TERRIBLE DOUBT.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 42, 16 July 1877, Page 2

TERRIBLE DOUBT.

(Erom the New 3£ork Times.) Most of the readers of the Times are. already aware that a professional fat woman recently collapsed in this city in. a, very startling way. Jt is necessary, however, t.o briefly recall the. incident, since, it has a close relation to a matter of vast social and ethical importance. The fat woman was on exhibition and had, like all, other public fat women, greatly outgrown lier clothing, thereby affording ocilar. proof of. her extreme abundance, A. bad, small boy, who was, so clearly conscious of his resemblance to the prpdigal son, during the porcine portion of the latter's. carrer that he felt justified in taking a, warm interest in tatted calves, examined the tut woman with much minuteness, and investigated her with a pin. To the astonishment ot the rest of the audience, tl>e fat nomMn suddeuly began to shrink. At the end of five minutes her clothing had all become at least sis sizes too wide, f>r her, and the stocking through whicli, the pin had parsed drooped like the beaten banner of a shaiaelul cause when poetiq. justice wi (.holds a breeze. The once fafc, woman was not merely thin, but scraggy to an absolutely scalistic degree, and the fact that she had been cased in indiarubber and inflated with a bellows in order to deceive the public was too evident to admit of denial. The consequences of this bad small boy's exploit have made life a burden to . all real or simulated fat women. The carrying of concealed pins by mischievous boys has become almost universal. In, every museum or circus where a fat woman is exhibited small boys; with pins . gather like so many inquisitive vultures' bent upon post mortem examinations. All over the Union real fat, women are constantly reuiarkinu ''ouch!" ar< the pin, explores their surfaces, and underscores . of noii.ndio tents the hiss »f the failicioiis fat woman as she slowly collapses res wards the successful perforator, and confirms him in the belief that this is a corrupt and fraudulent age. Private fat women have also their share of suffering, for tho small boy who, has collapsed the . pride of the circus is inclined to doubt the genuineness of his own _ plump sister and his expansive grand mother. In most cases it is rumored that the grandmothers c tmd sisters of our land bear . the pin test trumphantly and noisly, but it need hardly be pointed out that no small boy who, collapsed a sister would lire to tell the . tale, unless he first bound himself to. secrecy with the most solemn oaths. Every good man will sincerly hope that his. faith, in women, other than professional fat women is well-founded, but india-rubber, and bellows are easily attainable, and how can we tell to what extent they have permeated the family circle ? Close observers , assert that of late years the American girl has grown materially 'plumper,. and; there are even t apparently trustworthy, rumors of occasional plump-scbool-mis* . tresses. The coincidences between the invention of air-tight rubber-cloth and the improved appearance of American girls cannot escape notice, and can hardly fail, to awaken disturbing. thoughts. In the last issue of, the London Court Circular is narrated a social tragedy, tQ , the meaning of which, it is impossible td shut our eyes. Among, the. guests who. were assembled at a dinner, party was a lady of exquisite form, whose delicate plumpness was the theme of unusual masculine admiration. To her.^as presented a small bunch of flowers by aa admirer whose duly it was to escort her. to dinner. She gracefully accepted the gift, and in a thoughtless moment fastened, ft" to her bosom with a pin searching and far-reaching. By the time she reached the dinner table she was a mere wreck. The pin had perforated her bosom, not wisely, but too wpII, and that bosom was merely a part of the outer india-rubber woman which concealed the real bony residue from the. gaze of deceived society. Of course, there was nothing left to her to do but to faint, and she promptly did so. Her friends gathered her onco exuberant charms into a narrow but compact bundle, and removed her to her carriage. And this, we are left to infer, is.

g^fjEtf gland jfecojistructed. Ur i •■ ' ' l gpComing, ; p6 closely^upoli Che cotlapso of gpores, otrWofessional fat women in our fr,own comvtrjr, this sudden exposure of the l ; .airyiiha '.uri^ubm'and'al'ii'nture of the ladii?3 ? .of the Epgliph. arjstocraey is a terrible blow to our faith in womanhood. The doubts that have, already been mentioned as to the growing plumpness of American girls will now gather too much force to be lightly set aside. To what extent nro our women made of india-rubber and blown Mp with bellows is a question that will henceforth harass our minds, and inexorably demand an answer. This is one of those perplexing cases in which wncertainty is maddening, while at the same time we are ignorant in what direcjfcion to sear.eh for light. We cannot follow the example of the small boy, and pursue investigation with pins and needles, for such a course would savor of violence and outrage, and would be unworthy of a .chivalrous man. We have mocked at the small girl who wept on discovering that her doll was stuffed with sawdust, but now we are suffering fron a fearful dread lest our own hearts idols owe their physical perfections to something far more unsubstantial than sawdust. Must we believe that, like the witches of Macbeth, the fascinating witches of the social circles have literally '•' made themselves air, with the exception of a small and unimportant .central core of girl ? Unless a formal commission, with power to send for girls and papers of pins, ia appointed to invesligate this matter, we may be left in harassing uncertainty for yeurs j and even if we had such a commission, it might decide that it had no right to go back on the returns, and make a thorough examination of the question iv dispute. Truly, we have fllien upon unhappy days, when a man cannot even clasp, his own. siater to his bosom without fear that any really affectionate pressure may explode her in his arms.