the community, I think. This won't increase my popularity among the million or so eye, ear, nose, throat specialists, nor among the million or so of stomach, heart, lung, liver, kidney, bowel "specialists" who complacently call themselves internists." but then, what do I care about that? As Mr. Barnum at least thought whether he said so or not, there is something the American public wants and these half baked, short cut all around "specialists" are providing it.

(Copyright, John F. Dille Co.)

Mothers
and THEIR CHILDREN

A QUIETING GAME.

One Mother Says:

One little 3-year-old boy is very excitable and when in this condition is quite difficult to manage. I have invented a quieting game which he can play with his little sister and me. We all pick comfortable chairs, then I say: "I want to see a picture of a boat," or "I want to see a hinge on a door." The children point to the object named and are very proud when successful in finding all the articles. Very seldom is there a second mistake on any article. This helps them be observant and teaches new names for different objects, thereby increasing their vocabularies.

Copyright, 1928, Associated Editors, Inc.

Brunhilde can reach 170 pounds and have not one single ounce of superfluous fat on her splendid body. A small-boned, short-statured woman can be visibly fat at 135.

Use common sense and discretion in gauging your physical condition, and persistence and will power in overcoming the faults. I assure you you will not fail to achieve beauty if you go after it consistently.