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 6 
 
^ READ AKD LEHD 
 
 
 ' Montreal. 
 
 
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JVi/TKss Publish ivQ; House, Montreal. 
 
 \ ■ 
 
 INf THE PRESS. 
 RY OF THE UUIEORD CaSE 
 
 WlSTO 
 
 HE Gu 
 
 \ 
 
 ULTRAMONTANISM w. LAW and HUMAN RIGHTS. 
 
 " Cnrrol is he who n aintnirs ll:nt in a conf'ict between ihc civiland 
 eccleainBticiil lis-WK, the civil law tliouiJ \xcsw.\\." — tyllalvs, l-rcp. xlii. 
 
 " Indlviilnnl Rrrvitrtlc. iicvrvjr i Irx'Ct, will rot fjitifs'y the pariy new 
 tlominaut in tho Latin Cliorch- Mic KtHlc mufct also be a HlavV. * '* * 
 No one can liccni** Ijir convert willioit rcrcLDcii p his recral and uenlal 
 freei'om. and placiug his civil loj-ally uud duty at tLc n.crcy of Sinolhcr."'— 
 Qladatcne, 
 
 'J'lie history of the Guibord cnse is one of the deepest interest, 
 and illustrales fully the truth of the alcove quotations, whieh 
 appear on its title pace. Joseph Guil.ord, a quiet, respeetable 
 Roman Catholic, who belonged to the Instilut Canadien, vhich 
 corresponds to a ..lechanics' Institute, was with his fellow 
 members denied the rites of the Chureh at deatii and Christian 
 burial after it, ostensibly because (here were immoral Ijooks in the 
 library. The members of the Institute diil all they could to 
 appease Uishop Bourget, even sending him a cr.talogue of boohs 
 asking that the immoral ones be indicated, but after .six months 
 the catalogue was returned unmarked. Wlilj the matter was at 
 Rome for adjudication, Guibord was on hisdeithbed, and it was 
 only the night before his death that the information that the 
 general excommunication was sustained leaclied Montreal, and 
 Guibord died unshriven. Although he owned a plot in the 
 Roman Catholic Cemetery in Montreal, Inirial in it was refused 
 him ; the case came up in the Courts and was appealed from 
 Court to Court till it reached the Privy Council of England, 
 wher^ it was decided in favor of the burial. The corpse was 
 brought to the cemetery gates, but the bearers were stoned 
 away by a drunken crowd ; and the last act was the burial en- 
 forced by the presence of the military. 
 
 This volume will detail every act in this conflicL of might 
 against justice and law, and the means taken on both sides to 
 obtain the victory ; the interesting correspondence between 
 Archbishop Lynch and Mr. Uoutre, the Institut Canadien's 
 counsel, on the justice of the burial the correspondence of 
 Bishop Bourget on the matter ; the judicial decrees; the portraits 
 of the most important pirsons interested, including Bishop 
 Bourget, Mr. Doutre, Guibord and others ; and altogether will 
 be one of the most interesting books lately issued from .the pres^. 
 Price 50 cents. 
 
 JOHN I OUGALL & SON Montreal. Publishers. 
 
 }\ 
 
• r 
 
 I 
 
 IVi/nc'Ss Publishing Hoitst', Montreal. 
 
 Sol - Fa Lessons 
 
 WITH 
 
 A Selection of Hymns an5 Songs, 
 
 A COMPEMDIUM, IJV THK AID OF WHICH ANYONE 
 
 WITH A REASONABLE KXOWLEDGEOF MUSIC 
 
 CAN BOTH LEARN AND TEACH THE 
 
 TONIC SOL-FA SYSTEM. 
 
 :0:- 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN McLaren 
 
 Durinjf the last few years the Sol- Fa system of music has 
 made ijreat a'lvances, mori.- pArticulirly in En;jlanfl. It is said to 
 be particularly useful in te idling children in Sabbath or other 
 schools. This little book of 48 page's contain; some of the newest 
 and best hymns sung by 
 
 M R. SAN KEY 
 
 in. I others in \.\\t revival services, where they have done much 
 good. It is prefaced w-'l. a full description of the system, from 
 which any, with only a fair knowledge of vocal music, can both 
 Ic.irn or teacli it. Tiie following is the appearance of a portion 
 of a pagj of this bo jk : 
 
 ( 
 
 s, : 
 
 Key A Flat. TUNE 
 Si : d ; 111 : r 
 
 " EVAN." 
 
 d : li 1 si : si 
 
 \ 
 
 mi: — 
 
 s I : s 1 1 s 1 : f 1 
 
 nii: f 1 1 mi : nil 
 
 
 d : 
 
 m : m j d : ti 
 
 d : d 1 d : d 
 
 \ 
 
 .'^^''- 
 
 di : d, I dps, 
 
 li :f 1 d :d 
 
 1 he - Lord's my Shepherc 
 
 , I'll not want, He 
 
 ^v. 
 
 JOHN DOUGALL & SON, Montreal, Publishers. 
 
 s 
 
 I 
 
 •V 
 
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 -c^^ 
 
 DRESS AND HEALTH: 
 
 .3, 
 
 
 ! 
 
 ^- 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 (»ii, 
 
 HOW TO BE STEONG. 
 
 cti^lt for' plitatlicS 
 
 't 
 
 JOHN DO U GALL Sc SON 
 
 1876. 
 
 ■^;. 
 
.*v 
 
 
 
 f. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 •\s. 
 
 As will be seen at a glance, this little volume is 
 a compilation rather than an original work. The 
 matter it contains has been selected from many 
 different sources, in order to present as forcible a 
 statement as possible of the evils resulting from 
 the present bad arrangement of the undercloth- 
 ing, and of the possible improvements which may 
 be made. It gives practical directions for mak- 
 ing the reform garments, and has been placed at 
 a very low price that it may be within the reach 
 of all. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PA UK 
 I. 
 
 Intbodugtoby C 
 
 II. 
 
 Rkform Nkedep ..:...* : 7 
 
 III. 
 
 Compressing and DEPEEf5siNG 17 
 
 IV. 
 Too Much and Too Littli: Co 
 
 V. 
 
 Other Needed Reforms 79 
 
 VI. 
 
 Slauohteeino the Innocents S7 
 
 VIT. 
 
 What Is to be Done About It ? 108 
 
 VilT. 
 
 OuTTiNd AND Fitting 1 Ui 
 
 IX. 
 
 R-ESOLVINfi AND T)orN(i • \5',i 
 
 X 
 
 Thoughts for thi'; Th'^tvihtfui 1 74 
 
 t 
 
, MESS AND HEALTH. 
 
 I. 
 
 INTRODUCTOHY. 
 
 Dress Reform and Dress Emancipation are ex- 
 pressions odious beyond measure to the mind of a 
 large majority of the cultivated and refined women 
 of the day. Why is this ? Because the expres- 
 sion seems to them to savor of the ill-odored 
 " Woman's Rights" movement. Because it brings 
 up reminiscence." of the days when certain women^ 
 more brave than wise, attempted to lead a move- 
 ment for the deliverance of their sex from the 
 thraldom of dress by the adoption of the 
 " bloomer" costume, which satisfied neither 
 womanly taste nor womanly dignity ; and because, 
 farther, certain reformers of the present day have 
 appeared in a mannish garb which has caused 
 people to cry out in disgust " They want to dress 
 like men." For these reasons the idea of dress- 
 reform is a . hateful one, though few thoughtful 
 women will refuse to acknowledge that the present 
 style of dress is not only uncomfortable but un- 
 healthful and really burdensome. The idea that 
 
mmnmm 
 
 mmmm 
 
 6 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 W- 
 
 it is possible so to improve upon dress that it shall 
 be all that is desirable, and yet not render the 
 wearer conspicuous, has only begun to dawn upon 
 the civilized world. Many attempts have been 
 made at certain hygienic homes, and by individual 
 enthusiasts, to make matters better, but it has 
 been reserved for a Committee of Boston ladies to 
 work out the idea completely and to inaugurate a 
 movement which, we trust, will become world- 
 wide, and which, if carried out, is likely to relieve 
 women from a large proportion of the diseases, 
 under the weight of which many how drag out 
 weary lives. 
 
 The principles of this reform are easily under- 
 stood, and should be taken to heart by all who 
 care for their own health, or that of their chil- 
 dren. The details by which these principles are 
 brought to bear upon the clothing are more con- 
 fusing, and will probably take many dijffei nt 
 forms. In fact, no two ladies are likely to agree 
 in every particular in working out these details, 
 as the same result may be obtained in a dozen 
 different ways. The main point is that the reform 
 should be made, and in insisting upon this we 
 shall avail ourselves of various hygienic works, 
 but mainly of the book published by the Boston 
 Committee in furtherance of their scheme. This 
 book is entitled ''Dress Reform." It appears 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 that this Association, believing that what wa^ 
 necessary was not to assail Fashion but to teacl| 
 Hygiene, took measures for the public delivery of a 
 series of free lectures to women concerning the struc- 
 ture of their dress and (he important natural laws 
 with which it conflicts. Believing that no views 
 coidd be so intelligent, and no words so effective, 
 as those of experienced female physicians, they 
 selected four ladies, regularly educated, and able 
 members of the medical profession, and urged 
 them to lecture upon the theme : '' Dress as' it 
 aiFects the Health of Women." One of these 
 ladies has been for thirty years a well-known and 
 successful practitioner, and during that period has 
 had a wide acquaintance with the physical suifer- 
 in,gs of her sex. Another is President of the 
 Ladies' Physiological Instit ate of Boston, and lor 
 a long time has taken charge of an important dis- 
 pensary at the North End. Two are regular pro- 
 fessors and one a lecturer in the Medical Depart- 
 ment of the new Boston University ; and all are 
 practising physicians of good repute. These 
 ladies, without thought of recompense, consented 
 to lecture, animated simply by a benevolent desire 
 to stay the tide of misery and weakness which 
 they are daily called upon to observe, and their 
 words are surely worthy of careful attention. The 
 lectures were delivered to crowded and eager ^ 
 
8 
 
 INTRODinrollY. 
 
 audiences in Boston, and '^ ere afterwards repeated 
 by request in several adjoining cities. These 
 physicians, each speaking from her own point of 
 view, agreed not only in general statements, but 
 also in minute details as to the evil wrought by 
 the present style of dress. These lectures occupy 
 the greater piirt of the book of which we are speak- 
 ing, and of course the plan followed involves con- 
 siderable repetition. Mrs. Abba Goold Woolson 
 followed the other lectures by one taking up par- 
 ticularly tlic aesthetics of dress, and gives an ap- 
 pendix filled with practical hints with rogard to 
 the proposed improvements. We recommend this 
 book ("Dress Reform") to the attention of those 
 ^\'ho are interested in the spread of the movement, 
 and in the emancipation of others, but for the 
 ' icfit of those whc cannot obtain it and who yet 
 "wish to improve upon their present unhygienic 
 dress, we will try to point out in this little work. 
 In the first place the charges brought against the 
 present styles, and, in the second, the principles of 
 the proposed reform, with suggestions as to how 
 they are to be carried out. 
 
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 II. 
 
 TvEFORM NEEDED. 
 
 DllESS UNHEALTIirilL. 
 
 An Englisli physician, J. Milner Fothergill, 
 M.D., M.R.C.P., in a recent book entitled "The 
 Maintenance of Health: A Medical Work for 
 Lay Readers/' makes sweeping charges against 
 woman's dress, though he evidently considers any 
 radical change as too much to be hoped for. He 
 says : — 
 
 *' Next to this grave matter of shoes comes the 
 question of female dress. This is usually himg 
 from the hips and drags heavily upon the waist- 
 band, tightly encircling the abdomen, and so 
 pressing down its contents. This is not quite so 
 great an evil since the introduction of drawers 
 into the list of articles of feminine apparel, but 
 still heavy masses of dress, petticoats and skirts, 
 are too frequently worn. The skirt of the dress 
 is really onlj'- to conceal the lower limbs in con- 
 formity with custom, and a pair of doeskin or 
 flannel drawers will give more comfort than several 
 
 A 2 
 
10 
 
 REFORM NEEDED. 
 
 Ipyers of dress, flannel or quilted work fashioned 
 as a skirt or petticoat. 
 
 " The corset, too, which within certain limits is 
 not objectionable, is too often an utter abomina- 
 tion, and in the older days of stays, with a huge 
 wooden * staybone* in front, and eyelet holes with 
 a lace at the back, a maid might be seen lacing up, 
 hole by hole, her unhappy mistress ; whose bust 
 was driven out at the top of the stays in a most 
 repulsive manner, her respiratory movements al- 
 most arrested, and her abdominal viscera squeezed 
 till the indentations of the ribs upon the liver 
 could be distinctly seen on examination after 
 death. The pressure exerted by the combined 
 action of stays and heavy skirts, upon the contents 
 of the abdomen and pelvis is most baneful, and 
 displacement of the womb is one of the com- 
 monest consequences. The dress arrangements of 
 women are radically bad and need great reform.'* 
 
 Lest the animus of this quotation from an Eng- 
 lish book should be overlooked, we repeat again 
 the last sentence, " the dress arrangements of 
 women are radically bad and need great reform." 
 
 URDENSOME. 
 
 Mrs. Woolson, an American lady, says of her 
 country-woman : — 
 
 " She makes a new demand upon her attire. 
 
 .^_!52!?*-- -■■ '>i-^ 
 
REFORM NEEDED. 
 
 11 
 
 She must still work in it, she must still look beau- 
 tiful in it, but she must also be strong and com- 
 fortable and happy in it. It is iu this requirement 
 which she makes of her present dress that it 
 fails her the most. She does manag* to accom- 
 plish a deal of earnest work in it, though much 
 less than she is capable of doing. The generations 
 which she must please think she looks beautiful 
 in it, since their eyes have become accustomed to 
 its ugliness ; but she finds herself borne down by 
 its weight, breathless from its compressions, and 
 weary with buffeting its opposing folds. 
 
 " Off all nations of the earth, we suffer the most 
 from the cruel tyrannies of dress. None need a 
 serviceable costume so much as we, and none have 
 one so bad. Indeed, American ladies are known 
 abroad for two distinguishing traits (besides, pos- 
 sibly, their beauty and self-reliance), and these are 
 their ill-health and their extravagant devotion to 
 dress. The styles they effect, in their reckless 
 disregard of hygienic rules, stiike sturdy German 
 and English matrons with dismay. At home, our 
 country-woman suffers the more because she is not 
 content to be useless and indolent in all her fine 
 array. Her energy, her intelligence in other mat- 
 ters, must exercise themselves within her house 
 and without it. "With strength impaired, she at- 
 tempts to live the life of the busy worker in a 
 
il! 
 
 til 
 
 12 
 
 KliFOUM NKEDED. 
 
 dress that the merest idler would find burdensome 
 and oppressive. The result is a pain and a weari- 
 ness that lead inevitably to discomfort and dis- 
 €ase ; but she has not yet learned that, while dis- 
 comfort is a sin against herself, disease is a sin 
 against God." * 
 
 UGLY. 
 
 Fashionable dress is generally acknowledged to 
 be unhcalthful and burdensome, but the further 
 accusation may be made that it is palpably ugly. 
 The writer just quoted says : — 
 
 " Probably no obstacle stands more in the way 
 of a sensible dress- reform, such as health and 
 comfort imperatively demand, tljan the prevailing 
 notion, that any such change must necessarily be 
 hideous, and an offence to the eyes. 
 
 " We hear much from the opponents of such 
 reform concerning the grace of flowing lines; 
 and short skirts they refuse to tolerate, because 
 an important feature of attractive raiment would 
 thus be destroyed. But look at our modern robe. 
 Where be the flowing lines in the flounces, the 
 ruflles, the puffs, the over- skirts, and the buuch- 
 ings at the waist, which a friend, for lack of a 
 more definite term, has called the great hereafter ? 
 ^ot a single straight sweeping cur^^e from belt to 
 hem ; but a terraced, balconied, Chinese pagoda, 
 
REFORM NEEDED. 
 
 13 
 
 with gingerbread ornaments confusing ita archi- 
 tecture, and meaningless pendants swinging from 
 every support. Oan any plain, short skirt be half 
 so bad as that ? 
 
 *' Thosa who advocate a real and enduring dress- 
 reform do so not only for the sake of health, but 
 because they cannot forget, through blind adora- 
 tion of prevailing deformities, in what the true 
 harmonies of form and color consist. One whose 
 life, as an artist, has been given to the study of 
 beauty's laws, arraigns our present dress for ' its 
 inconsistency with the just proportions of the 
 human figure ; for its prevention of muscular 
 freedom, and consequent falsity to grace and 
 beauty ; for its excessive ornamentation, and its 
 introduction of senseless and glaring deformities, 
 which are disgraceful to the wearor, demoralizing 
 to the cpmmunity, and an outrage to good taste 
 and common sense.' This is the dress wiiich it is 
 claimed we cannot change to-day without destroy- 
 ing all the loveliness of female apparel : a dress 
 Avhich so clothes the feet that graceful walking is 
 impossible, and substitutes a hobbling limp in 
 place of that firm and noble carriage w^hich de- 
 notes the queen, — bicedit rcgina ; which prevents 
 the arms from being raised above the head, and 
 keeps them skewered feebly to the side ; which 
 obliterates curve of outline and sweep of fold by 
 
 ^■gi : 
 
14 
 
 HKFORM NEEDED. 
 
 moaningless and redundant trimming ; which 
 exaggerates the bust, humps the hips, pinches the 
 waist, and in every way tends to destroy freedom 
 of motion and symmetry of form/* 
 
 COMPLICATED. 
 
 Another chargf) brought against the dress of 
 the present day is its complicated nature and the 
 vast amount of work involved in making up the 
 attire. Though this reform will simplify the work 
 somewhat, it still professes to concern itself chiefly 
 with the underwear, and will only affect the outer 
 dress in so far as it educates a more correct taste 
 and encourages sensible styles. It will, however, 
 not be out of place to consider the matter in the 
 light thrown upon it by one of the lecturers of 
 whom we were speaking : — 
 
 " There is another evil demanding our earnest 
 consideration, and it is one of the growing evils 
 of the day. I mean the immense labor bestowed 
 on all the garments, and extending to every article 
 that is worn, so that those whose circumstances 
 demand economy must give a large portion of their 
 time to the making and embellishing of their 
 wardrobes. By exhausting strength in too long- 
 continued labor, they deprive themselves of sleep, 
 ' tired Nature's sweet restorer,' and have no time 
 for intellectual pursuits. * Is not the life more than 
 

 REFORM NEEDED. 
 
 15 
 
 meat, and the body more tluui raiment ' ? And 
 shall we neglect the soul and intellect God has 
 given us, that we may adorr the perirthing 
 body? 
 
 " The laviflh expenditure in dress, so common at 
 the present time, is a matter of serious concern 
 to those who reflect much upon its tendencies. 
 Society, b}' denying to women the propriety of 
 earning money, or of entering into any business 
 that will make them self-supporting, fixes ♦^he 
 badge of poverty upon all who attempt to provide 
 in this manner for their own or their families' 
 wants. Thus the burden of mortified pride is 
 added to the exhausting labor of self-support, 
 which is also rendered heavier for women than 
 for men by the inferior wages the former receive, 
 and by the necessarily higher cost of their ward- 
 robe when they procure it made for themselves, 
 as men procure theirs. In consequence of this 
 expense, women seek to -eke out their small in- 
 comes by sewing their own clothes , and, when 
 engaged in business, this must be done aftei* the 
 regular task of the day is finished. Such weary- 
 ing occupation often keeps them at work till the 
 small hours of the night, and thus deprives them 
 of the rest which is needful to refresh their tired 
 bodies, and to render them fit for the labor of the 
 coming day. We need not wonder that many 
 
16 
 
 REFORM NEEDED. 
 
 women break dovni under these accumulated bur- 
 dens, especially when we consider that they have 
 to do all this in clothing not fitted to preserve 
 health, but rather calculated to fetter their powers, 
 and to make work and motion a painful eiFort, 
 Headaches and indigestions must result from the 
 constant application of eyes, mind, and muscles 
 to this most sedentary of all employments ; and, 
 the persons so occupied become depressed in 
 spirits, unacquainted with the activities of the 
 world, and little fitted to bear their part in those 
 conversations and amusements which should make 
 the family the centre of intellectual and aifcctional 
 enjoyments, and which alone can retain husbands 
 and brothers in the pure and tranquillizing atmos- 
 phere of a happy and cultivated home." " 
 
 Thus we see the charges brought against the 
 woman's dress arc that it is uiihealthy, burden- 
 some, ugly, and unnecessarily complicated. It is, 
 however, with the charge of unhealthfulness that 
 we have principally to do in this volume, and we 
 will consider the points made by the- reformers 
 more in detail. 
 
- (piWd'lTBBHKWf'V^'ww ^>>'- i.ilP'W^i in i»liW"P)l 
 
 III. 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPHESSING. 
 
 Mary J. Safford- Blake, M.D., whose obser 
 vations are entitled to special attention, as it is 
 evident that she has carefully studied this mat- 
 ter, says : — 
 
 " A woman, accompanied by her husband, came 
 to consult me on one of the dreariest days of last 
 winter. Her teeth chattered with the eold ; and 
 you will not wonder at it, any more than I did, 
 when I tell you that she had on cloth gaiter-boots, 
 thin stockings, loose, light cotton drawers, two 
 short skirts of flannel, a long one of water-proof, 
 another of white cotton, an alpaca dres -' kirt and 
 an over- skirt. This made sc\?n thicknesses, mul- 
 tiplied by plaits and folds, about the abdomen. 
 Each of these skirts was attached to a double 
 Iband ; and thus the torrid zone of the waist was 
 encircled by fourteen layers. All this weight and 
 pressure rested upon the hips and abdomen ; and 
 ihe results were — what they must be, if this pres- 
 sure has been long continued — a displacement of 
 
18 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 I ■ ... ■ 
 
 all the internal organ , for you cannot displace 
 one, without in some way interfering with another. 
 Here was this woman, with nerves as sensitive as 
 an aspenleaf to external influences, clad so that 
 every breath of cold chilled her to the marrow, 
 the neck and shoulders protected by furs, the 
 hands and anns pinioned in a mufF, the head 
 weighted down by layers of false hair, and the 
 legs almost bare ; while her husband, the personi- 
 fication of all that was vigorous in health, was en- 
 veloped, as he told me, from head to foot in flannel. 
 His every garment was so adjusted that it not 
 only added to the heat generated by the body, but 
 helped to retain it. I question whether that hale, 
 hearty man would not have suffered twinges of 
 neuralgia or rheumatism, had he been exposed, as 
 his wife was, to the severity of our atmospheric 
 changes. Even in summer these changes are sud- 
 den and severe ; and then men are usually clothed 
 in woollen garments, only a trifle thinner and 
 lighter than those worn in winter ; while women 
 are often decked in nothing but muslin, and are 
 chilled by every sudden nor'-easter. 
 
 '* The soldiers of Austria were accustomed to 
 retain their pantaloons about the hips by means of 
 a leathern strap. Disease of the kidneys increased 
 so alarmingly among them that especial attention 
 was drawn to the subject ; and it was decided that 
 
 \ 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 19- 
 
 the closely buckled band about the loins was the 
 cause of the evil. A decree then went forth mak- 
 ing the adoption of suspenders imperative. It 
 would have been wise if that imperial investiga- 
 tion had extended to the garments worn by 
 women, and had led to a prohibition of the many 
 bands and heavy weights that encircle and drag 
 them down. The physical degeneracy of the 
 mothers will leave its impress upon sons, as well 
 as upon daughters ; and in the end the national 
 strength languishes under the weaknesses of in- 
 heritance. 
 
 " The vigor of manhood in Austria is squan- 
 dered in military service, and this throws much 
 manual labor upon women. In Vienna, you will 
 see in early morning a rank and file of two hun- 
 dred men and women awaiting the roll-call that 
 shall apportion to each his or her labor for the 
 day. Side by side with the men, women lay rail- 
 road iron, dig sewers, and carry up over steep 
 ladders, on their heads or shoulders, brick and 
 mortar for the laying of walls. Their dress, in 
 length at least, is well adapted to the \Cork as- 
 signed them ; it reaches but little below the knee, 
 and is there usually met by long boots. You see 
 at a glance that the broad peasant waist has never 
 been crowded into corsets, and you rejoice in ih«3 
 belief that it is free from the inward distortions 
 
 .#• 
 
 *"' 
 
 4:' 
 
20 
 
 (OMPllESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 t 
 
 that bone and steel are known to produce. But a 
 fearful accident occurred in Vienna, while I was 
 in the hospitals : a brick block of houses fell, kill- 
 ing and mangling several women who were em- 
 ployed in building them. ' Now,' I thought, as 
 I entered the pathological room where a jmst- 
 morton examination was to be held upon them, 
 * I shall once, at least, have an opportunity of 
 seeing the internal organs of women normally ad- 
 justed.' To my utter astonishment, it was quite 
 the reverse. In one case, the liver had been com- 
 pletely cut in two, and was only held together by 
 a calloused bit of tissue. Some ribs overlapped 
 each other ; one had been found to pierce the 
 liver, and almost without exception that organ was 
 displaced below the ribs, instead of being on a 
 line with them. The spleen, in some cases, was 
 much enlarged ; in others, it was atrophied, and 
 adherent to the peritoneal covering. The womb, 
 of all internal organs the most easily displaced, 
 owing to its floating position in the pelvis, and to 
 the fact that it lies at the base, and is pressed upon 
 by all a'bove it, was in every instance more or less 
 removed from a normal position. 
 
 " I acknowledge that these peasant women were 
 overburdened by hard labor ; but many of the 
 abnormal conditions I saw were dependent simply 
 upon this fact, — that heavily quilted or home- spun 
 
 '\ 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 21 
 
 skirts liad been worn from childhood ; and that 
 these had always rested upon the hips, with each 
 band snugly drawn about the waist and tied by 
 strings. 
 
 " It has been said that the injury caused by 
 bands about the waist is obviated by wearing cor- 
 sets beneatli them. You need but a moment's re- 
 flection to see that this cannot be so. The pres- 
 sure of the bands helps to adjust the steels and 
 bones more closely to the yielding portions of the 
 body. As no support is given to the corsets at 
 the shoulders, and the skirts are not attached tc 
 them, they can furnish no relief whatever to the 
 weight of garments resting upon the hips, and 
 they add greatly to the unremitting downwar(^ 
 pressure upon the abdominal organs. Although 
 these women did much hard work witlw nature sq 
 violated, still it stands to reason that they could 
 not have had the same amount of strength and, 
 endurance that a normally organized body would, 
 have given them. It is always observed how 
 much earlier they grow old than the men of their 
 own rank ; and this waste of force, this 'friction 
 upon self, with the various added burdens they 
 bear, is no doubt the cause. 
 
 " In my own country, the cases I have examined, 
 after death have been limited in number, bulj 
 nearly every one seen has revealed the same sad 
 
 J 
 
 ,^P^- 
 
tJJ I I MI I I I I 11 'I 
 
 22 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 s 
 
 
 a ) 
 
 history. Chiefly through the courtesy of other 
 physicians, I have had the opportunity to be 
 present at the autopsy of several unmarried 
 women. They were of the class not compelled to 
 labor unduly, so that most of the abnormal condi- 
 tions of the generative organs could be rationally 
 accounted for only by improper dress. Whenever 
 it was possible, I inquired into the habits of life 
 and the modes of dress of the subject. In one 
 girl, aged twenty- two, whose waist after death 
 was 80 slender that you might almost have spanned 
 it with united fingers, there was an atrophied state 
 of all the glandular organs. It seemed to me 
 possible, and oven probable, that this condition 
 had its origin largely in a continuous pressure 
 upon that life-endowing nervous centre, the solar 
 plexus, and upon the central glandular or- 
 gans. 
 
 " Recent experiments by a well-known physi- 
 cian of New York show conclusively that con- 
 tinual pressure brought to bear upon the stomach 
 of animals causes their death more quickly than 
 when applied to any other organ. The death of 
 women occurring under the influence o^ anaes- 
 thetics has in many instances been traced to im- 
 peded circulation resulting from tight clothes. 
 
 " However loosely corsets are worn, the steels 
 mid bones in them must adjust themselves to the 
 
 "\. 
 
COMPEESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 23 
 
 various curves and depressions of the body, and 
 must be felt, else the sure death that women so 
 often declare would follow their abandonment 
 would not bo anticipated. As soon as the muscles 
 give warning, by their weakness, that they are no 
 longer adequate to the support of the body, it is 
 high time they were given ever^ chance to re- 
 cuperate. Instead of this, we continue to hold 
 them in immovable bondage. If the walls of a build- 
 ing were weak, we should expect only temporary 
 aid from props ; but we should seek diligently for 
 the cause of the weakness, and then turn all our 
 efforts to remedy it. So it should be with our own 
 muscular walls. 
 
 " It does not require the foresight of a seer to 
 diagnose a chronic case of tight lacing and of 
 heavy skirts. You know in the main what the 
 results must be : you know that when the abdomi- 
 nal muscular walls become inert, almost wasted, 
 one of the important daily functions of the body 
 is rarely, if ever, normally carried on. We might 
 enumerate the ill results that follow ; but these 
 are only links in the long chain of disorders that 
 have won the disgraceful appellation of women's 
 diseases, when they should be termed women's 
 follies. There has been no blunder in the forma- 
 tion of women : there would be harmony of action 
 in each organ, and in the function assigned it, if 
 
 i 
 
 /^' 
 
omn^m/mmm 
 
 24 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 nature were not defrauded of her rights from the 
 cradle to the grave." 
 
 nature's packing. 
 
 The following paragraphs are from the lecture 
 of Caroline E. Hastings, M.D., and should be care- 
 fully studied by ^hose who are not already familiar 
 with the physiological facts of which she speaks. 
 She says : — 
 
 " I do not understand the object of these lec- 
 tures to be to propose a certain style of attire to 
 be adopted as a uniform ; but rather to arouse the 
 minds of women to the fact that the present styles 
 of dress are injurious, and to tell them wherein 
 and how these styles act injuriously, leaving each 
 woman to adopt for herself anv external costume 
 or style that she may prefer. 
 
 " We only insist that the attire shall be so con- 
 structed as to hang from the shoulders ; that it 
 shall be of sufficient waist-measure to allow a con- 
 tinual full expansion of the chest, and of a length 
 that shall prevent the dress from doing the work 
 of the scavenger. 1 say we aim first to convince 
 women that there is need of a reform in dress ; 
 and we believe that, when they are once thoroughly 
 convinced of this, they ^vill bring about a style 
 suited to the wants and tL . comfort of the body. 
 
 r\ 
 
"■"t!'*U*' l)t^ <PKW'' 
 
 C0MPRK,SS1NG AND DEPHES8ING. 
 
 25 
 
 First, then, we will consider the bony frame- work 
 of the body. Some of the bones enclose cavi- 
 
 
 ties, — as, for instance, the ribs, which enclose the 
 thoracic cavity ; and again the hip-bones, as they 
 
 r. 
 
 •• * 
 
26 
 
 COMrRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 I! 
 
 } 
 
 are familiarly called, which, with the lower pari 
 of the spine, form a cavity known as the pehiq 
 cavitv. Between these two cavities lies another, 
 which has no bony walls, only walls of flesh. 
 
 **The thoracic cavity, as I have said, is formed 
 by the ribs, twenty-four in number, twelve on 
 each side, with the breast-bone in front, and the 
 spinal column behind. To the spine the ribs are 
 joined by strong ligaments ; but they are lini&hed 
 out and attached to the breast-bone by mear^^i of 
 cartilage, with the exception of the two lower, 
 which are attached only to the spine. 'As these 
 are not attached to the breast-bone, they are called 
 floating ribs. The cartilaginous attachments per- 
 mit the cavity thus enclosed to be expanded to a 
 great extent, provided their elasticity is not inter- 
 fered with by some contrivance supposed to be an 
 improvement upon the original plan When 
 these cartilages become ossified, as they sometimes 
 do, from disease or old age, the ribs are fixed in 
 position, and the chest can no longer dilate. This 
 is not considered an advantage, but a misfortune. 
 The same result, if it follows the wearing of a 
 garment, occasions no concern ; but I can see lit- 
 tle difterence between the two evils. I believe 
 that any lady, young or old, must experience serious 
 injury when she interferes with one of Nature's 
 Wise designs by compressing these twenty-four 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPllESSINCJ. 
 
 27 
 
 ribs to such an extent that the cartilages in which 
 they terminate cannot act. What difference does 
 it make whether these ribs expand or not, you 
 may ask. The difference between ease and dis- 
 ease. The form of the ribs is more readily changed 
 than that of any other bones of the body ; for 
 their situation is such that the constant pressure 
 of the clothing above them day after day needs 
 to be but slight to bend them downwards and in- 
 wards. "Well, you say, what if they are bent 
 downwards and inwards ? what harm is done ? It 
 is an old saying that Nature abhors a vacuum. 
 There is no unoccupied space in the body ; and to 
 render any part of it smaller than Nature de- 
 signed is to cause the organs occupying that part 
 to diminish in size, or to crowd together one upon 
 another. In either case, Nature's processes are 
 sadly interrupted. It does not require any great 
 pressure to lessen the capacity of the thoracic 
 cavity, provided the process be begun in early life. 
 Snugly fitting dresses worn from childhood till 
 the age of eighteen or twenty will accomplish the 
 result ; but, as if to make assurance doubly sure, 
 the mother buys a compress, which she clasps 
 around the body of her little girl while yet the 
 bones are in their most yielding state. And no 
 wonder the girl of sixteen or eighteen thinks she 
 cannot live without her corsets. The muscles, 
 
28 
 
 COMf^RESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 never having been allowed to do the work of sup- 
 porting the Bpinal column and abdominal organs, 
 refuse to come up to the full measure required of 
 them at a moment's notice, and, as a natural con- 
 sequence, th ) young lady feels all she expresses 
 when she says, * It seems as though I should drop 
 to pieces without my corsets.' 
 
 ** "Within this thoracic cavity of which I have 
 been speaking are contained the vital organs, — 
 viz., the lungs and heart, — called vital because an 
 entire suspension of their functions for a few 
 minutes will result in death. 
 
 " The lungs, which are the essential organs of 
 respiration, are composed of tubes, blood-vessels, 
 and air-cells ; and these are held together by a 
 tfiin connective tissue. The tubes are branches 
 of the trachea or wind- pipe. These branches 
 divide again and again, as a tree divides into 
 branches and twigs, till they become too minute 
 to be seen with the naked eye. At the utmost 
 extremity of each of these twigs may be seen 
 little bladders or air-cells, which receive the air 
 as it comes through the tubes. It is estimated 
 that there are 600,000,000 of these air-cells in 
 one pair of lungs The blood-vessels coming 
 from the heart divide and subdivide, and finally 
 form a network around each one of the air-cells. 
 All the blood in the body passes through the 
 
COMPRKSSING AM) DliJMtliSSl NO. 
 
 29 
 
 lungs onco in five minutes, to be oxygenized. 
 The oxygen is taken with every breath into tbtiae 
 air-cells, and is given off to the blood through 
 the membranes of the a *r- cells and the blood- 
 vessels. The blood in turn gives up its carbon, 
 and that which upon entering the lungs was a 
 purplish hue becomes a bright cherry color. 
 Thus vitalized, it is returned to the left side of 
 the heart, to be sent out all over the body, carry- 
 ing life and health to every part. Situated be- 
 tween the lungs is that hollow muscular organ, 
 the heart; and below them is the liver, the 
 greater part of which lies upon the right side, 
 and extends downward, in its normal position, to 
 about the lower border of the tenth rib. The 
 diaphgram is the eternal breathing muscle ; and 
 it acts a very important part in the process of 
 respiration. It is attached in front to the lower 
 portion of the breast- bone ; on either side, to the 
 inner surfaces of the cartilages and bony portions 
 of six or seven lower ribs ; and behind, to that 
 part of the spinal column known as the lumbar 
 region. 
 
 " Now as to the action of the diaphragm. It 
 modifies to a great extent the size of the chest 
 above it, and the position of the thoracic and 
 abdominal viscera below. During inspiration, the 
 cavity of the chest enlarges in a vertical direction 
 
60 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 nearly two inclies, and tlie greater part of tliis in- 
 crease is due to the descent of the diaphragm. I 
 have been thus minute in this description for a 
 reason thait will appear later. 
 
 " Let us compress the chest by putting a band- 
 age around the ribs : draw it tight, and what is 
 the effect ? You can hardly find breath to say, 
 *0h! I cannot breathe;' you grow red in the 
 face ; the head seems ready to burst. What is 
 the trouble ? Why, you have so compressed the 
 lungs that the air cannot pass into the air-cells, 
 and you are in a state of asphyxia, and this means 
 a suspension of the respiratory process. 
 
 *' Let us look for a moment at the result of such 
 a suspension when it becomes entire. You will 
 remember about the network of blood-vessels sur- 
 roimding the air-cells. A complete suspension of 
 respiration causes a retardation or stoppage of the 
 circulation through this network. Now the blood, 
 arrested in the lungs, ceases to reach the heart in 
 sufficient quantities to support the action of that 
 organ, and the phenomena of life are suspended. 
 In order that the blood may pass through the pul- 
 monary veins into the left heart, it must be 
 changed from venous to arterial blood ; that is, 
 the blood which is charged with carbonic acid 
 upon arriving at the lungs must give off this 
 poison, and at the same instant receive the oxygen^ 
 
 
COMPRESSING AXD DEPRESSING. 
 
 31 
 
 which has been brought into the air-cells in the 
 air we have inhaled. But the pressure we have 
 applied has prevented this change from venous to 
 arterial blood, by cutting off the supply of oxygen ; 
 the blood cannot return to the left side of the 
 heart, and the lungs cannot receive any more from 
 the right side of the heart ; neither can the right 
 heart receive any further supply from the veins 
 which usually empty their contents into it ; and 
 consequently we have a state of congestion all 
 over the system. If this pressure should be kept 
 up from two to five minutes, death would be the 
 result. 
 
 " The chest of a pugilist was so much com- 
 pressed by an attempt to take a plaster cast of his 
 body in one piece that all action of the muscles of 
 respiration was prevented. As he was unable to 
 speak, the danger of death became imminent ; 
 but his situation was discovered in time, and his 
 life saved. 
 
 " I have been describing the consequence of 
 a (;omplete suspension of respiration, which is 
 death in from two to five minutes. lias it oc- 
 curred to you that there is one article of woman's 
 dress so constructed that, when clasped around the 
 waist, it applies this pressure, — not to the extent 
 of instant death indeed, but yet to sux^h an extent 
 that those who wear it live at a dying rate ? The 
 
y-' 
 
 32 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 II 
 
 corset is the name of this instrument of human 
 torture. So far as I am able to learn, no one takes 
 to corsets naturally, and it is only after hours of 
 suifoi'ing that one becomes able to endure them 
 without pain, — I mean, of course, if by good for- 
 
 tune one has lived to the age of thirteen or fif- 
 teen without them. But now-a-days children's 
 corsets arc for sale, and almost as soon as the lit- 
 tle girl is able to walk these are put upon her. 
 Too young to enter a protest, and too young to 
 bo heeded if slie should, she grows up accustomed 
 to the pressure, and scarcely realizes the change 
 from children's to ladies' corsets. 
 
■.U^fV^PWI. P'lJ^. 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 33 
 
 "Just here, perhaps, you are recalling the 
 position of the lungs, and saying that corsets do 
 not encroach upon the region occupied by those 
 organs, and therefore cannot compress them, and 
 that all my charges fall to the ground. Not so 
 fast, my dear girl ! Please to recall the dia- 
 phragm, and its attachments to the lower part of 
 the breast-bone and to the inner surfaces of five 
 or six lower ribs, and then tell me if the pressure 
 applied by corsets does not fall directly over this 
 region. 
 
 " For a complete filling of the air-cells, the 
 cavity of the chest must be enlarged, ixL order to 
 accommodate an increased expansion of the lungs ; 
 and I have shown you that this increase in the 
 size of the cavity is due, in a great measure, to 
 the depression of the diaphragm. Now, if you 
 have compressed the ribs and cartilages so mu<*h 
 that they cannot act, th(^ diaphragm remains 
 nearly or quite motif olsss, the cavity- v>^ ;?maller 
 than is requisite for a complete rilling of all the 
 air-cells, a part of the blood is not oxygenized, 
 and the system sufiers just in proportion to the 
 amount of carbonic acid retained in the blood. 
 
 "'But I do not wear my corsets too tight,' 
 every lady is ready to answer. I never yet have 
 been able to find a woman who did, if we accept 
 her own statement ; and yet physicians are con- ■• 
 
 B2 
 
 III— 1 ii-n^^m 
 
34 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 fltantly called upon to treat diseases which are 
 aggravated, if not caused, by wearing corsets. 
 Nature is long suffering, and for a time yields 
 her rights so quietly that we do not realize how 
 we are imposing upon her. But a day of reckon- 
 ing will surely come, perhaps too late. You do 
 not wear your corsets too tight, you say. Tell 
 me, then, why they unclasp with a snap, and why 
 you involuntarily take a long, deep breath when 
 you unclasp them. 
 
 " If you will allow me, I will explain why you 
 take that long, deep breath. All day the blood 
 has been seeking to enter the blood-vessels of the 
 lungs in a greater quantity than they were able 
 to receive on account of the pressure upon them. 
 Now the pressure is off ; and the blood, no longer 
 obstructed, rushes into the network of blood- 
 vessels surrounding the air-cells, and instantly 
 there is a call for oxygen to take the place of the 
 carbonic acid contained in it. Involuntarily we 
 answer this call with a deep breath, and a com- 
 plete filling of the air-cells. In a moment equilib- 
 rium is restored ; the blood flows into the lungs 
 more steadily, and an easy respiration is then 
 sufficient to supply the demand for oxygen. 
 
 PALPITATION OF THE HEART. 
 
 ** But I have hinted at diseases produced and 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 SB 
 
 aggravated by this continued pressure. For in- 
 stance, the obstruction of pulmonary circulation 
 may and does cause enlargement of the left ventricle 
 of the heart, as well as congestion of brain, liver, 
 and kidneys. ... 
 
 '' Nearly a year ago a young lady complained 
 to mo that she was troubled with palpitation of 
 the heart, at times quite seriously so. A glance 
 was sufficient to show me that she wore corsets, 
 and that thoy were drawn to the last fraction of 
 an inch. I told her she was injuring herself ; 
 and, that I might prove it, induced her to let me 
 measure the corsets as she was wearing them. I 
 found they measured just twenty- two inches. I 
 then put the tape-measure around her waist, and, 
 holding it loosely between thumb and finger, 
 asked her to fill her lungs. She did so, and the 
 measure drew out to twenty- six inches. So you 
 can readily see that she was sacrificing health to 
 a fancied style of beauty. I am sorry to say that 
 sJie would not change her habit, and I have since 
 known this same young lady to get another to 
 hook her corsets for her, because they were so 
 small that she could not possibly bring them 
 together. 
 
 " I am very glad to be able to give you an in- 
 stance which proves, on the other hand, that there 
 is still some sense left among women. A young 
 
36 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 lady came to me quite out of health, and with 
 symptoms of weakness of the lungs. Among 
 other remedies I prescribed the leaving off of cor- 
 sets, which advice she was willing to receive and 
 adopt. She became very much better ; and I be- 
 lieve the greater part of the improvement was due 
 to the giving up of corsets, aided by a few weeks 
 in the country, where the lungs were c*t liberty to 
 take in God's sweet air without hindrance. 
 About six months after, she wished to attend a 
 wedding reception, and thought she would put on 
 the corsets, just for the evening. To use her own 
 words, she Was in agony till she could get home 
 and take them off, thus proving what I have be- 
 fore stated, that women do not take to corsets 
 naturallv. 
 
 
 REMEDY SUGGESTED. 
 
 " I think I have given you good reasons why 
 you should not wear corsets ; and now let me sug- 
 gest in their place a waist cut to fit the form, a 
 basque vaist, with a strong band stitched upon 
 the skirt or lower part. Upon this band sew five 
 or six buttons, and in the bands of all the skirts 
 work button-holes to correspond. You will then 
 have all your clothes suspended from the shoulders 
 without straps or tapes, which I have always found 
 inconvenient from the fact they will slip off 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 37 
 
 from the shoulders. Having thus suspended your 
 skirts to a loose, well-fitted waist, you not only 
 allow plenty of room for the expansion of lungs^ 
 but you avoid any stricture about that part of the 
 body situated between the thoracic and pelvic 
 cavities, and which has only muscular walls. The 
 stricture caused by bands about the waist when 
 they are worn without corsets has been an argu- 
 ment in favor of the latter article of dress ; but 
 the style of waist proposed will remedy this evil, 
 while it accom \tes itself to the needs of chest 
 and lungs. 
 
 " But why, if we leave the lungs free to act 
 well their part, need we remove the weight of 
 clothing from the hips ? Tl s brings us to con- 
 sider the pelvic cavity and its contents. This 
 cavity is formed by the union of the two bones 
 called in familiar language hip-bones with each 
 other in front, and with the lower part of the 
 spinal column behind. In the lower part of this 
 cavity are situated the bladder and the uterus or 
 womb. Above these organs are twenty-five feet 
 of intestines lying loosely in the abdominal cavity, 
 with no great amount of support from above. 
 These lower organs are joined together by the 
 folding over and around of the membrane called 
 peritoneum, so that whatever displaces one will 
 afiect the others to a certain extent. There ir-^. 
 
 ' - ■ ^"*- 
 
wmw 
 
 38 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 some ligaments which hold them in position, but 
 they will yield if too great or too long- continued 
 pressure bo exerted from above downwards. In 
 this way some of the diseases peculiar to woman 
 are brought about. 
 
 "When the weight of clothing is supported 
 only by the hips, it has a tendency to press dowi) 
 the intestines, and their weight must then fall 
 upon the organs below. These, in their turn, are 
 forced to yield. One of* the rules for treatment 
 of diseases of this nature laid down in the books 
 is, " Remove all weight from the hips." 
 
 " "Well, having fastened your skirts in this way 
 make them as light as possible for the sake of thk 
 shoulders, lest you may overburden them. To 
 this end, make the skirts a* free* from heavy trim- 
 mi^jjS as possible, and cut off the extra length 
 that requires a facing of wiggin or leather to 
 keep it tolerably clean. Do this with your walk- 
 ing dresses, at least ; and then, having a broad, 
 low heel upon your boot, a half -day's shopping, 
 or even a whole day's, may be accomplished with 
 ease and comfort. 
 
 " If you have cut off the train, you will be able 
 to dispense with that other superfluity, the pan- 
 nier, — I believe that is the name of the excres- 
 cence, — and which when worn bears upon a region 
 that ought not to be subjected to heat or pressure. 
 
 1 « 
 
 I ^ 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 39 
 
 In the region which this article of dress covers, 
 the kidneys are situated ; and just below them, 
 upon either side, large bundles of nerves make 
 their exit from the spinal cord, and pass down- 
 ward to the lower extremities. Any continued 
 pressure over this region will tend to cause either 
 a dormant condition of these nerves, or perhaps 
 an irritation which will result in pain and lame- 
 ness. A young lady of my acquaintance — who, 
 because it is the fashion, feels herself obliged to 
 wear one of these deformities — always suffers a 
 severe pain in the hip as a penalty, and yet she 
 must wear it when she goes out, for *how she 
 would look without it !' " 
 
 i: 
 
 DIG LEWIS ON CORSETS. 
 
 Dio Lewis, in his " Chats with Girls," says : — 
 
 ♦ ♦ ♦ ' ♦ « 
 
 *' Every one of us lives in proportion to our 
 breathing. If we breathe strong, we live strong ; 
 if our breath is weak, our life is weak. The 
 quantity of air we take into our lungs is the mea- 
 sure of our life. Now go with me to a ball-room. 
 Here we are. Notice that couple ; they are now 
 dancing Watch them. "When they stop, observe 
 their breathing. There, he has taken one deep 
 breath, filling all the lower part of his lungs, and 
 
40 
 
 COMPBE88INO AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 h f 
 
 now his breathing is quiet. But notice her breath- 
 ing. See how the upper part of her chest works up 
 and down. "Watch her ten minutes ; that panting 
 and pumping will go on. . 
 
 " What do you suppose is the reason for this 
 difference P Do you suppose the Creator made a 
 woman's lungs so deficient in size that she has to 
 work that way to get her breath ? Among young 
 children there is no difference in the breathing of 
 boys and girls. If we visit a farm where persons 
 of both sexes arc engaged in out-door labor, with 
 the same freedom of dress, we shall not find the 
 women breathing in that peculiar way. 
 
 " No ; the working and pimiping of that chest 
 are owing to her dress. The lower part of the 
 lungs is the large part. There is where most of 
 the breathing should be done. There is where 
 the man does most of his breathing. But she 
 has so squeezed and contracted the lower part of 
 her lungs that very little breath can get down 
 there, so that the small upper end of the 
 lungs is compelled to do most of her breathing. 
 It is that little upper end which is working away 
 so hard under the ribs now. When a lady dances, 
 runs, or goes up stairs, she suffers thumping of 
 the heart and labored breathing, not because the 
 original constitution of her breathing apparatus 
 was faulty, but because she so compresses the 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 41 
 
 lower, larger part of her lungs tliat she is like a 
 person who has but a single lung to breathe with. 
 There is a lack of breathing- room, and of course 
 the breathing is labored. With knife on corset- 
 string, every woman should cry out, * Give me 
 liberty or give me death !' 
 
 ''Perfect freedom for lungs, heart, liver, and 
 stomach is indispensable to good respiration, cir- 
 culation, and digestion. Without such freedom, 
 living is not living, but dying. 
 
 " You think the corset may be worn so loose 
 that it will not do harm. If worn so loose as not to 
 interfere with respiration when you lean forward 
 in needlework, then it will make the form look 
 badly. A corset to look well mvist be worn snug 
 and trim. And then you think the corset is im- 
 portant as a skirt- supporter. It certainly may be 
 of service in this way, but it is not half as good 
 a skirt- supporter as a pair of common gentle- 
 man's suspenders. No, girls, the corset is bad, 
 and only bad. It is not only a great enemy to 
 health, but it is the great destroyer of female 
 grace and beauty. A rigid stiffness in the centre 
 bf the body makes all the movements of the en- 
 tire body stiff and ungraceful. As to the matter 
 of beauty, it's a question between the Creator and 
 the dress- maker. I take sides with the Creator ; 
 Some K)lks take the other side." 
 
43 
 
 (OMPRE8SlN« AND DEPllESSINO. 
 
 THE HELLE AND THE MELLOWS. 
 
 Cliurles Reade, the novelist, in one of his recent 
 stories, entitled "A Simpleton," gives a striking 
 scene where the sensible doctor who figures in the 
 tale is called in to attend the heroine with whom 
 he is in love. It is as follows : — 
 
 \ 
 
 " The examination was concluded. 
 
 " Dr. Staines looked at Rosa, and then at her 
 father. The agony in that aged face, and the 
 love that agony implied, won him, and it was to 
 the parent he turned to give his verdict. 
 
 " ' The hemorrhage is from the lungs — ' 
 
 ** Lusignan interrupted him : * From the lungs !* 
 cried he, in dismay. 
 
 " ' Yes ; a slight congestion of the lungs.' 
 
 " * But not incurable ! Oh ! not incurable, doc- 
 tor !' 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! It is curable — easily — by 
 removing the cause.' 
 
 " ' And what is the cause ?' 
 
 " ' The cause ?' — He hesitated, and looked rather 
 uneasy — * Well, the cause, sir, is tight stays.' 
 
 " The tranquility of the meeting was instantly 
 disturbed. * Tight stays ! Me !' cried Rosa. 
 * "Why I am the loosest girl in England. Look, 
 papa !' And, without any apparent effort, she 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 4a 
 
 f 
 
 drew herself in, and poked her little fist between 
 her sash and her gown. ' There !' 
 
 " Dr. Staines smiled sadly and a little sarcasti- 
 cally : he was evidently shy of encountering the 
 lady in this argument ; but he was more at his 
 ease with her father ; so he turned towards him 
 and lectured him freely. 
 
 " * That is wonderful, sir ; and the first four or 
 five female patients that favored mo with it, made 
 me disbelieve my other senses ; but Miss Lusignan 
 is now about the thirtieth who has shown me that 
 marvellous feat, with a calm countenance that be- 
 lies the Herculean efibrt. Nature has her every- 
 day miracles : a boa-constrictor, diameter seven- 
 teen inches, can swallow a buffalo ; a woman, with 
 her stays bisecting her almost, and lacerating her 
 skin, can yet for one moment make herself seem 
 slack, to deceive a juvenile physician. The snake 
 is the miracle of expansion ; the woman is the 
 prodigy of contraction.* 
 
 '* * Highly grateful for the comparison !' said 
 Rosa. * Women and snakes !* 
 
 " Dr. Staines blushed, and looked uncomforta- 
 ble. ' I did not mean to be offensive ; it certainly 
 was a very clumsy comparison.' 
 
 " * What does that matter ?' said Mr. Lusignan, 
 impatiently. ' Be quiet, Rosa, and let Dr. Staines 
 and me talk sense.' 
 
 V 
 
44 
 
 (OMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 " * Oh ! then I am nobody in the business !* 
 said this wise young lady. 
 
 " * You are everybody,' said Dr. Staines, sooth- 
 ingly. 'But,* suggested he, obsequiously, 'if 
 you don't mind, I would rather explain my views 
 to your father — on this one subject.' 
 
 " ' And a pretty subject it is.' 
 
 " Br. Staines then invited Mr. Lusignan to his 
 lodgings, and promised to explain the matter ana- 
 tomically. * Meantime,' said he, ' would you be 
 good enough to put your hands to my waist, as I 
 did to the patient's.' 
 
 " Mr. Lusignan complied, and the patient began 
 to titter directly, to put them out of countenance. 
 
 " ' Please observe what takes place when I draw 
 a full breath. Now apply the same test to the 
 patient. Breathe your best, please. Miss Lusig- 
 nan.' 
 
 " The patient put on a face full of saucy mutiny. 
 
 " ' To oblige us both.' 
 
 " * Oh ! how tiresome !' 
 
 " * I am aware it is rather laborious,' said 
 Staines, a little dryly ; ' but, to oblige yo'ir 
 father !' 
 
 ** ' Oh, anything to oblige papa,' said she, spite- 
 fully. 'There! — And I do hope it will be the 
 last — la ! no ; I don't hope that, neither.' 
 
 " Doctor Staines politely ignored her little at- 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 45 
 
 tempts to interrupt the argument. ' You found, 
 sir, that the muscles of my waist, and my inter- 
 costal ribs themselves, rose and fell with each in- 
 halation, and exhalation, of air by the lungs.' 
 
 '* * I did *y but my daughter's waist was like 
 dead wood, and so were her lower ribs.' 
 
 " At this volunteer statement, Rosa colored to 
 her temples. ' Thanks, papa ! Pack me off to 
 London, and sell me for a big doll ! ' 
 
 *" In other words,' said the lecturer, mild and 
 pertinacious, *with us the Ixmgs have room to 
 blow, and the \\^holo bony frame expands elastic 
 with them, like the woodwork of a blacksmith's 
 bellows : but with this patient, and many of her 
 sex, that noble and divinely- framed bqllows is 
 crippled and confined by a powerful machine of 
 human construction ; so it works lamely and 
 feebly : consequently too little air, and of course 
 too little oxygen, passes through that spongy 
 organ whose very life is air. Now mark the 
 special resu»lt in this case ; being otherwise healthy 
 and vigorous, our patient's system sends into the 
 hmgs more blood than that one crippled organ can 
 deal wiT t a small quantity becomes extravasated 
 at odd timec ; i. accumulates, and would become 
 dangerous: then lN?ture, strengthened by sleep, 
 and by some hours' relief from the diabolical en- 
 gine, makes an effort, and flings it off : that is why 
 
46 
 
 COMPRESSSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 i 
 
 the hemorrliage comes in the momiE g, and why- 
 she is the better for it, feeling neither faint nor 
 sick, but relieved of a weight. This, sir, is the 
 rationale of the complaint! and it is to you I must 
 look for the cure. To judge from my other 
 female patients, and from the few words Miss 
 Lusignan has let faU, I fear we must not count on 
 any very hearty co-operation from her : but you 
 are her father, and have great authority ; 1 con- 
 jure you to use it to the full, as you once used it 
 — to my sorrow — in this very room. I am for- 
 getting my character. I was asked here only 
 as her physician. Good-evening.' 
 
 " As he seemed in no hurry to repeat his visit, 
 Mr. Lusignan called on him, and said, politely, 
 he had hoped to receive another call ere this. * Per- 
 sonally,* said he, * I was much struck with your 
 observations ; but my daughter is afraid she will 
 catch cold if she leaves off her corcet, and that, 
 you know, might be very serious.* 
 
 " Dr. Staines groaned. And, when he had 
 groaned, he lectured. * Female patients are won- 
 derfully monotonous in this matter ; they have a 
 programme of evasions ; and whether the patient 
 is a lady, or a housemaid, she seldom varies from 
 that programme. You find her breathing life's 
 air, with half a bellows, and you tell her so. 
 ' Oh no,' says she; and does the gigantic feat of 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 47 
 
 contraction we witnessed that evening at your 
 house. But, on enquiry, you learn there is a raw 
 red line ploughed in her flesh by cruel stays. 
 * What is that ?' you ask, and flatter yourself you 
 have pinned her. Not a bit. ^ That was the last 
 pair. I changed them, because they hurt me.' 
 Ijriven out of that, by proofs of recent laceration, 
 they say, *If I leave them off" I should catch 
 my death of cold,' which is equivalent to say- 
 ing there is no flannel in the shops, no com- 
 mon sense nor needles at home.' 
 
 " He then laid before him some large French 
 plates, showing the organs of the human trunk, 
 and bade him observe in how small a space, and 
 with what skill, the Creator has packed so many 
 large, yet delicate organs, so that they shall be 
 free and secure from friction, though so close to 
 each other. He showed him the liver, an organ 
 weighing four pounds, and of large circumf erenc<j, 
 the lungs, a very large organ suspended in the 
 chest and impatient of pressure ; the heart, the 
 stomach, the spleen, all of them too closely and 
 artfully packed to bear any further compression. 
 
 " Having thus taken him b" the eye, he took 
 him by the mind. 
 
 '* ' Is it a small thing for the creature to say to 
 her Creator, ' I can pack all this egg-china better 
 than you can,' and thereupon to jam all those 
 
48 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 
 vital organs close, by a powerful, a very powerful 
 and ingenious macliine ? Is it a small thing for 
 tliat sex, wliich, for good reasons, tlie Omniscient 
 has made larger in the waist than the male, to say 
 to her Creator, 'You don't know your business; 
 women ought to be smaller in the waist than men, 
 and shall be throughout the civilized world ?' 
 
 " In short, he delivered so many true and 
 pointed things on this trite subject, that the old 
 gentleman was convinced, and begged him to 
 come over that very evening and convince Rosa. 
 
 '* Dr. Staines shook his head, dolefully, and all 
 his fire died out of him at having to face the fair. 
 ' Reason will be wasted. Authority is the only 
 weapon. My profession and my reading have both 
 taught me that the whole character of her sex un- 
 dergoes a change the moment a man interferes 
 with their dress. From Chaucer's day to our 
 own, neither public satire, nor private remon- 
 strance, has ever shaken any of their monstrous 
 fashions. Easy, obliging, pliable, and weaker of 
 will than men in other things, do but touch their 
 dress, however objectionable, and rock is not 
 harder, iron is not more stubborn, than these soft 
 and yielding creatures. It is no earthly use my 
 coming, — I'll come.' " 
 
 !'■-, 
 
 * 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 49 
 
 V 
 
 < i 
 
 We cannot give the whole story ; but for the 
 benefit of interested readers we may state that in 
 the course of time Miss Rosa was convinced, gave 
 up her corsets, " sewed on stiff flannel linings,** 
 and was " seen walking miles from home and 
 blooming as a Hebe." 
 
 THE JUGGERNAUT OF FASHION. 
 
 Mercy B. Jackson, M.D., speaks in the same 
 strain as the others whom we have quoted : — 
 
 *' The corsets that encase the body in a prison 
 barred with whalebone and steel are often so 
 olosely applied that the action of the muscles 
 within is rendered almost null. This stricture 
 about the waist, by which the liver is so pressed 
 upon that its proper action is greatly obstructed, 
 compresses at the same time the large blood- 
 vessels of the trunk in such a manner as to seri- 
 ously check the flow of the vital current within. 
 In consequence of this, all the functions of the 
 body are carried on with constantly diminishing 
 force, until the health is completely destroyed 
 and an invalid life makes it impossible longer to 
 endure the pressure of the agent that has wrought 
 such fearful changes in the formerly healthy 
 body. -) 
 
 ** The evil just spoken of is not always so great 
 
 :1 
 
60 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 as here depicted : it is proportioned to tlie amount 
 of compression, and the strength of the frame 
 subjected to it. The less the compression, the 
 less the evil ; and the more vigorous the body, 
 the better able it is to resist the influence, and to 
 carry on its work in spite of the obstacles that 
 oppose it. 
 
 " Such consequences as we have mentioned, 
 one might think would be sufficiently alarming 
 to banish from intelligent society the health- 
 destroying corset. But no ! The Juggernaut of 
 fashion demands the sacrifice, and its victims 
 must fall down and be crushed by its senseless 
 power. 
 
 " Next come the skirts, which hang upon the 
 weakened muscles of the abdomen. These gar- 
 ments are often many in number, and at the 
 present time are generally weighted with heavy 
 trimmings reaching to the knee or hips. All 
 this burdensome material is fastened tightly about 
 the waist to prevent dragging ; while the skirt ft 
 either so long as to obstruct the movement of the 
 feet in walking, or, still worse, it trails upon the 
 dirty sidewalks, gathering up the refuse of the 
 streets, and disgusting those whose sense of neat- 
 ness makes them shudder to think of the condi- 
 tion of a nice dress after a public promenade. 
 
 "These long dresses, heavily trinmied, not 
 
("OMPRESSINO AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 61 
 
 only entail the evils mentioned, but by their 
 weight drag down the contents of the abdomen, 
 and produce the many diseases peculiar to women, 
 which are the opprobrium medicale of the present 
 day. Then comes the over-skirt, which is looped 
 up on the back and sustained there by ' bishops* 
 of a greater or less weight and density. The mass 
 thus formed heats the spine, prevents the wearer 
 from resting comfortably on chair or seat, and 
 fatigues the back by an unnatural position, as well 
 as by the weight thus heaped upon it. Could any 
 thing more unsightly be invented ? Or could one 
 imagine t^t any lady, who naturally desires to 
 look well and to be prepossessing in her appear- 
 ance, would willingly array herself in such a cos- 
 tume ? 
 
 " The present short walking-dresses are less ob- 
 jectionable than most that have been worn for a 
 long time ; but, in order to have them conform to » 
 the proper standard, the over-skirt should be dis- 
 pensed with, and the length curtailed so that they 
 would just touch the instep, and be of the same 
 length all round. Some simple trimming might 
 be used without impairing their usefulness. The 
 waist, too, should be so loose as to allow the full 
 expansion of the chest with every inspiration. 
 
 " We had hoped that this short walking-dress, 
 so comfortable and so generally liked, might re- 
 
52 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING 
 
 tain .^s place in the wardrobe of women ; but to 
 our regret and mortification we see it gradually- 
 abandoned by almost all, and a demi- train substi- 
 tuted, wbich outrages all sense of neatness by- 
 trailing along the dirty sidewalks. Or, if the 
 wearer would lift it from the ground, she is 
 obliged to swoop it up most ungracefully, or to 
 clutch it still more awkwardly with both hands, 
 thus throwing out the elbows, and reminding one, 
 by the figure she makes, of a turkey displaying 
 his plumage. 
 
 " The evils arisi .g from tight dressing are too 
 numerous to be mentioned here, but they are alone 
 sufficient to destroy the health of the most robust 
 person ; and even when the pressure thus oc- 
 casioned is only so little that it is regarded as 
 almost nothing by ladies generally, it is sufficient 
 to lower the standard of health to a considerable 
 degree. 
 
 ** No dress should be so small as to require the 
 least possible effi)rt to fasten it. It should be 
 closed by merely bringing the edges together, 
 without contraction of the chest; and, when 
 closed, the chest should be as free to expand as 
 if nothing covered it. With such garments, the 
 necessity of support from the shoulders will be 
 .pparent. 
 
 " When any injurious garment is first worn, 
 
 .^fb 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 63 
 
 Nature remonstrates, and pain or inconvenience 
 is felt ; but if we neglect these monitions, and 
 continue its use, the warning grows less and less 
 loud, until, as it were, discouraged by our wilfid 
 neglect of her cautions, Nature ceases to remon- 
 strate. But, though the sufferings first felt are 
 now unnoticed, the penalty is sure to be inflicted, 
 and we pay dearly for our disobedience in im- 
 paired health, weakened digestion, poor circula- 
 tion, diseased liver, restless nights, and the whole 
 host of sufferings that follow in the train of out- 
 raged Nature. 
 
 ** I have alrea / made it apparent, I trust, to any 
 one at all acquainted with physiology, fhat the 
 present style of woman's attire is subversive of 
 the uses whic: dress should serve, and that a radi- 
 cal change must be made before it can be adapted 
 to health and comfort." 
 
 RETRIBUTION CERTAIN. 
 
 Arvilla B. Haynes, M.D., adds her testimony to 
 those which have preceded : — 
 
 " The corset, as now manufactured and worn, is 
 loosely hooked around the waist. Owing to its own 
 weight and to that of the clothing buttoned over 
 it, it drops down till it rests upon the hips. This 
 arrangement does not remove the pressure caused 
 
I 
 
 54 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 by the dragging down of skirts ut the waist :. it 
 only changes it from one point to another, and the 
 result is equally injurious. When the clothing is 
 worn in tliis way, pressure is made over the abdo- 
 men, the convolutions of the intestines are 
 crowded together and the weight of all the con- 
 tents of the abdomen is thrown, more or less, upon 
 the organs within the pelvis. 
 
 " The steel spring in the front of the corset is 
 used as a support for the body. It presses upon 
 the stomach, causing tenderness of the great so/ar 
 plexus of tho sympathetic nerves that lie posterior 
 to the stomach. It weakens the abdominal 
 muscles, and destroys in a measure the true verti- 
 cal bearing of the body. 
 
 " When this vertical bearing of the body is 
 maintained, every part above rests upon that be- 
 low. The head rests upon the upper part of the 
 vertebral column, the weight of the trunk upon 
 the hips ; and the same plan is carried out through 
 tho lower extremities to the arch of the ioot. 
 When the body is in this position, the vertebral 
 column has two curves, — a lesser curve above, that 
 gives increased capacity to the chest, and a greater 
 one below. Then the abdominal muscles are tense, 
 and the weight of the contents of the abdomen is 
 thrown upon the pubic portion of the pelvis. But 
 when these muscles are weakened and relaxed, and 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 55 
 
 the greater and lower curvo in tlie spinal column 
 Is impaired, owing to pressure from above, the 
 weight of the c intents of the abdomen is thrown 
 into the pelvic cavity, causing displacement and 
 prolapsus of the organs situated there. 
 
 " Since strings ha^'^e been discarded, and firm 
 hooks and eyes used to fasten the corset, there may 
 have been a decrease in chest diseases, but there 
 has been a corresponding increase in uterine dis- 
 eases. Some of the mechanical supports that 
 have been invented for uterine displacements are 
 adjusted with the design of restoring the natural 
 curve in the lower portion of the vertebral column, 
 thus giving the abdominal muscles their true lift- 
 ing power, and throwing the weight of the abdo- 
 minal viscera upon the pubic bones of the pelvis, 
 where it belongs. 
 
 ''When questlonoJ, ladies rarely admit that 
 they wear their clothing tight. The hand can 
 be readily passed under the bands, when the 
 diaphragm is relaxed and the air is expelled from 
 the lungs, and their garments are therefore con- 
 sidered loose and comfortable. They do appear 
 to be so ; but this is apparent rather than real. If 
 the chest is subjected to pressure for a considera- 
 ble length of time, it adapts itself to that condi- 
 tion ; and we can go on increasing the pressure 
 gradually, until we have contracted chest- walls 
 
66 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 and (Esplacement ol the abdominal organs. Such 
 is the effect of habit on the system. 
 
 ** When the habit is injurious, the changes it 
 effects may be slow and imperceptible, but they 
 will break out ultimately in disease. For, al- 
 though there is a certain amount of tolerance in 
 the system, no natural law can be disregarded 
 from day to day without bringing, sooner or later, 
 a certain retribution ; and the length of time be- 
 fore it appears will bo just in proportion to the 
 nature of the abuse and the amount of vital force 
 that there is to resist it. 
 
 " Let us now try the opposite eKperiment, and 
 begin to increase the size of the bands, and to 
 allow a little more room for the movements of the 
 vital organs. If we continue to do this from time 
 to time, till the bands have been lengthened three or 
 four inches, at the end of a year we shall find 
 that they are about as tight as when we began to 
 enlarge them. But in this case the tendency will 
 have been towards health. The chest- walls have 
 expanded, and respiration has been more perfectly 
 performed. The diaphragm discharges its natural 
 function ; the circulaticto is unimpeded ; and there 
 is greater freedom in all the movements of the 
 body. 
 
 ** Mechanical pressure at any point retards the 
 onward flow of the blood through the veins to the 
 
COMPRESSING AND DlirKlUiM.NG 
 
 67 
 
 heart. The veins arc suporlicial, or near the sur- 
 face ; and pressure around the limbs at any point 
 will cause a passive congestion of the vessels bo- 
 low that point. This can bo readily demonstrated. 
 If you comi)ress tlie veins of the wri.st or arm, in 
 a few minutes the veins of the hand and arm will 
 be swollen. The blood cannot return to the heart. 
 The same takes place if there is pressure at any 
 point around the lower extremities, or on any of 
 the large veins. 
 
 WHAT SHOULD BE DONE. 
 
 " One of the important conditions to be main- 
 tained in the adjustment of our clothing is a uni- 
 form temperature over the surface of the body, 
 without pressure and with the least weight. In 
 our climate, flannel or woollen goods, as a general 
 rule, should be worn next to the skin over the 
 whole body, from the neck to the wrists and 
 ankles. If there is any idiosyncrasy which pre- 
 vents this material from being thus worn, it should 
 bo used as the second covering. 
 
 " All the clothing should be supported from the 
 shoulder. The corset should be discarded ; but if 
 it must be retained as an indispensable article of 
 dress, as it is now considered, it should be made 
 without whalebone or steel springs, and shoiJd be 
 held up by a band over the shoulder. All the 
 
 C2 
 
 S 
 
1 
 
 58 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 underclothing external to this should either be 
 attached to it, or so arranged that the weight may 
 rest on the shoulder. This may be managed by 
 means of suspenders, or by a waist fitted to the 
 form. The less the weight, the better, provided 
 the necessary warmth is secured. 
 
 ** The length of the bands around the waist 
 should be sufficient to allow the utmost freedom 
 to all the movements. Nothing ought to inter- 
 fere with the action of the abdominal muscles 
 and the diaphragm ; and the greatest chest capa- 
 city should bo secured, in order to enable the 
 lungs to perform properly the function of r i- 
 ratiou. 
 
 ** The skirts should be short enough to clear the 
 pavement, and to present their lower edges from 
 becoming damp. They should also allow free- 
 dom to the feet and limbs in that most healthful 
 of all out-of-door exercise — walking. No elastic 
 bands should encircle the limbs at any point, as 
 they retard circulation by compressing the blood- 
 vessels. The stockings may be upheld by elastic 
 bands attached at the waist to that portion of the 
 clothing which has its support from the shoulder. 
 
 " "When the clothing is arranged in this way, 
 all the weight hanging from the shoulder and no 
 pressure at any point, there is freedom of motion 
 in every part. The organs are all in their true 
 
 ► «* 
 
 A 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 « 
 
 relation to one another, and their functions go on 
 unimpeded." • . r 
 
 '.,.»', 
 
 A STANDARD WANTED. 
 
 In considering this matter Mrs. Woolson sug- 
 gests with great sense : — 
 
 *' If girding the body to the closest outline of 
 the form over the region between the ribs and the 
 hips, and there alone, is to remain the one essen- 
 tial accompaniment of a full-dress costume, might 
 we not, at least, have a fixed standard of size for 
 the waist, so that only those who transcend certain 
 bounds may feel compelled to diminish them- 
 selves? As it is, no woman, however small, is 
 small enough. Pinching appears to be indispen- 
 sable. Nature is never allowed to be right as she 
 
 IS. 
 
 )y 
 
 SIXTEEN LAYERS. 
 
 
 
 The same writer shows forcibly the innate bad- 
 ness of the present style : — 
 
 " Our ordinary dress provides two tight-fitting 
 waists, either of which suffices to force the vital 
 organs beneath it out of place and upon each 
 other. In the underwear, the corset reigns su- 
 preme ; in the outer dress, the plain or biased 
 waist is usually buttoned as tightly over the cor- 
 
II 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 set as it can possibly be drawn. Beneath sucb 
 compressions, what becomes of the action of the 
 diaphragm, the lungs, the heart, and the stomach ? 
 Then, again, every one of the lower garments has 
 a binding fastened around the waist, and this 
 binding is composed of a straight piece of cloth 
 folded double. Drawers, underskirts, balmoral, 
 dress skirt, over-skirt, dress- waist, and belt, fur- 
 nish, accordingly, sixteen layers of cloth girding 
 the stomach and the yielding muscles situated in 
 that region. These bands are all placed one dir- 
 ectly over the other on the same line, and are 
 usually made as tight as they can be buttoned ; so 
 that a belt of iron, two inches wide, welded close 
 about the body, could hardly be more unyielding. 
 In such attire, if any one escapes weak lungs, 
 short breath, palpitation of the heart, liver- com- 
 plaint, and indigestion, it is by a special inter-, 
 position of the higher powers in her individual 
 case. Who shall say this is not an age of miracles ?'* 
 
 AGREEMENT OF PHYSICIANS. 
 
 ** The weight of our clothing increases every 
 year ; and, if much more is added, women will be 
 compelled to maintain a sitting posture the great- 
 er part of the time, in order to render their dress 
 endurable. Skirts, in their best estate, require 
 considerable cloth ; and the greater number of 
 
 
 r. 
 ^4 
 
 s 
 
 ,<* 
 
I 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DErilESSlNG. 
 
 81 
 
 them are made of the heaviest material commonly 
 worn, — viz., cotton cloth, with the addition of 
 trimmings. The di'ess skirt is long, and doubled 
 by an over- skirt ; and, in place of the simple 
 gimps and braids and the few ruffles once used for 
 adorning them, the material of the dress is heaped 
 upon the breadths, in the form of puffs, flounces, 
 and plaits. Add to this burden heavy cotton lin- 
 ings, facings, and * skirt-protectors ' at the bot- 
 tom, and the weight can only bt described as 
 enormous. 
 
 ** Then, as to the suspension of clothing from the 
 shoulders. Of course, all the garments worn 
 above the waist hang from the shoulders by neces- 
 sity ; but all the lower garments, as now worn, 
 hang from the hips, and have no connection what- 
 ever with any piece above. Many would fain be- 
 lieve that the hips are the proper points of sup- 
 port ; but the testimony of all medical intelligence 
 on this subject is clear and indisputable. Our 
 four physicians were imanimous and enipliatic in 
 their declarations that the hips should be relieved 
 of all weight ; and no physician has been found 
 anywhere to advocate a different view. One says 
 in a published paper, * No description can give 
 any adequate idea of the evils consequent upon 
 wearing skirts hanging from the hips ; ' and still 
 another says, * Women carry their clothing sua- 
 
 ..* 
 
62 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 pended mainly from their hips ; and, as the clothes 
 press by tiieir weight upon the soft abdominal 
 walls, they cause displacement of the internal or- 
 gans/ It is this dragging down — not upon the 
 hip-bones themselves, but upon the front and un- 
 protected portions of the body which they eoiolose 
 — ^that produces the chief harm." 
 
 NOT NEW. 
 
 This is no new notion, though perhaps people 
 have been waking up to its importance of late 
 years, since fashion has detached the waist from 
 the skirt of the dress and demanded the excessive 
 trimming of the latter, and thus increased the 
 trouble many fold. In ^ book published twenty 
 years ago. Miss Catherine Beecher says : — 
 
 " It has been shown, when the body is com- 
 pressed around the waist, that the left side being 
 over the stomach, yields more readily than the 
 right side, which is more firmly sustained by the 
 liver. In consequence of this, the ribs of the left 
 side are forced by any compression more strongly 
 toward one side of the spine than toward the 
 other. This makes a slow and steady sidewise 
 pressure until the spine yields and the discs 
 gradually harden, and a permanent curvature of 
 tJie spme is the result. This is seen by the eleva- 
 
COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSI 
 
 63 
 
 tion of one shoulder and the projection of one 
 hip. 
 
 " Another result of tight dressing is the entire 
 change in the shape of the thorax. The bones of 
 the body in early life are soft and yielding. Con- 
 stant pressure on the short ribs bring them nearer 
 together in front, while the internal organs are 
 pressed downward, reduced in size, and often- 
 times misplaced. 
 
 ** This deformity of the thorax in a mother is 
 often transmitted to her offspring as a hereditary 
 misfortune, to be perpetuated from generation to 
 generation." 
 
 And again 
 
 *' Having thus prepared the bones and muscles 
 by debility to yield readily to any injurious in- 
 fluences, a large majority of the mothers and 
 daughters of the nation adopt a style of dress that 
 is exactly calculated to produce disease and de- 
 formity. 
 
 " In the first place, they dress the upper por- 
 tion of the body so thin, that the spine and chest 
 are exposed to sudden and severe changes of 
 temperature in passing from warm to cold rooms, 
 and this tends to weaken that portion. Then they 
 accumulate such loads of clothing around the 
 lower parts of the body, as debilitates the spine 
 
I 
 
 64 
 
 COMPRESSING AND DEPRESSING. 
 
 and pelvic organs by excess of heat. At the same 
 time, they bind the ribs so tight, that there is a 
 constant lateral pressure against one side of the 
 spine, tending to produce a curvature that distorts 
 one shoulder and one hip. At the same time the 
 weight of clothing on the hips and abdomen 
 presses down on the most delicate and important 
 organs of life to move them from their proper 
 positions, while pointed bodices, with whalebone 
 pressure, co-operate as a lever in front, to accom- 
 plish the same shocking operation. The efforts of 
 the Chinese mother in binding up her child's foot 
 to distortion, is wisdom compared with the mur- 
 derous folly thus perpetrated or tolerated by thous- 
 ands of mothers and daughters in this Christian 
 and enlightened age and nation. And the most 
 terrible feature in this monstrous course is, that 
 the evil thus achieved by a mother is often trans- 
 mittecL to her deformed offspring." 
 
 4. 
 
 V 
 
 --'■ - — - 
 
IV. 
 
 TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 The second great charge brought against dress 
 as at present worn is that there is too much cloth- 
 ing provided for one part of the body and too 
 little for the rest. The hygienists all agree that 
 the extremities ought to be as thickly clothed as 
 the trunk. Indeed, if any difference is permissi- 
 ble the extra clothing ought to be upon the arms 
 and legs. Dio Lewis says in his " Five-Minute 
 Chats'':— 
 
 " Take the glass part of a thermometer out of 
 the frame ; hold the bulb imder your tongue ; 
 wait four minutes. Now look. It is 98*. That 
 tells you how warm your blood is. Now hold it 
 against your foot. Don't be in a hurry ; give it a 
 chance to feel the exact state. Down it goes to 
 65°. That tells you how warm your feet are, — 
 33° between your tongue and your feet. 
 
 " Don't '^ou know that equable circulation 
 means good health, and that the loss of it means 
 bad health ? Let us see. You have a headache. 
 Your head is hot ; it throbs. Your feet are icicles 
 
00 
 
 TOO MUCH AM) TOO LITTLE. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 
 Now put your feet in a ]ydi\ of Lot MLter. In 
 six minutes you say, * mother, how good I ieeX I 
 That TVLZ .n my head is all r^one !' You have 
 headache about half the time ? I^o ? Well, then, 
 pain in your side ? No ? Well, I venture that 
 every day you have some bad feeling about tho 
 head or neck or chest or back ? Now let mo tell 
 you something. It is very rare that a hot foot- 
 bath will not remove all those bad feelings for the 
 time being. What does this mean? AYhy, it 
 means that there is too much blood in the head or 
 neck or shoulders or back, and that there is c lack 
 of it in the feet and legs. A hot foot- oath draws 
 the blood down below, and takes tho excess of 
 blood from the upper parts. That's exactly the 
 philosophy of it. Of course the hot foot-bath is 
 a bad thing, but it serves to illustrate t'he law. 
 
 ** Now let me whisper in your ear. I will tell 
 you a secret. If, during tho damp and cold season, 
 you will wear one or two pairs of thick riannels 
 on your legs, and very thick woollen stockings, 
 and strong, broad- soled shoes, you will have all 
 the time that good flow of blood that the hot foot- 
 bath gave you for the time bemg. This will keep 
 the blood from crowding into the head and upper 
 parts of the body, and will prevent those uncom- 
 fortable feelings. ' 
 t » «<"vrhat I have been saying about the l-^gs ip 
 
TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 67 
 
 true of the arms. The extremities, both upper 
 and lower, will, in our climate, during the damp 
 and cold season, be sUre to get cold, and thus the 
 balance in the circulation is lost. Then comes 
 fulness in some organ, or in the head or neck, 
 with heat or pain, or some other un'comforfable 
 feeling. This can all be prevented by keeping 
 the blood flowing equably in all parts. In this 
 climate wo must depend upon clothing. Friction 
 is good, exercise is good ; but the main depen- 
 dence is clothing. So you Inust, for eight months 
 of the year at least, dress your legs and feet and 
 arms with very thick woollen garments. 
 
 '* Just think how women dress. About the 
 
 chest, the warmest part of the body, they put one, 
 
 two, three, iowf thicknesses ; then comes a shawl, 
 
 and then thick-padded furs ; while their legs, with 
 
 one thickness of cotton, go paddling along under 
 
 a balloon. They go to the family physician, and 
 
 say, * O doctor, my head goes bumpity-bump. 
 
 Doctor, it seems as if all the blood in my body is 
 
 in my head and chest:* ' • • ^ ' 
 
 ** * Well, madam, how about your legs and feet?* 
 
 " * O doctor, they are like chunks of ice.* 
 
 " * Ah, madam, if you dress your legs and feet 
 
 80 that the blood can't get down into them, where 
 
 can it go? It can't go out visiting. It must 
 
 stay in the bodv somewhere : and if it can't go 
 
68 
 
 TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 down into the legs and feet, it of course goes into 
 your head and chest.' 
 
 •'Girls, most of you wear too much clothing 
 about your shoulders, chest, back, and hips ; but 
 tliere is a sad lack of it about your legs, feet, and 
 
 arms. 
 
 >> 
 
 And again : — 
 
 ** The usual dress is sufficient in quantity, and 
 often good in quality, but it is very badly dis- 
 tributed. There is too much about the trunk, and 
 too little about the lower extremities. If one- 
 quarter of the heavy woollen overcoat or shawl 
 were taken from the trunk, and wrapped about 
 the legs, it would prove a great gain. 
 
 "The legs and feet are down near the floor, 
 where the cold currents of air move. The air is 
 so cold near the floor that all prudent mothers say, 
 ' Don't lie there, Peter ; get up, Jerusha Ann ; 
 play on the sofa ; you will take your death cold 
 lying there on the floor.' And th^y are quite 
 right. If the room be well ventilated, the air 
 down near the floor is very much colder than it is 
 up about our heads. And it is in that cold stratum 
 of air that our feet and legs are constantly. 
 
 " Besides this, the feet and legs, on account of 
 their being so far away, and on account of their 
 size, with the air all about them, are disposed to 
 
V 
 
 - TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 69 
 
 be too cold, even without being in a colder atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 " During the damp and cold season the legs 
 should be encased in verp thick knit woollen 
 drawers, the feet in thick woollen stockings (which 
 must be changed every day), and the shoe- soles 
 must be as broad as the feet when fully spread, so 
 that the blood shall have free passage. If the 
 feet are squeezed in the least, the circulation is 
 checked, and coldness is inevitable. This free 
 circulation cannot be secured by a loose upper 
 with a narrow sole. If when the foot stands 
 naked on a sheet of paper it measures three and 
 a half inches, the sole must measure three and a 
 half. 
 
 " I will suppose you have done all this faith- 
 fully, and yet your feet and legs are cold. Now 
 add more woollen, or, if you are to travel much in 
 the cars or in a sleigh, procure a pair of chamois- 
 skin or wash-leather drawers, which I have found 
 to be most satisfactory. ' -^^ -<• - 
 
 *' I have known a number of ladies afflicted with 
 hot and aching head, and other e^ddence of con- 
 gestion about the upper parts, who were com- 
 pletely relieved by a pair of chamois- skin drawers 
 and broad- soled shoes. Three ladies in every four 
 suffer from some congestion in the upper part of the 
 body. It is felt in a fulness of the head, in sore 
 
 . 
 
70 
 
 TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 throat, in palpitation of the heart, torpid liver, 
 and in muny other ways. It is well-known that 
 a hot foot-bath will relievo for the time being any 
 and all of those difficulties. This bath draws the 
 blood into the legs and feet, relieving the con- 
 gestion above. What the hot foot-bath does for 
 an hour, the broad- soled shoes with thick wcollen 
 stockings, and a pair of flannel drawers, with a 
 pair of wash-leather drawers added, will do per- 
 manently ; of course I am speaking of cold 
 weather. No one hesitates to multiply the cloth- 
 ing about the trunk. Why hesitate to increase 
 the clothing about the legs ? As a preventive of 
 many common aflfections about the chest, throat, 
 and head, including nasal catarrh, I know nothing 
 so effective as the dress of the lower extremities 
 which I am advocating. 
 
 ** The bath is a good thing, exercise is a good 
 thing, friction is a good thing ; but, after all, our 
 main dependence in this climate must ever be, 
 during the cold season, warm clothing. Already 
 we overdo this about our trunks, but not one per- 
 son in ten wears clothing enough about the legs 
 and feet." 
 
 SUDDEN CHANGES. 
 
 Dr. Mary Safford-Blake says : — 
 
 " That uniformity of temperature is desirable, 
 
TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 71 
 
 is readily apparent from the fact that when any 
 portion of the body becomes unduly heated for a 
 prolonged period of time, congestion of the part 
 is liable to follow ; and when, on the other hand, 
 a part is exposed to cold, the capillaries become 
 contracted, tho blood is thrown within, and any 
 organ is liable to become engorged. Tho one 
 which is weakened for any cause suffers most 
 quickly and severely ; and, unless an equilibrium 
 of circulation is soon restored, inflammation fol- 
 lows. The myriad-mouthed pores of the skin, 
 two thousand of which are found to occupy a 
 square inch of surface, become closed, the tubuli 
 leading from them become clogged, the carbonic 
 acid the pores exhaled is retained, the oxygen 
 they drank up is withheld, and the aeration of the 
 blood then becomes wholly the work of the lungs. 
 The frequently congested state of these organs 
 during a cold is the result. 
 
 "In woman's dress, from six to ten thicknesses 
 are found, as a rule and not as an exception, to 
 encase the thoracic region, while the lower ex- 
 tremities are covered, more frequently than other- 
 wise, with but one thickness, and that of cotton. 
 Under such circumstances, an effort to obtain 
 proper warmth is usually made by adding an extra 
 supply of skirts, although these garments con- 
 tribute much more to pressure about the waist. 
 
72 
 
 TOO MICH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 weight upon tlie hips, and undue heat in the kid- 
 neys and abdominal organs, than to warmth in the 
 lower extremities. But it is in these lower parts 
 of the body that heat is most needed, because 
 there the circulation of the blood is less active, 
 and an under-curreiit of air around them is apt to 
 produce chills. 
 
 ** Let a woman step from a temperature of, per- 
 haps, seventy degrees within doors, to zero with- 
 out, and stand on the street corner five minutes 
 for a car, while the breeze inflates her flowing 
 skirts till they become converted into a balloon : 
 the air whizzes through them and beneath them, 
 and a wav*:. of cold envelops ^ entire lower por- 
 tion of the body. Then let her ride i$% pxi hour 
 in a horse-car, with ankles wet -Sl^dfdi* drabbled 
 skirts, and exposed to a continual dralt of .sXv : of 
 courb9 her whole system is chilled through ; and 
 it cannot be otherwise than that a severe cold will 
 follow as the penalty for such exposure." 
 
 COLD A SEDATIVE. 
 
 • 
 
 \- 
 
 Dr. Haynes, before quoted, says on this point : — 
 
 *'Whon the temperature is such as to require 
 extra clothing or wraps for the chest and upper 
 extremities, the lower extremities also should re- 
 ceive attention. In the inclcjment season, when 
 
 >* 
 
TOO MUCH AND TOO J.ITTLK. 
 
 73 
 
 n 
 
 we are liable to sudden alterations of temperature, 
 if the thermometer drops down to zero or near 
 that point, and we go from furnace-heated houses 
 into the open air, we pun on cloaks or shawls, furs, 
 and wraps of various kinds; and encase our 
 hands, not only in gloves or mittens, but m niufFs. 
 This is all right and should be done ; but it is not 
 sufficient To the' lower extremities wai^hould 
 also add leggins and a pair oi over-drawers made 
 either of ladies' clotli or flannel ; and, in wet 
 weather, overshoes. 
 
 " When one part of the body is over-heated, 
 and another part exposed, the nerves of the ex- 
 posed part ar,e rendered more sensitive to receive 
 impressiyi^r^ 
 
 " t|i>.ti^|ttig of the influence of alterations of 
 temperJSi&i;a/!{v^hich arise from the application of 
 cold to the surface of the body, I shall use tho 
 word cold as meaning il>e absence of heat or 
 caloric. Heat and light act externally as stimu- 
 lants, and are among the conditions essential to 
 life and health. Tho normal temperature of he 
 body internally is one hundred degrees ; on xQ 
 surface, it is ninety-eight ; and the vital functions 
 cannot be cirried on if the temperature is lowered 
 in a considerable degree for any length of time. 
 
 "Cold is a sedative, and when applied to the 
 surface of the body it lowers the vital powers. It 
 
 D 
 
74 
 
 TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLK. 
 
 acts on the circulation by contracting tlio blood- 
 vessels ; and tlius tlie blo(Kl is driven within from 
 the exposed region. If one part is deprived of its 
 normal quantity of blood, another part must have 
 more than its normal quantity, consequently there 
 must be congestion of some of the in iernal organs. 
 This is what takes place when the extremities are 
 too tltftily clad to nyiintain an equal temperature 
 over the surface. The lungs and the uterine 
 organs Mre ver\ liable to congestions from thiS 
 cause, and this is particularly true in regard to 
 girls at the age of puberty. At that period, the 
 "•. ital powers have been developing and perfecting 
 the system, which is then very sisceptible of ex- 
 ternal influences. Exposure to cold at this age 
 often leads to derangements that become chronic, 
 impairing the general health, and causing a vast 
 amount of suffering, while in many cases they 
 establish right conditions for the development of 
 disease in after life. "Who among us can ot trace 
 sad results to onlv a cold ? 
 
 ** A proper clothliig of the extremities is one of 
 the best preventives ; and we may have congestion 
 of any of the internal organs from a failure to do 
 this. 
 
 " ^^^hen there is exposure to sudden changes of 
 fempeifcicare, without sufficient clothing for pro- 
 tection, the impression on the nerves and on the 
 
TOO Ml. OF AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 75 
 
 Circulation is often the exciting cause of acute 
 disease. If we look over our medical works as 
 authorities, we find a large number of diseases 
 that are referable to this cause. Who has not 
 observed the prevalence of coughs and colds, as 
 soon as there is a change in the seasons, and sum- 
 mer passes into autumn ? This is because there is 
 not a corresponding change in the clothing. The 
 function of the skin as an eliminating organ is 
 checked from these sudden alternations; and sub- 
 stances that should be removed remain in the sys- 
 tem. When we remember that from one to three 
 pounds of fluid pass off through the pores of the 
 B^in during every twenty- four hours, we see how 
 important it is that the surface of the body should 
 be kept at a proper and equable temperature for 
 its normal action.*' 
 
 
 CHRONIC INFLAMMATION. 
 
 Mrs. Woolson thus sums up the errors as 'jo 
 temperature of the dress as worn at present : — 
 
 ** The limbs have not half the amount of cover- 
 ing which is put upon the trunk of the body. 
 Many garments have no sleeves ; and what sleeves 
 thei'e are eitV er come to an end a few inches below 
 the shoulder, or they are loose and flowing at the 
 wrists, so as to expose the arm us far as the elbow 
 

 TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE. 
 
 to the cold air. As to the legs, the clothing, which 
 should increase in direct ratio to the distance from 
 the body to the feet, diminishes in the same ratio. 
 Thin drawers, thinner stockings, and wind-blown 
 skirts which keep up constant currents of air, 
 supply little wamith to the limbs beneath. The 
 feet, half-clad, and pinched in tight boots, are 
 chilled in consequ^ce. The trunk of the body 
 has as many varied zones of temperature as the 
 planet it inhabits. Its frigid zone is above, on 
 the shoulders and the chest ; for, although the 
 dress-waist extends from the neck to the waist, 
 most, if not all, of the garments worn beneath it 
 are low-necked. The temperate zone lies between 
 the shoulders and the belt ; for that region re- 
 ceives the additional coverings of under-vest, 
 corset, and chemise. The torrid zone begins with 
 the belU and bands, and extends to the limbs be- 
 low ; for all the upper garments are continued 
 below the belt, and all the lowei garments, the 
 drawers and skirts, oome up as far as the belt : so 
 that the clothing over the whole peLvic region 
 must be at least double what it is over any other 
 section. But it is more than double, it is quad- 
 ruple ; for the tops of all these lower garments 
 have a superfluous fulness of material which is 
 brought into the binding by gathers or by plaits. 
 These aro especially abundont at tb*> back, over 
 
TOO MrCH AND TOO LITll.K. 
 
 77 
 
 the spine, where one of the centres of the ner- 
 vous system is situated, and where the kidneys lie. 
 When to this excess of cloth is added a punier 
 and Bash-bows, we can understand why deadly 
 torrid heats prevail in that region, and why the 
 worst consequences follow. The result is stated 
 by a physician to be * a chronic inflammation of 
 the internal organs, — mother of a hundred ills 
 that afflict women.' " ' ^ 
 
 ■^ 
 
OTHLH NEEDED REFORMS. 
 
 The following extracts are all from the volume 
 which we have been quoting so freely, and nil 
 show to what an extent women have been mur- 
 dering themselves through ignorance. 
 
 VEILS. 
 
 "If you cover your face with veils, y u may 
 save your pallid complexion, but you wiA injiuo 
 your sight. I have the best authority tliut the 
 world has ever known for saying this. Dr. Vuu 
 Grafe, the lamented oculist of Derlin, whoso 
 memory is revered in every land, told mo ho be- 
 lieved one of the prolific causes of amaurosis, — 
 that disease in which specks float before the eyes, 
 — among women, was the wearing of spotted laco 
 veils ; and of near-sightedness among childiun, 
 the wearing of any veils. So, as you prize the 
 precious gift of sight, avoid the things that may 
 weaken it, or deprive you of it altogether." 
 
 I |i 
 
OTHER REFORMS NEEDED. 
 
 FALSE HAIR. 
 
 "And what of her hair? Why, tho poor «^irl 
 has but just begun to recognize her own shadow 
 on the side-walk, since tlie hist sudden decree of 
 fashion, when Simon says, * Thumbs up,* and 
 forthwith tlie rats, the mict^ the luxuriant braids 
 of hair and of jute rush to tho top of her head, 
 as if a pocket battery had been trifling with each. 
 This new arrangement causes no little suffewng. 
 There is a great deal of pressure and hi at on the 
 top of the brain, and a ^physician js consulted. 
 Mamma tells ^'Esculapius that once when her 
 child was very j^oung she played out in the sun> 
 without her hat ; that? a sunstroke* or something 
 iike it, occurred ; and that this affection is, very 
 probably, the result of that exposure. * Most 
 likely,' responds ^^sculapius ; and he gives quiet- 
 ing powders. The scalp adapts itself, like all 
 else in nature, to circumstances; but then a new 
 fashion-plate arrives, and as with one fell swoop, 
 at the conunand of * Thumbs down,' the whole 
 accumulation of braids, puffs, and curls drops 
 from its lofty heights, and hangs suspended at the 
 base of the brain. 
 
 " Now the distress of the darling daughter has 
 changed base : spinal meningitis is feared, and 
 medical aid is speedily secured. ^lanmia can 
 
60 
 
 OTIIKR Nf:EI)KI) RKI'OIIMS. 
 
 'i 
 
 1 
 
 ) 
 
 nftsigii no cause for tills new pbase of sufferiug, 
 unless it be that, some years before, lier daugh- 
 ter fell on the ice. This time the pain proves so 
 stubborn and severe that the doctor is forced to 
 suggest that the poor sufferer lay aside some of 
 the superfluous weight of hair that has evidently 
 caused more than a mere surface irritation. Vesi- 
 cants would have been trifling to endure, com- 
 pared with the mortification of being shorn, for 
 the brief space of a few days, of those uncleanly 
 false braids. 
 
 " The causes of all our physical weakness are 
 more assiduously sought for through a generation 
 of grandfathers, than in false hair, kilt plaits, 
 flounces, bustles, ^d corsets. But this pressure 
 and weight of the daily dress would account for 
 much of the physical prostr'^tion and enfeeble- 
 nient of the women of our time.'* 
 
 HIGH HEELS. . 
 
 ''The feet have been covered with boots which 
 are wholly inadequate to furnish protection from 
 cold and damp, while they are so shaped as to 
 compress the foot into the narrowest compass, 
 and to crowd the toes upon each other within the 
 narrow tip. This prevents the action of the 
 muscles of the foot in walkin^y, and throws the 
 
OTHER NKEDEI) REEORMS. 
 
 81 
 
 whole labor upon tlic muscles of tlie log, thus 
 disabling our women from healthful exercise to 
 such a degree that not one in twenty can walk 
 three miles without complete exhaustion. 
 
 *' The Chinese shock our moral sense when they 
 deform the feet of their women by merciless com- 
 pressson in infancy ; but we at the same time tol- 
 erate — nay, encourage — ours in wearing such 
 covering as lays the foundation for consequences 
 more fatal than theirs. The high heels which 
 have been so fashionable, but which are now, 
 happily, less used, are one of the most fruitful 
 sources of disease. They not only cause contrac- 
 tions of the muscles of the leg, so great in some 
 instances as to make a surgical separation of 
 them necessary, but by raising the heel they 
 bring the weight of the body upon the toes, and 
 thus induce the corns and bunions that alone 
 suffice to make locomotion very painful. More- 
 over, by inclining the body forward, they throw 
 the uterus out of its normal position, and oblige 
 the ligaments that are designed to steady it to 
 remain constantly in action, in order to restore it to 
 its proper place. These muscles kept continually 
 on the stretch soon lose their contractile power ; 
 and then the uterus, thrown rut of place by the 
 unnatural pose of the body, remains in this ab- 
 normal position, and often becomes adherent to 
 
 P2 
 
 ^Ar. 
 
 § 
 
I I 
 
 82 
 
 OTIIKR NKEDKI) HKKORMS. 
 
 the ttdjucent parts. When this is the case, a most 
 serious disease is entailed upon the sufferer." 
 
 GARTERS. 
 
 
 ** The compression of the calf of the leg by 
 tight ligatures, intended to keep the hose in place, 
 is very injurious, for it often causes distended 
 veins, and chocks the natural flow of blood in all 
 the vessels of the leg. We find cramps as the 
 result of this in some cases, numbness in others, 
 and coldness in a great many. 
 
 ** For keeping the stocking in place, no garters 
 are to be thought of. The highest order of Eng- 
 lish knighthood may adopt the garter as its badge, 
 and may append to it the motto, Honi Hoit qui mnl 
 y penae ; but no dress- reformer with a conscience 
 can allow it a place in her wardrobe, and not to 
 think evil of it is to be ignorant of the simplest 
 truths that physiology teaches. Neither should 
 the stocking be upheld by any elastic band that 
 connects with a waist-band, for to compress the 
 waist and to drag up^^ n the hips is far worse than 
 to compress the arteries belpw the knee. When a 
 flannel suit is worn and is close-fitting at the 
 ankle, the stocking may be drawn up over it, and 
 secured at top by a i^utton or small safety-pin. 
 When the suit is loose at the ankle, the stocking 
 
OTHKH NEEDED REFORMS. 
 
 83 
 
 I 
 
 will pass under it ; and an elastic or tape band 
 for its suspension must be attached to the upper 
 portion of the garment at some comfortable point, 
 so that tlie shoulders may servo for the support. 
 
 " For this purpose, a piece of stout tape, about 
 a third of a yard long, may be folded over at the 
 middle, so as to give the shape of a letter V with 
 the included angle made acute. Upon the point 
 of the V sew a button ; sew the two upper ends 
 of the V to the inside of the flannel or cotton 
 chemiloon, just above the waist-line at the side ; 
 then the button will hang free from the garment, 
 and will pull from the shoulder on both front and 
 back. To the button on tlie lower point of the 
 doubled tape attach some stocking-supporter that 
 may be found convenient. Some portion of this 
 supporter should be elastic ; and one end of the 
 upright band should be doubled upon itself, by 
 means of a movable slide or in some other way, 
 so that it can be made longer or shorter according 
 to the length of the stocking. The top of the 
 stocking will be secured by buttons, or by a sim- 
 ple clamping contrivance upon the ends of the 
 ■upporter." 
 
 TRAILING SKIRTS. 
 
 *' It would seem as if any one, however blinded 
 by the customs of his time, might see the ab- 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
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 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
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 4iy\.M 
 
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 84 
 
 OTHER NEEDED KEFORMS. 
 
 I 
 
 surdity of ti nation of intelligent women allowing 
 themselves, imdcr protest, to be converted into 
 city, town, and country scavengers, without thanks 
 or the recompense of admiration from those whose 
 approval is most to be desired. For women who 
 go thus hampered, there can never be one step 
 free from filth and annoyance of some kind, un- 
 less the skirts are clutched and held up by main 
 force." 
 
 With regard to the trailing skirt, Dio Lewis, 
 with more zeal than discretion, argues the suita- 
 bility of the gymnastic skirt to muddy roads. 
 There is, however, a happy medium which may 
 be hit by those desirous to dress suitably, and yet 
 fulfil all the requirements of custom. The skirt 
 may come far below the knee and yet be off the 
 ground. He says : — 
 
 THE LENGTH OF THE SKIRT. 
 
 " The most earnest efforts looking toward dress 
 reform have had reference to the length of the 
 skirt. May I be permitted a word on this point ? 
 I think one of woman's first duties is to make 
 herself as beautiful as possible. A long skirt — a 
 train even — is in fine taste. Among the dress 
 features of the stage, none is so beautiful as tlie 
 long train. The artist is ever delighted to intro- 
 
 9- ^ 
 
<> ■* 
 
 OTHER NEEDED REFORMS. 
 
 85 
 
 duce it in his pictures of woman. I confess I ad- 
 mire it, and that I wish it could be again made 
 common on all dress occasions. For the drawing- 
 room it is superb. If it is said that expense and 
 inconvenience are involved, I ask, Are they not in 
 paintings, statuary, etc. ? When we meet on 
 dress occasions, I cannot see why we may not in- 
 troduce this exquisite feature. 
 
 " For church and our usual afternoon sittings, 
 skirts which nearly touch the floor seem to mo in 
 good taste, and every way proper ; but for the 
 street, when wet, snowy, or muddy, for the active 
 duties of housekeeping, -v^hich involve much 
 running up stairs, for the gymnasium, for moun- 
 tain trips, etc., etc., I need not argue with those 
 whose brains are not befogged by fashion, that 
 the skirts should fall to about the knee. If Miss 
 Fastidious suggests that the adoption of such a 
 costume would expose the limbs, you have but to 
 point to what may be seen in wet weather on the 
 streets. The attempt to lift long skirts out of the 
 mud displays the lower extremities much more 
 than the shortest skirts. Nothing is more pitiable 
 than this street exhibition, except, perhaps, a 
 woman's attempt to go up stairs with a candle in 
 one hand, a baby in the other, and a bowl of cat- 
 nip-tea in the other.'* * 
 
 
86 
 
 OTHER NEEDED REFORMS. 
 
 His last sentence in this extract, though ab- 
 surd, will bring the subject home to every mother. 
 It is possible, though difficult, to walk in muddy 
 streets with long dresses ; but to go up stairs m 
 the same, with arms encumbered, is to endanger 
 one life if not two. Yet who thinks of insistmg 
 that the nursemaid at least shall wear short 
 dresses ? 
 
>■ ■-< 
 
 VI. 
 
 h ■ Ml 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. • 
 
 It is not possible, we think, for a woman to 
 read to this point without acknowledging that her 
 style of dress is on principles opposed to health. 
 She may, however, have become so used to her 
 fetters, and so satisfied with her languid move- 
 ments, and more or less frequent ailments, as to 
 be unwilling to make any radical change in her 
 own apparel. We wish, however, to direct her 
 attention to the incalculable and irreparable in- 
 jury thus done to the young of her own sex, that 
 if possible she may be led to use her influence to 
 promote a radical improvement. 
 
 MOTHER AND CHILD. 
 
 Speaking of the effect upon the next genera- 
 tion, Dr. Haynes says : — 
 
 " The externals of dress, though they involve a 
 moral question, se3m to me of far less conse- 
 quence than the arrangement of the under-dress, 
 for that involves health. As now generally worn, 
 
 iff 
 
w 
 
 88 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 the under-dress is weakening the present genera- 
 tion of women ; and, from the unvarying laws of 
 nature, the eifect must be transmitted to future 
 generations. Mothers will confer upon their off- 
 spring a lower and lower vitality ; and, when we 
 consider the already fearful mortality in infancy 
 and childhood, there is little hope for the future, 
 imless we can have some reform in this direction. 
 And when the offspring is not thus early cut off 
 from mortal life, in many cases tendencies to 
 disease are inherited, which become active sooner 
 or later ; and thus life is robbed of usefulness and 
 enjoyment. Instead of being self- maintaining 
 and efficient co-workers with their fellows, such 
 children find the burden of physical disability 
 laid upon them ; and they drag out a miserable 
 existence, looking forward to a release from their 
 physical weakness into that greater freedom of 
 life and activity that they hope awaits them." 
 
 Mrs. "Woolson touches upon a delicate but very 
 important point : — 
 
 "In considering the hygienic aspect of this 
 subject, physicians remember not only the daily 
 physical discomfort and suffering of women, but 
 the excessive agonies which child-birth brings 
 upon them, the frequent death which it entails, 
 and the inferior children to which such mothers 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 89 
 
 must inevitably give birth. A leading female 
 physician of Philadelphia is convinced, from her 
 own observation, that there has been an alarming 
 increase of ill-health among women during even 
 the past two years, and that maternity is fast 
 becoming an unnaturally fearful peril. She be- 
 lieves the dress commonly worn to-day to be the 
 cause of all this. 
 
 "That weakness and disease are not inherent 
 in our sex, as is too commonly supposed, will be 
 plainly apparent, if we lemember the strength 
 and vigor possessed by the women of savage 
 tribes, of the toiling peasant classes of Europe, 
 and of the harems of the East. What makes 
 the difference in this respect between them and 
 the ladies of Europe and America ? No medical 
 authority who has ever worn the dress of the 
 latter can doubt that the habitual disregard of 
 physical laws which it imposes will alone suffice 
 to account for the existence of all their diseases, 
 and old. Medical - authorities who have 
 
 new 
 
 never worn it may look far and wide for other 
 causes, but it is because they ignore or under- 
 value evils which they have never experienced. 
 
 " We are ready to trace a connection between 
 two facts which Mrs. Leonowens states concern- 
 ing Siamese women ; viz., that they wear only a 
 few ounces of loose silk cloth for covering, and 
 
90 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 
 i I 
 
 that they are wholly ignorant of the long train of 
 female weaknesses of which we hear so much." 
 
 Dr. Safford-Blake says, moreover : — 
 
 " A terrible epidemic raged in the lying-in wards 
 of Vienna, while I resided in the hospital of that 
 city. In one week thirty women were consigned 
 to their last resting-place. Here, also, I sought 
 to make earnest research into the true relation to 
 each other of the internal organs ; and when I 
 saw the condition of the majority of these poor 
 women after death, I realized, as I could never 
 have done without such opportunities, how danger 
 and suffering increase, both for mother and child, 
 in proportion as the former compresses and de- 
 presses her own body, and the embryo life it 
 shields." 
 
 Miss Catherine Beecher says, with regard to 
 inherited deformity : — 
 
 " To add to all the mischief of vitiated air, 
 young women are generally girt so tight around 
 the body, that the lower part of the lungs, where 
 the air-cells most abound, are rarely used. Ab- 
 dominal breathing has ceased among probably a 
 majority/ of American women. The ribs also are 
 girt so tight, in many cases, that even the full 
 inspiration at the top of the lungs is impossible. 
 And this custom has operated so, from parent to 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 91 
 
 child, that a large portion of the female children 
 now born have a deformed thorax, that has room 
 only for imperfectly formed lungs. The full 
 round chest of perfect womanhood is a specimen 
 rarely seen, and every day dimishing in fre- 
 quency." 
 
 DRESS OF INFANTS. 
 
 Dr. Jack8(3n says ; 
 
 " There is another point, concerning the dresses 
 of infants, upon which I desire to speak ; and I 
 Tvish I could speak loud enough for every mother 
 in the world to hear. But, as I cannot do this, I 
 will ask you all to aid in extending the word, 
 until, with united power, we may be able to in- 
 duce all mothers who care more for the health 
 and comfort of their offspring than they do for 
 the behests of fashion to adopt a better dress 
 for their children than is at present worn. Such 
 a dress, being often seen, may in time become 
 fashionable, and then those whose only guide in 
 preparing the wardrobe of the coming child is 
 the reigning style will be led into better modes, 
 so that more convenient and comfortable gar- 
 ments will be made. » 
 
 " The spec' d evil of which I speak is the long 
 skirts, dr^ ^ses, and cloaks, which are now the 
 fashion for babies. I feel the deepest commis- 
 
92 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS.. 
 
 eration for a delicate child that has hung upon 
 its tender body a flannel skirt a yard long, and 
 over that a cotton skirt equally long, and over 
 that a dress to cover both, often weighted with 
 heavy embroidery, and, if the child is carried out, 
 a double cloak longer than all, so that the skirts 
 reach nearly to the floor as the infant is borne 
 on the nurse's arm. The longer the clothes, 
 the mora aristocratic the baby, would seem to 
 be the idea of the mother ! Think of all this 
 weight attached around the waist of the child, 
 and hanging over the little feet, pressing down 
 the toes, and even forcing the feet out of their 
 natural position ! How much of deformity and 
 suffering this fashion produces, none can tell ; 
 but that it is a great discomfort to the baby, 
 every thinking mother must perceive. 
 
 " High necks and long sleeves are now fashion- 
 able for babies ; but how soon they may be laid 
 aside for low necks and short sleeves cannot be 
 foreseen. That will depend on the enlighten- 
 ment of women To expose the delicate chest 
 and arms of a, young child in our cold, change- 
 able climate, is often to bring on pneumonia, 
 and greatly to lessen the chances of life. And, 
 should life bo spared, there will be sleepless 
 nights and anxious days for the mother, as well 
 as great suffering for the child." 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 93 
 
 CHILDREN S SUFFERINGS. 
 
 Dr. Safford-Blake says on this point : — 
 
 " It is one of the sad reflections in connection 
 with the absurdities and injuries of dress, that 
 children are so early made to suffer by them. 
 The weight and pressure of wide sashes, long, 
 full bows, and over- skirts, are as heating and 
 wearying, laid upon little backs, as are the 
 various excrescences with which adult spines are 
 freighted. The old saw, that * beauty unadorned 
 is adorned the most,' is never more aptly applied 
 than to childhood. All that tends to rob this 
 early age of its naturalness and simplicity de- 
 prives it of its greatest charm. It may be an 
 old-fashioned whim, but it seems to me that the 
 unsullied, unrumpled, high-necked apron, and the 
 plain ungamished calico of former days, made 
 children more attractive than they can ever be 
 when transformed, as they now are, by dictates 
 of the latest fashion-plate, into miniature men 
 and women." 
 
 THE SCHOOL-GIRL. 
 
 It is, however, when the child grows into the 
 school-girl that the principal injury is done by 
 dress. At an age when the girl is growing 
 rapidly, not only in height but in breadth of chest 
 
^ 
 
 94 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 and girth of bust, she is put into a closely fitting 
 fashionably-made dress, which limits growth in 
 every direction. This dress she wears fifteen or 
 sixteen hours out of iLe twenty- four and for per- 
 haps six months at a time. It was probably too 
 tight to begin with, to allow of perfect freedom in 
 breathing, and during the six months which 
 elapse before another dress is made, allowing for 
 a little extra size, nature's efibrts at expansion are 
 hampered in every possible way. True, dresses 
 are often " let out," but this occurs more fre- 
 quently after a dress has been laid aside a little 
 while than when it is in constant use, and many a 
 girl wears too tight a dress, without suspecting 
 the fact. It is unreasonable to expect robust 
 health under these circumstances, and yet, when 
 hollow chests, weak lungs, and consumption, are 
 the result, it is called a mysterious Providence. 
 
 Further, at an age when for obvious reasons it is 
 imperatively necessary that skirts should be light 
 and entirely suspended from the shoulders, the 
 girl is allowed to exchange the child dress with 
 waist and skirt attached, for the woman's, with 
 skirt on band, which drags at the waist, while, to 
 make it heavier, she adds from six to twelve inches 
 to the length, and perhaps doubles the weight 
 by trimming. What wonder, then, if her health 
 becomes fitful, her periodical sufierings great, and 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 95 
 
 if her constitution be gradually undermined. 
 Her mother, however, sighs, thinks her daughter 
 must be studying too hard, and talks of the ex- 
 cessive delicacy of girls now-a-days. Now we do 
 not say that all girls, if hygienically dressed, 
 would grow up strong women, for some have in- 
 herited feeble constitutions ; but we do say that 
 so long as they dress as they do at present, they 
 can hardly fail to be feeble and ailing. 
 
 Dr. Safford-Blake says upon this point : — 
 
 "The authorities whose opinions we most re- 
 spect, because they are founded upon observation 
 and research, and not upon blind prejudice, as- 
 sure us that girls come out from the trying or- 
 deal of coeducation unscathed. In mental calibre 
 they are universally recognized as the peers of 
 boys, now that they are beginning to have equal 
 advantages with them for mental culture. Is it 
 not, then, high time for the dawn of their physi- 
 cal development ? But the only pleasurable and 
 invigorating out-of-door exercise that girls have 
 ever had has fallen into disfavor, because their 
 dress was improper, and colds were contracted. 
 Skating for girls seems doomed to be classed 
 among the lost arts. " I do not think that this 
 one healthful exercise should be denied them, 
 until it is tried under proper conditions. * 
 
f-r- 
 
 96 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 i 
 
 **A startling fact nearly precludes all gym- 
 nastic exercises in our schools : it is, that girls in 
 their ordinary attire are so hampered in every 
 ligament, joint and muscle, that, in order to have 
 perfect use and command of themselves for the 
 brief space of an hour, this straight jacket, their 
 clothes, in which they are encased sixteen hours 
 of the day, must be wholly laid aside for looser 
 and lighter raiment. If young ladies ride on 
 horseback for exercise, as is done in some of our 
 female colleges, what does it avail them, pinched 
 and burdened as they are by their dress? If they 
 row, it is under Jike conditions; and the results 
 are the same. "What if our young men found it 
 necessary to make an entire change in their ap- 
 parel before they could drill, play base ball, coast, 
 or row? They would soon find it exceedingly 
 irksome, and would seek, as girls have, their level 
 of muscular inactivity.** 
 
 Mrs. Woolson says: — - 
 
 " Of all the seed that can be scattered by the 
 wayside, none will bear such promise of fruit as 
 that which shall fall upon young minds. It is 
 with the girls that this reformation must begin, 
 if it is to prove effectual. We older women, and 
 all like us, however strong and well we may thing 
 ourselves, are, at the best, little better than physi- 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 97 
 
 < 
 
 cal wrecks, capable of repairs more or less thor- 
 ough, but still hopelessly damaged by the igno- 
 rance of ourselves and of our time. What we 
 might have been in our physiques, had we been 
 properly trained and clothed from childhood, we 
 can never know. But the girls of to-day should 
 be saved before they have learned to wear the 
 woman's dress, with its countless abominations, 
 that they may be enabled to grow up untram- 
 melled, vigorous, and happy, to show the world a 
 nobler womanhood and a nobler race of children 
 than our country offers now. Practical teaching 
 of this sort the pupils of our schools seem glad 
 to hear and enthusiastic to follow. In large cities 
 its need is imperative. 
 
 "And just now it is especially important, not 
 only to the physical but to the mental well-being 
 of our girls and women, that some thorough 
 dress-reform should be effected. It is the bodily 
 weakness, resulting so largely from their attire; 
 which has become the chief argument for dwarf- 
 ing and restraining their intellectual growth. 
 
 "Admitting, as we must, that the undoubted 
 ill-health of our countrywomen is a national in- 
 jury and a national disgrace, We should feel called 
 upon as patriotic citizens and as philanthropists 
 to do everything in our power to remove the 
 causes which induce it. No one habit of Ameri- 
 
 £ 
 
■■i 
 
 ammmmmm 
 
 i 
 
 98 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS 
 
 can life can be held responsible for it ; the agen- 
 cies are manifold wbich convert so many of our 
 vigorous girls into suffering invalids before tbey 
 have fairly grown into women : but, if there be 
 one agency worthy to be emphasized above all 
 others, I believe it to be our present pernicious 
 style of dress. A physician who could attribute 
 the sad decay of our young women to excessive 
 and continuous study, must be ignorant of very 
 much of what constitutes the daily life of those 
 of whom he speaks ; and I protest against that 
 explanation of the prevailing invalidism which 
 has lately been given. The fact that girls, upon 
 whose muscular and nervous systems such a pe- 
 culiar strain is to come in their after-lives, are 
 suffered to do nothing m youth which shall 
 strengthen those muscles and tone those nerves; 
 that half- grown limbs, unfilled lungs, sluggish 
 livers, pinched stomachs, and distorted wombs are 
 carefully cultivated by the corsets and tight 
 waists in which we encase their developing bodies; 
 and that sedentary habits, bad air, and poor appe- 
 tites are given them as a daily portion when we 
 keep them in-doors and seek to train them into 
 presentable young ladies, — argues nothing against 
 the native endurance of their physical frames, 
 but rather tends to show that there must be an 
 extraordinary amount of vi*^ality and recupera- 
 
SLALGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 99 
 
 tive power in wliat refuses so obstinately to be 
 destroyed. It is a ludicrous mistake to suppose 
 that a few sporadic cases of injudicious study in 
 tbe few female colleges of the land can be held 
 accountable for the general ill-bealth of our 
 women. Had any masculine physician who en- 
 tertains that idea ever made a study of the full 
 feminine regalia in which his delicate patients sit 
 enveloped when they come to consult his profes- 
 sional skill, he would have found, in chilled and 
 encumbered limbs, dragging skirts, overheated 
 abdomen, compressed waist, and hot and burdened 
 head, a better explanation of that state of things 
 which he and all well-wishers of our country and 
 our race must lament. It is not that boys and 
 girls are trained too much alike mentally, but that 
 they are trained too much unlike physically, 
 which works the harm. Not too much knowledge 
 of astronomy and mathematics, but too little 
 knowledge of the laws of life, is what proves 
 fatal to our young women. The remedy for their 
 weakness is to be sought, not by enfeebling the 
 mind till mind and body correspond, but by 
 strengthening the body, through intelligent 
 obedience to its laws, so that mind and body can 
 both attain their perfect stature. 
 
 **When the instruction so much needed on vital 
 matters is furnished to our girls by their parents 
 
■,n 
 
 mm 
 
 100 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 
 
 and teachers, they wiil abandon for ever the style 
 of apparel which now works such disastrous re- 
 sults ; and then, with proper clothing and proper 
 training, they will be enabled to grow up, not 
 into those strange, unfeminized beings, ashamed 
 of their sex, of whom some writers morbidly 
 dream, but into strong-bodied, strong-limbed, 
 clear-headed, warm-hearted, rosy, happy women, 
 proud of their womanhood, surrounded by hus- 
 band and children, if they prefer a domestic life, 
 but held in equal honor and esteem, if, for any 
 reasons which may seem to them good, tuey 
 choose to devote themselves, with self-reliant en- 
 ergies, to other labors for their race." 
 
 THE SCHOOL- GIRL S DRESS. 
 
 A due consideration of these arguments will 
 convince parents and teachers that a growing girl 
 ought never to wear habitually a tight close fit- 
 ting dress, even though it ^>e, as she says, " quite 
 loose." The loose blouse waist, or Garibaldi, or, 
 perhaps better, a light gabrielle, without belt, will 
 allow freedom of action and compress none of the 
 growing tissues. 
 
 A "good dressmaker" can, even without the 
 aid of corsets, do much to reduce the ribs of a 
 growing girl from the natural condition as re- 
 presented on page 25 to the deformed condition 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 101 
 
 depicted on page 32, simply by preventing growth, 
 in a natural direction. 
 
 Miss Louise S. Hotclikiss, in a published paper, 
 entitled ** Corsets vs. Brains,'' has the follow- 
 ing :— 
 
 "A few days ago, I stepped into a large corset 
 manufactory that is carried on by a woman. I 
 told her I was interested to know what women and 
 children wear in this line, and asked to see her 
 wares from the least unto the greatest. She began 
 by showing me the tiniest article I ever saw in 
 the shape of a corset, saying that was for babies. 
 Then she brought forward another grade, and still 
 another, and so on, till I think she must have 
 shown me fifteen or twenty different- sized corset 
 moulds, in which she runs the female forms that 
 get into her hands. She informed me that all the 
 genteel waists I should meet on the fashionable 
 streets of the city she made; that the mothers 
 brought their daughters in infancy to her, and 
 that she passed them through the whole course of 
 moulds till they were ready for the real French, 
 corset, when she considered them finished and per- 
 fect. 
 
 " Yesterdav I visited the first-class in one of 
 our city girls' grammar schools, consisting of 
 forty- two pupils. I had five questions on a. slip 
 
 -•'* 
 
I 
 
 102 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 of pape^, that I asked permission of the teacher 
 to put to the girls : — 
 
 " First. — ' How many o^ you wear corsets ?' ' 
 
 "Answer. — * Twenty- one. ^ I asked them to 
 stretch their arms as high as they could over their 
 heads. In every instance it was hard work, and 
 in most cases impossible, to get them above a right 
 angle at the shoulders. 
 
 " Second question. — * How many of you wear 
 your skirts resting entirely upon your hips, with 
 no shoulder-straps or waists to support them ?' 
 
 "Answer.— 'Thirty.* . . 
 
 "Third question. — 'How many wear false hair ? 
 
 "Answer. — 'Four.' 
 
 * 'Fourth question. — 'How many wear tight boots?' 
 
 "Answer. — 'None,' (which I doubted). 
 
 " Fifth question. — ' How many do not wear 
 flannels ?* .^ . . 
 
 "Answer. — 'Eighteen.' 
 
 " I went across the hall to a boys' class, corres- 
 ponding in grade, consisting of forty-four pupils. 
 I asked for the number of boys without flannelsj 
 and foimd only six. 
 
 " Of course one himdred per cent, were without 
 corsets, or weight upon hips, or tight boots, or 
 false hair. Every boy could raise his arms in a 
 straight line with his body, as far as he could 
 reach, with perfect ease. 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 103 
 
 A BROOKLYN SCHOOL. 
 
 y 
 
 » *w^. 
 
 1^0 growing child should be permitted to wear 
 a dress in school which does not admit of the 
 freest gymnastic exercises. A subordinate ad- 
 vantage gained by making these exercises a part 
 of the usual school routine would be that the 
 dress weald be of necessity suited for them. In 
 an academy in Brooklyn, attended by five hun- 
 dred children belonging to the first families, first at 
 least so far as intelligence is concerned, gymnas- 
 tics form part of the regular exercises, and the 
 pupils dress accordingly. The girls wear in win- 
 ter, with equal pleasure, comfort, and economy, 
 prettily-made dresses of substantial dark blue flan- 
 nel, trimmed with bands of lighter blue and white 
 pipings. The wide sash is of the same material 
 and the loose blouse waist is attached to the 
 light skirt, which is long enough not to be at 
 all conspicuous in the street. All vieing with 
 each other as to expensiveness and elegance of 
 dress is thus prevented, besides the great gain as 
 to healthf ulness. 
 
 If such a uniform were introduced into our 
 large schools where a love of dress and of elegant 
 dressmaking is showing itself — a reform which 
 we are almost inclined to hope for — it would be of ^ 
 the first importance t® choose a style and matei'ial 
 
 "^ V 
 
" 1""i'^^|j| , 
 
 104 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 which would be at once beautiful, durable and 
 economical, so that it would meet with the favor 
 of both parents and scLulars. Would it not be 
 well for those in charge of large female semin- 
 aries and high schools to consider whether or 
 not the adoption of a simple healthful dress by 
 their pupils would not do away with a number of 
 existing evils, not least of which would be the 
 irregularity of attendance caused by occasional 
 indispositions largely the result of errors in dress? 
 
 GYNMASTIC DRESS. 
 
 As many of our readers will probably be un- 
 familiar with the gymnastic dress, to which we 
 have alluded, we will copy the description given by 
 Dio Lewis, premising that if intended to be worn 
 in the street going to and from school, the skirts 
 would have to be much longer, though in no case 
 should they touch the ground, as it is a most dan- 
 gerous thing for girls to sit in school with damp 
 skirts. In giving an account of the Lexington 
 school, he says: — 
 
 **The costume which for years had been worn 
 in my gymnastic classes was adopted as the dress 
 of the Lexington school. 
 
 **The words Mr ess reform' mean, to most 
 , people, a short skirt. Say to them dress reform, 
 and they reply with the question, ' How short?' 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCExNTS. 
 
 105 
 
 ** The features of the dross worn by our pupils 
 may be put as follows, arranged in the order of 
 their importance. The first is tenfold more im- 
 portant than the last : — 
 
 "1st. Perfect liberty about the waist. 
 
 " 2d. Perfect liberty about the shoulders, per- 
 mitting the arm to be thrust smartly upward 
 without the slightest check, and without moving 
 the waist of the dress. 
 
 " 3rd. Warm flannels, extending to the ankles 
 and wrists. 
 
 " 4th. Broad-soled, low-heeled shoes, with thick, 
 warm hose. 
 
 " 5th. A skirt falling a little below i;he knee. 
 
 ** In regard to the material, each pupil was left 
 to her own taste. One or two began with silk, 
 but soon gray flannel became the common dress, a 
 Garibaldi w^aist, and often no ornament, save a 
 plain white coUai* and wristbands. A consider- 
 able proportion of the pupils — and among them 
 girls who at home had worn rich silks and 
 jewelry — appeared every day of the school year 
 in a gray flannel dress, which cost perhaps five 
 dollars. 
 
 GYMNASTIC EXERCISES. 
 
 r\ 
 
 " Perhaps I should say, for the information of 
 such readers as may not have an opportunity to 
 
 \ 
 
i' 
 
 106 
 
 SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 witness exercises in tlio new school, that the main 
 features of this system are the following : — 
 
 " Ist. The movements are all executed with 
 very light apparatus, wooden dumb-bells, wooden 
 rings, light wooden rods, small clubs, and bean- 
 bags. 
 
 "2d. The thoroughness of the training de- 
 pends, not upon the slow movements of heavy 
 weights, but upon the width, sweep, and intensity 
 of the movements. For example, instead of 
 "putting up" an iron dumb-bell of great weight 
 with a very limited and slow motion, with the 
 light wooden dumb-bell of the new school an im- 
 mense variety of difficult feats and posturings 
 were achieved, thus securing an infinite variety 
 and combination of muscular mot^ements. 
 
 " 3rd. Every movement is adapted to music, 
 which enhanccM the interest in ann-movements 
 quite as much as in the leg-movements of danc- 
 ing. ' . 
 
 "These gymnastic exercises figured conspicu- 
 ously in the Lexington school. Each* pupil began 
 with a half -hour or two or three half -hours daily, 
 the amount being determined by the strength of 
 the pupil. I believe that the gymnastic exercises 
 in that school were more complete than have ever 
 been witnessed in any other educational institu- 
 tion. Conscious that I was making the first eftbrt 
 
 /"% 
 
SLAUGHTERING THE INNOCENTS. 
 
 107 
 
 in the education of girls to combine thorough 
 intellectual training, I gave much attention to 
 the gymnastic exercises. Among the hundreds 
 of girls who were in the school during its history, 
 and all of whom joined in the physical training, 
 not one was injured, although the exercises were 
 exceedingly comprehensive and thorough. It was 
 the common fact that in the thirty-six weeks 
 which constituted our school- year, u pupil gained 
 three inches about the chest under the arms, while 
 two inches' gain about the arm near the shoulder 
 was commcn. Girls who came to us under the 
 stipulation that they should not go up more than 
 one flight because of physical inability, walked, 
 before the school-year ended, twelve to sixteen 
 miles on a Saturday, which was our day for long 
 tramps. Periodical and sick headaches, with 
 which a majority of the girls began the school- 
 year, disappeared entirely before the end of it. 
 Stooping shoulders and projecting chins soon gave 
 way, while the carriage of our pupils was the sub- 
 ject of general remark and admiration." 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY. 
 
 Girls, whose minds are not too much deformed 
 by artificial training, glory in health and strength, 
 and despise weakness. In schools and academies, 
 when the subject of dress as it affects health has 
 
I 
 
 108 
 
 SLAUOHTEKINO THK INNOCENTS. 
 
 been brought before the scholars, much enthusi- 
 asm has generally been excited as to the means 
 for preserving and regaining health. Teachers of 
 girls have, therefore, a golden opportunity for 
 benefiting their scholars permanently, and should 
 not let it slip. 
 
 K, 
 
 / 
 
VII. 
 
 WHAT IS TO BE BONE ABOUT IT? 
 
 The ordinary physiological errors in dress have 
 been frequently pointed out in the past and are 
 more or less acknowledged by all intelligent 
 women, and yet few have made any radical 
 alteration in their apparel. Two reasons will ac- 
 count for this. In the first place the sufferers 
 did not know exactly how to go about making the 
 change, and, in the second place, while they were 
 thinking about it their interest became dulled, 
 and they finally subsided into aia appthctic con- 
 tentment with the clothing to y/hich they were 
 accustomed, with ai occasional cpasmodic attempt 
 to improve at some one point as hygienic teacli- 
 ings might be brought to remembrance. 
 
 Now, of these reasons we will try and remove 
 the first by showing " Hoto to do it." The second 
 cause of neglect will, we fear, still remain largely 
 operative ; but it is in the power of every woman 
 who chooses to do much to relieve her ;^:^ from 
 
 
 f- 
 
 ■"S» 
 
«. 
 
 
 , -^ 
 
 -J 
 
 no 
 
 WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. 
 
 I' ft 
 
 ■I 
 
 the prevalent ill-healtli of whicli she ought to be 
 ashamed. If she adopt the reform garments 
 herself, she will probably feel it incumbent upon 
 her to induce as many others to do so as possible, 
 and in this, if her circle of acquaintance be tol- 
 erably intelligent, she will have little difficulty. 
 For, after all, the main obstacle is ignorance. Let 
 this be removed by the perusal of this or some 
 similar book, or by simple explanation, and the 
 work will be half done. 
 
 A THREE-FOLD HARMONY 
 
 Dr. Haynes looks hopefully into the future : — 
 
 " There is to-day a growing prejudice against 
 medication ; and, when disease invades the sys- 
 tem, many seek, through physical culture, the 
 means of restoration to health. The adoption of 
 a hygienic dress would be one of the best preven- 
 tives of disease ; and often some such reform is 
 absolutely necessary before strength can be re- 
 gained. 
 
 " To me the future looks hopeful, when women 
 realize the cause of this tendency to disease, 
 when they ask for knowledge of their own or- 
 ganisms, and inquire the way back to Nature. 
 Let them but understand what they seek to 
 know, — give them a knowledge of their own or- 
 

 •^ 
 
 WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. 
 
 Ill 
 
 ^ ■*« 
 
 ganisms, of the relation of one part to another, 
 and a knowledge of the functions these organs 
 are called upon to perform, — let them understand 
 also the unvarying physical laws, and the certain 
 retribution that follows their perversion, and thus 
 enlightened, with their naturally quick percep- 
 tions, and their skill in adapting means to ends, 
 they will soon render the dress of every woman 
 and child conformable to the requirements of 
 healtt. 
 
 " Then, there will be harmony throughout the 
 whole human system. Every part will be in its 
 true relation to every other part. All the func- 
 tions will go on without consciousness. Women 
 will not know they have a nervous system merely 
 from the complaints it makes of abuses, but they 
 will understand its higher offices. The digestive 
 apparatus will properly prepare the alimentary 
 substances it receives into a nutrient fluid, to be 
 conveyed to all parts of the system for their as- 
 similation. The capacity of the lungs to oxy- 
 genize arid decarbonize the blood will be equal to 
 the demands made upon them, and the excreting 
 organs will remove all waste and worn-out ma- 
 terial from the body. ISo protest from any part 
 of the system will be transmitted through the 
 ilerves of sensation to the seat of consciousness, 
 the brain. There will be harmony, also, in the 
 
112 
 
 WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. 
 
 1^ 
 
 mental condition The mind will be clear, all the 
 faculties active, and every part amenable to the 
 will will be quick to do its bidding. The spirit- 
 ual, when not borne down by the physical, rises 
 to lofter heights ; and there is harmony through- 
 out the whole, in a threefold sense/' 
 
 WHAT DOCTORS MIGHT DO. 
 
 If the doctors ;vho see so much of the evil 
 effects of dress would enlighten their patients 
 many now ignorant would at once see the neces- 
 sity for a cliange Dr Jackson says: — 
 
 ** All modes of dress that injure the human 
 body, or make the wearer uncomfortable, are 
 strictly within the province of the doctor ; and 
 he should never lose an opportunity to benefit his 
 patients by teaching them the evils to be avoided 
 by a sensible reform in dress The protest of one 
 physician may do much ; but what an incalculable 
 amount of good could be done if the whole pro- 
 fession, SL% with one voice, would unite in decry- 
 ing all the forms of dress which torture mankind 
 and bring on th« innumerable diseases that 
 shorten life and render it miserable !" 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY OF THE RICH. 
 
 The same writer speaks as follows c^ the duty 
 of the rich and influential : — 
 
 i ' 
 
 
WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. 
 
 113 
 
 " If woman is to fulfil the high trusts that shall 
 be given her, she must emancipate herself from 
 the engrossments of fashion, must be clothed in 
 garments that will contribute to her comfort, and 
 must cast aside those that destroy her health, 
 cripple her energies, and take all her time and 
 means for their manufacture. She must seek first 
 the liberal education that has so long been con- 
 sidered necessary for her brothers, in order that 
 they may be prepared for the varied duties that 
 are required of them. When the leading women 
 of the age, and those blessed with wealth and 
 high position, come to see that a cultivated mind 
 in a healthy body is more to be desired, and bet- 
 ter calculated to lead to honor and esteem, than 
 the most costly or elaborate clothing, women will 
 turn their attention to these higher objects, and 
 will then make it easy for others less favored to 
 follow in the same pathway. A great responsi- 
 bility is resting upon women who are blessed with 
 the wealth and station that ca^ry so much in- 
 fluence with them. They cou" sily change the 
 fashions of dress so as to remove the objections to 
 present modes, and by so doing they would con- 
 tribute greatly to the health and happiness of the 
 
 }} 
 
 I l^ 
 
 wearers. 
 
 Before influencing others, however, it is nece«- 
 
 DUTY OF INDIVIDUALS. 
 
m" 
 
 114 
 
 WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. 
 
 sary that each lady should be able to speak from 
 experience of the comfort and healthfulness, not 
 to say economy, of the reform dress. We again 
 quote Mrs. "Woolson, the able editor of Dress Me- 
 form : — 
 
 " If any lady has become convinccvi of a radi- 
 cal and pernicious error iii the construction of her 
 dress, and desires to reform it altogether, let her 
 not wait till a costume which is both healthful 
 and elegant shall spring into being, to serve as a 
 model. Individual thought and effort must be 
 expended, if individual wants are to be met. No 
 regulation- suit can be offered which would prove 
 acceptable to all. "What one finds agreeable in 
 material and make, another is sure she could not 
 tolerate. Therefore each one will need to work 
 the subject out with patience and devotion. But 
 the result will justify her pains. 
 
 " In the first place, she must divest herself of 
 the common notion that a dress- reform neces- 
 sarily and primarily means a marked change in 
 the outer garment, — the ' dress,' technically so 
 called, — and in that alone. The under- garments 
 are the chief offenders; and it is far more im- 
 portant that they should be remodelled than that 
 any change should be made in the external cover- 
 ing. 
 
 ' U 
 
WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. 
 
 115 
 
 i* 
 
 ** Indeed, there is no necessity for any dress- 
 refornaer to play the role of a martyr by appear- 
 ing in a singular and conspicuous garb, unless 
 she chooses to do so. Bring me your latest fash- 
 ionable costumes,— the dresses just fresh from 
 Paris, made by Worth himself, if you will, — and 
 I wiU pick one from among them beneath which 
 it shall be possible to dress a woman in almost 
 perfect conformity to the laws of health. Not 
 one binding shall be needed at the waist. 
 
 '' And if any have succeeded in reconstructing 
 their clothing so as to render it in harmony with 
 hygienic and aesthetic laws, they should endeavor 
 to benefit others by offering practical suggestions, 
 and by extending the advantages they have de- 
 rived from their own troublous experiences and 
 final triumphs.'* 
 
■i 
 
 VIII. 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 THE FOUR PRINCTPLES 
 
 From aU that lias gone before, the following 
 principles of healthful dressing are to be de- 
 duced. First : 
 
 ALLOW THE VITAL ORGANS UNIMPEDED ACTION. 
 
 This requires the removal of all tight fitting 
 waists, and of all unsupported waist-bands, 
 whether tight or loose — the latter, for this reason, 
 if tight, they compress the ribs; if loose, they 
 slide downwards and depress the abdomen. Se- 
 cond: 
 
 * 
 
 SUSPEND THE CLOTHING FROM THE SHOULDERS. 
 
 This requires the attachment of all the lower 
 garments to the upper or to suspenders passing 
 over the shoulder. Third: 
 
 REDUCE THE WEIGHT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. 
 
 This involves careful calculation to render the 
 skirts as few and short and light as possible. 
 Fourth: . 
 
CUTTING AND FITl'ING. 
 
 117 
 
 PRESERVE A UNIFORM TEMPERATURE OF THE 
 
 BODY. 
 
 This involves, theoretically, that every thick- 
 ness of cloth which covers the trunk should fur- 
 nish sleeves and drawers for the limbs; practi- 
 cally, however, especially so far as the arms are 
 concerned, less than this will be found sufficient. 
 
 ? 
 
 WHAT TO OMIT. "^ ^ 
 
 To fulfil these rules the Boston Committee re- 
 commend the entire abandonment of the corset 
 and the chemise. Mrs. Woolson is so eloquent in 
 her denunciation of these articles that we cannot 
 forbear copying her remarks almost as they 
 stand : — 
 
 " Some garments are found to be wholly irre- 
 concilable with these laws, and should therefore be 
 dispensed with altogether. Of these, the most 
 important are the corset and the chemise. Since 
 they are the very t^ro without which the average 
 female mind will find it impossible to conceive of 
 further existence upon this terrestrial sphere, I 
 shall do well to pause, and state clearly wherein 
 their objectionable characteristics lie, and why 
 they are past remedy. ^ .. 
 
 ** Oorset. — Concerning the evils of this gar- 
 ment, it would seem that enough has already been* 
 
 ._.!_ 
 
F^lfH-fllVUIUJ U WILiaMN 
 
 rvtmsufmi wi wi 
 
 118 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING 
 
 < 9 
 
 said. Physicians have always denounced it as most 
 pernicious, and have refused to compromise with 
 it in any of its forms. But, in spite of these pro- 
 tests, women still cling to it, and still declare 
 that they must wear it or perish. It holds its 
 place because of one or two plausible arguments 
 in its favor, which are not met and reasoned 
 away, but suffered to remain unrecognized and 
 unrefuted. Since they prove so powerful, they 
 ought to receive more serious attention. 
 
 " Enfeebled by past errors in dress, and with 
 muscles rendered incapable, by enforced inaction, 
 of doing their appointed work, wearers of the 
 corset assert that it is absolutely essential to the 
 support of the body, and that without it they 
 would collapse into an uncertain shape, with 
 neither contours nor comeliness. They claim 
 that its upper portion is needed for the support 
 of the bust, and that its lower portion serves as a 
 shield and protector for the abdomen, so that 
 heavy skirts do not drag them to the earth. 
 
 "In short, had no human being been bright 
 enough for the invention of this garment, one- 
 half of God's humanity must have been a hope- 
 less failure. He was able, it appears, to construct 
 man so that he should be equal to the require- 
 m.ents of the life conferred upon him ; but woman 
 came forth from his hand wholly incompetent to 
 
 • *■■ 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 119 
 
 maintain herself erect, or to discharge the daily 
 duties enjoined upon her. Fortunately, some 
 one of his creatures, seeing the deficiency, suc- 
 ceeded in supplementing his work. Thus one 
 skeleton sufficed for men ; but for women it 
 had to be propped up externally by another skele- 
 ton strapped about it. Does any one believe that, 
 when the Creator gave to women ^eir forms, he 
 did not also give them the muscles which its pro- 
 per maintenance would require ? 
 
 " Tie a strong, healthy arm to a board, and 
 keep it there for months ; then remove its arti- 
 ficial prop. The arm cannot lift itself ; it falls 
 helpless at the side : ergo^ never take the arm 
 from the board, and it will never be weak. The 
 great majority of women, growing up without 
 corsets, would find them wholly useless. In 
 strength the body would prove sufficient unto it- 
 self. To doubt this is to doubt divine foresight, 
 power, or benevolence. 
 
 "It is true that corsets prevent one from feel- 
 ing, at every motion, the pull and drag of each 
 separate binding at the waist. The whole body 
 beneath them being crowded together till its 
 parts are incapable of much distinct motion 
 among themselves, no one portion is conscious of 
 more discomfort than the rest. This is why they 
 render the skirt-bands endurable. Give up the ^ 
 
 ''■^. 
 
Htw- Jiw iM B 
 
 120 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 corset, and retain all other garments as previously 
 worn, and the clothing becomes insupportable. 
 The remedy is not to replace the compress as be- 
 fore, but to modify the remainder of the clothing 
 till it is brought into some accordance with physi- 
 ological laws. 
 
 "But many say, the corset is only bad when it 
 is worn tight; loosen it, and it can do no harm; 
 Its abuse and not its use should be condenmed. 
 This statement is inadmissible. A corsCT is al- 
 ways bad, whether laced or not. Its very struc- 
 ture necessitates a pinching of the waist in front, 
 even when no strings are tied: for, by many 
 slender gores artfully woven into the cloth, it is 
 given the shape of an hour-glass; and, if it is 
 tight enough to retain its place at all, it must en- 
 force this shape upon the yielding body beneath, 
 with the stomach crowded into the neck of the 
 glass. 
 
 " It is not thus that Nature models her human 
 beings, whether women or men. The trunk of 
 the body resembles an Egyptian coliimn, with the 
 greatest girth about the middle. The lower ribs 
 spread out, and enclose a larger space than the 
 upper ribs.* Below these floating ribs, there are 
 no bones whatever at the waist, if we except the 
 spine behind, which serves as a connecting line 
 
 * See page 25. 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 121 
 
 isly 
 
 ble. 
 
 be- 
 
 ling 
 
 lysi- 
 
 m it 
 
 arm; 
 
 lued. 
 
 is al- 
 
 jtruc- 
 
 front, 
 
 many 
 
 it IS 
 
 it is 
 st en- 
 
 eath, 
 ,f the 
 
 luman 
 Ink of 
 Ith tlie 
 tsr ribs 
 
 m the 
 kre are 
 Ipt tbe 
 
 ig line 
 
 between the upper and lower portions of the 
 framework. The reason for this is apparent. 
 No bones can be trusted over this region, lest 
 they impede the full and free action of vital or- 
 gans beneath. Soft flesh and elastic muscles are 
 the only wrapping allowed. Thus Nature has left 
 the body. Should not this teach woman how to 
 construct 'the covering she adds to this part of 
 her system ? But what does she do ? Taking 
 advantage of its yielding character, she crowds 
 this section inward, instead of permitting it to 
 expand outward; and girds and laces and binds 
 and tortures it, till it is smaller than any bones 
 would compel it to be. What should be the base 
 of the pyramid is converted into its apex. While 
 it was designed that all human beings should be 
 larger below the ribs than below the arms, women 
 have so re-formed themselves that they would be 
 ashamed to resemble the Venus of Milo, or even 
 the petite and mincing Venus de Medici. They 
 go, however, in their best * glove-fitting * French 
 corsets, to study those famous marbles in galleries 
 of » art, and express unbounded admiration for the 
 superb loveliness of their forms, and the wonder- 
 ful fidelity to nature which ancient sculptors dis- 
 played. 
 
 " Furthermore, the trunk of the body is meant 
 to be flexible, to bend backward and forward 
 
 F 
 
WW. r-r i'-'r i 'itri ■ ii y> 1 lat ri n i r a 
 
 122 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 easily within certain limits. To allow this, the 
 one bone which runs its entire length — the back- 
 bone — is broken wholly apart at every inch of its 
 extent, and a supple joint inserted. But the cor- 
 set, by means of two long, stiff whalebones be- 
 hind, and two long metal bars in front, forces the 
 body to remain as inflexible throughout that seQ- 
 tion as if, for half a yard, it were strapped firmly 
 between two iron bars. The lower cells of the 
 lungs would expand, the bars say. No ; the 
 stomach would rise and fall as the heart throbs, 
 the bars say. No ; the body v/ould bend backward 
 and forward at the waist in a hundred slight 
 movements, the bars say, No : keep to your line ; 
 thus far shalt thou go, and no farther. But Na- 
 ture is both sly and strong, and she loves her way. 
 She will outwit artifice in the long run, whatever 
 it may cost her. The iron bars defy her power; 
 but, by days and months of steady pressure, 
 thrusting them back from her persistently, she 
 forces them to bend. This done, the human hand, 
 that could not curve them at first, cannot make 
 them straight again. Nature has moulded 
 her barriers to accommodate, in some measure, 
 her own needs ; and, when they are replaced with 
 new, she sets herself again to the work. 
 
 " But it is said, ' You can improve corsets in 
 several ways, and render them harmless.' With- 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 123 
 
 out doubt there is a choice in their varieties. 
 There are manufacturers who proclaim 'comfort 
 corsetit/ with shoulder-straps above, and buttons 
 for stocking- suspenders below, and lacings under 
 the arm as well as behind, and other contrivances 
 intended to render them worthy to be worn in the 
 millennium. None, however, banish the iron in 
 front, which is one of their worst features. But 
 these efforts to improve corsets reveal a deter- 
 mination on the part of their makers to keep them 
 in vogue. All they can do, however, will furnish 
 but trifling mitigations of an evil which can never 
 be converted into a ^ood. A witty writer once dis- 
 coursed on the ' total depravity of material 
 things ;' and, if one thing can be more totally 
 depraved than another, that thing is the corset. 
 By and by, as intelligence increases, and the prac- 
 tices of ignorance disappear, the compression of 
 the waist now practised by European and Ameri- 
 can women will be held to be as ridiculous and 
 far more pernicious than the compression of the 
 feet practised by the Chinese. Indeed, our-heathen 
 sisters must appear far more sensible than we; 
 for their favorite torture affects only a remote 
 and comparatively unimportant part of the body, 
 while ours is a torture of the trunk at its very 
 centre, where the springs of life are certain to be 
 weakened and diseased. 
 
124 
 
 CTJTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 " One of the strongest reasons for the general 
 adoption of the corset — though it is one not com- 
 monly avowed — is the belief that it conduces to 
 beauty and symmetry of figure. Slender forms 
 are usually praised, and chiefly because they are 
 associated with the litheness and the undeveloped 
 graces of youth. But a pinched waist cannot 
 make a slender form, or give the appearance of 
 one, if above and below there be breadth and 
 thickness which no efforts can diminish. Indeed^ 
 broad shoulders and a full chest only appear the 
 larger by contrast with the slight span of a 
 girded waist ; and thus they become more con- 
 spicuous from the attempt made to conceal them. 
 The waist itself, lacking the easy, varied motion 
 and the peculiar shape which Nature gives, de- 
 ceives no one as to the cause of its small dimen- 
 sions ; and the poor sufferer, who would fain pass 
 for a wand-like sylph, tortures herself in vain, 
 and has only her pains for her labor. Although 
 all men disclaim any liking" for an imnaturally 
 small waist, all women persist in believing that a 
 wasp-like appearance, at whatever age, and under 
 whatever conditions, is sure to render them love- 
 lier in the eyes of their admirers. Mature ma- 
 trons should have a look of stability, and that 
 dignity of presence and carriage which only a 
 portly, well-developed person seems to confer. 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 125 
 
 Such a mien is as mucli the beauty of middle age, 
 as slenderness is the beauty of youth. And a 
 large, robust woman never looks so well- shaped 
 and comely as when waist and shoulders retain 
 the proportionate size which Nature gave. 
 
 *' Chemise. — I have shown why the corset must 
 inevitably perish. The chemise is condemned for 
 quite different reasons. No charge of compres- 
 sion or of inflexible shape can be brought against 
 that : it errs in the other direction, if that can be 
 said to err which appears to be wholly without 
 use, and to offer no excuse for its existence. But 
 its sins are not merely negative. It produces a 
 great inequality in the temperature of the sys- 
 tem, by affording no covering for neck and arms, 
 while it furnishes loose folds of useless cloth to 
 be wrapped about the body on its warmest part 
 and under the tight dress- waist. There is an ex- 
 cess of material where it is not needed, over the 
 lower portion of the trunk ; and a deficiency 
 where it is needed, over the extremities. The 
 chemise can offer no support to any other gar- 
 ment ; and in every respect a more absurd and 
 worthless article of clothing could not possibly 
 have been devised. Its rude and primitive con- 
 struction should recommend it to no intelligence 
 higher than that of South Sea Islanders, by whom 
 it is doubtless worn. In civilized countries it w 
 
m^ 
 
 126 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 I 
 
 doomed to follow the corset to that limbo which 
 dress-reformers will hereafter keep for the cum* 
 brous and injurious habiliments of the past.*' 
 
 THE REFORM COSTUME. 
 
 ' Our readers having heard so much of what is 
 not to be worn are doubtless by this time anxious 
 for a description of the new garments in which 
 they are to be so comfortable, ,and for specific 
 directions as to how to make them, and we will 
 now describe several suits which will approximate 
 to the ideal hygienic costume. 
 
 SUMMER GARMENTS ^THE CHEMILETTE. ' 
 
 In summer one lady will wear first a gauze 
 merino vest, or perhaps, we say it with all defer- 
 ence to Mrs. Woolson, a scant, light cotton chemise^ 
 or whatever she may find most comfortable. Above 
 this comes the chemilette the distinctive gar- 
 ment of the reform. It is not easy to explain 
 lucidly the manner of cutting out a garment ; but 
 this is in reality a combination of two already in 
 use, and therefore there will be no serious diffi- 
 culty in the way of the would-be reformer. Take 
 an ordinary high slip waist, or corset cover, cut to 
 the figure with darts, &c., and extending five 
 inches below the waist; then take a pair of 
 
CUTTING AND FITTINO. 
 
 127 
 
 wers, off cut tlie draband, and as many inches be- 
 low as would correspond to the extension of the 
 waist, and sew the two articles together. This 
 contains the secret of the 
 make in a nutshell. It 
 will, however, probably 
 require various modifica- 
 tions and adaptations ac- 
 cording to the taste and 
 figure of the wearer. It 
 is important, for instance, 
 that the shoulders should 
 be short and the sleeves 
 well curved at the top to 
 permit of raising the arm 
 without drawing up the 
 garment. The drawers 
 should be comfortabl ' 
 wide id the top, ana 
 should overhip slightly 
 and be furnished with 
 buttons and button-holes both before and be- 
 hind. The whole garment should be easy every 
 way and need not be stinted in trimming, as it 
 supplies the place of chemise, drawers, and corse 
 In the pattern sent by the Boston Committee, the 
 front of the waist is cut in the same piece with 
 the leg of the drawers, and the back is cut separ- 
 
 FiGURK I. 
 
 "%^ 
 
iH 
 
 ■MiW 
 
 mtibi 
 
 128 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 ately and set in. For those that prefer the closed 
 pattern, the back of the drawers is put upon a 
 band and buttoned to the back of the waist, and 
 the garment is only left partially open in front. 
 
 It is desirable that the model should be actually 
 worn, before others are cut from it, as unexpected 
 deficiencies may be found in practise. If a slip 
 waist of the required pattern is not to be had, a 
 substitute may easily be cut from the basque of 
 the dress, remembering that it is less trouble to 
 cut the back in two pieces than in three. 
 
 The garment may be cut out of from 3J to 3f 
 yards of cotton. The illustration shows the posi- 
 tion of the. buttons to which the flannel skirt is to 
 be attached. There is also one in the centre of 
 the back. Speaking of buttons we may remark 
 here that no button should be placed directly be- 
 low the breast. The upper buttons are to sup- 
 port the dress drawers, or an outer skirt. The 
 sleeves should, of course, be shorter than tho^e of 
 the dress. Though not strictly hygienic, most 
 ladies will want a few low-necked chemilettes to 
 wear under thin dresses for evening parties and 
 for summer. Any chemises which are worth the 
 trouble may be cut over to form the top of these. • 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 129 
 
 THE FLANNEL SKIRT. 
 
 At the junction of these garments, that is four 
 or five inches below the waist, as we have said, 
 five buttons are placed, on which she will suspend a 
 light white or colored flannel skirt. That this 
 skirt may contain no unnecessary fulness, the 
 Boston Committee recommend that it should be 
 cut semi-circular in shape, something in the style 
 
 I' ;-.->\ 
 
 Figure 2. 
 
 of a child's cape. A piece of the same shape is 
 cut from the centre, and the two straight edges 
 are sewed together, leaving the opening on the left 
 side near the front. The bottom is then scalloped 
 and the top faced for button-holes. As, however, 
 it is difficult to get flannel of suitable width, most 
 people will find it quite satisfactory to gore the 
 skirt in such a way that it will exactly fit at the 
 top and be wide enough at the bottom. This, as 
 we said, is to be buttoned on to the chemLilette and 
 
f 
 
 'iCnr 
 
 130 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 
 I- 
 
 need not be unbuttoned except when taken off to 
 be washed. 
 
 The little gored flannel skirt will be found very 
 easy to make. Two of them may be cut out of 
 three yards and a half of flannel. They have a 
 gored width in f ^nnt, a gore at each side, and a 
 half-width behind. They may be faced at the 
 top with tape, in which the button-holes are cut. 
 The spare, as will be seen, is at the side of the 
 font width. Figure third shows the chemilette 
 
 with short flannel skirt 
 attached. "We have giv- 
 en a different style of 
 waist here that many 
 prefer to number two. 
 A very full pleating or 
 puffing of the same or 
 lighter material is sewed 
 upon the bosom, as 
 shown, though not very 
 clearly, in the illustra- 
 tion, and the cotton un- 
 der it is cut out. This 
 serves two purposes. 
 For full figures it sup- 
 ports the bust and pre- 
 vents any unpleasant 
 '*drag,'xand f or unde^ 
 
 
 Figure 3. 
 
CUTTING AND FinlNG. 
 
 131 
 
 veloped figures it may be starched, and will then 
 take the place of the unhealthy pads which dress- 
 makers often insist upon inserting, but which 
 should be carefully avoided by all who value their 
 health. 
 
 THE UNDER SKIRT. 
 
 ■4 
 J 
 
 ^M - 
 
 Above this she will wear a white skirt with 
 high or low waist, cut Gabrielle fashion (the two 
 waists will not be found too much as the corset is 
 omitted — with the chemilette waist alone the 
 dress would hardly fit properly.) Or she will 
 wear, perhaps, a well- gored moreen or fancy stuff 
 skirt attached to a waist of its own, made in a 
 similar manner to the chemilette waist, he junc- 
 tion being of course several inches .clow the 
 waist. The waist may be of grey linen or hol- 
 land, and may be cut low in the neck for summer. 
 It should be merelj'' basted strongly to the skirt 
 that it may be easily ripped off to "be washed when 
 necessarv. If the skirt be of stiff material it will 
 be desirable to make the junction a little lower 
 down than shown in the illustration, and care must 
 be taken to have sufficient fulness, in order that 
 the fit may be as perfect when the wearer is 
 seated as when she is standing. If these precau- 
 tions are not taken the skirt may wrinkle up in a 
 distressing manner. The spare of this skirt 
 
 ^ 
 
 
132 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 comes directly in front, and 
 should be very neatly made. 
 The upper part of the skirt 
 is supposed to be cut in a 
 semi- circle as before de- 
 scribed and the flounce is 
 set on to the bottom of this. 
 An ordinary bought skirt 
 if sufficiently light will an- 
 swer the purpose. 
 
 I 
 
 THE DRESS SKIRT. 
 
 Above this comes the 
 dress skirt which, for walk- 
 ing, is made quite narrow 
 and nearly off the ground, 
 with hardly any lining, 
 and as little weight of 
 trimming as possible. It will have no unnecessary 
 fulness at the top, and will be held up by sus- 
 pendersc - - . . 
 
 The dotted line in figure four represents the 
 waist-band of the dress, rather lower than it should 
 be, with the suspenders attached to it. Care must 
 be taken to bring the front band of the suspen- 
 ders down almost under the arm or injury will be 
 done. 
 
 Figure 4. 
 
 y 
 
CUTTING AND FI'lTING. 
 
 133 
 
 > 
 
 ^ K 
 
 The band, both of skirt and over- skirt, should 
 be two or three inches wider than the waist, that 
 there may be no pressure anywhere, and that you 
 may be quite sure that they are really suspended 
 from the shoulders and are not, as formerly, rest- 
 ing upon the hips. 
 
 THE BASQUE. , . ' 
 
 The basque, which, with the present fashion, 
 completes the costume, should be so loose as to 
 permit the wearer to draw a full breath in any 
 position. Of course, pressure will need to be 
 brought to bear upon the dressmaker to induce 
 her to make it in this way. She will kindly in- 
 form you that you have ** no figure" if you go 
 to her without a corset, and will probably assert 
 .that a dress can never be made to fit if it be made 
 loose. In this assertion, however, she simply 
 shows her ignorance and want of skill, and fool- 
 ish "is the lady who will allow herself, against her 
 better judgment, to be thus bound in fetters 
 which will prevent her from enjoying all the 
 blessings of health. ^ ^ ^ ^. 
 
 m 
 
 OTHER STYLES. 
 
 Another lady will consider that with the long 
 over- skirts and trimmed dresses now in fashion, 
 one skirt will be sufficient under the dxess ; she 
 
I'M 
 
 CUTTIiN ri AND FITTlNTi. 
 
 »l 
 
 I 
 
 will, therefore, choose some' suitabJe material for 
 the short skirt which we first described, and will 
 icut it longer, or better, lengthen it, by a plain 
 flounce set on at the bottom. She will then put 
 her dress skirt upon a linen waist of its own, as 
 before joining this to the dress material several 
 inches below the waist. It may be asked in this 
 connection, Why not attach the dress to a band 
 as usual and sew that to a waist ? The reason is 
 this. In order really to eupport the skirt the 
 waist must be made very short waisted indeed, 
 and this will bring the thickness cf the band and 
 pleatings far too high for convenience. If made 
 the usual length, the weight of the skirt will, as be- 
 fore, simply press upon the lower part of the body. 
 Another lady will prefer to wear the com- 
 fortable hoop skirt which prevents the skirts from 
 clogging the limbs in walking, and gives to some " 
 
 extent the appearance without the 
 discomfort and unhealthfulness 
 of a bustle. She will cut off en- 
 tirely the front part of the waist 
 binding of this, and attach the 
 rest to the chemilette buttons or 
 to suspenders. A light Balmoral 
 * may be fastened to the topmost 
 hoop, and the two be put on and 
 Figure 5. taken off together. 
 
CITTING AND FITTING. 
 
 135 
 
 . THE GAl'.RIELLE. 
 
 Another lady will prefer to adopt the recom- 
 mendation of the Boston Committee with regard 
 to the dress. They recommend the Gahrielle or 
 gored ilress with additions and modifications. 
 Mrs. "Woolson says of this : — 
 
 " It requires less cloth than any other, and is 
 consequently lighter, as well as cheaper; its 
 weight depends entirely from the shoulders; it 
 has no hand and no fulness at the waist ; and its 
 lines, fLowing from shoulder to foot, blend bodice 
 with skirt by graceful curves. This alone will 
 form the house-dress. For the street superadd a 
 polonaise, or, if you prefer, an over- skirt and a 
 short sack. The color and material of these last 
 garments may be different from the Gahrielle, 
 which will appear to outward view only as the 
 black under- skirt of the dress. 
 
 " Would you make this costume ? Buy a good 
 paper pattern of the Gahrielle ; cut ofi* its train, 
 rendering it as short as you can wear it, and still 
 retain your peace of mind ; trim some fulness 
 from the gores behind and from the side- seams of 
 the skirt ; and fit its waist loosely to your form. 
 Make it of black alpaca, cashmere, or silk, and it 
 will be durable, and suitable to all seasons. If 
 you must yield to the tempter and trim the hot- 
 

 F i 
 
 1 
 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 [ 
 
 ■F 
 
 
 1 
 
 „ 4 
 
 136 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 torn, one broad flounce with a puffed heading 
 should suffice ; but let the trimming upon the 
 neck, coat- sleeves and side-pockets be flat, so as 
 to be well hidden beneath the polonaise. White 
 cuffs, collar, and bright necktie will render it 
 pretty for the house. Of cambric, with no waist- 
 lining, it is that cool, light, washable robe of 
 which we dream when the dog-days are upon us 
 and Sirius rages. Let the polonaise be com- 
 fortably loose below the arms ; hem the edge of 
 its skirt ; and, if the material be good, it will be 
 sufficiently ornamented with handsome buttons 
 upon the front, and a ruff, or what you will, 
 about the neck. The over- skirt which is to be 
 worn under the sack should have straps *fastened 
 to it and a loose binding, that it may not be felt 
 at the waist. 
 
 " The ornament used upon the dress should be 
 light, durable, and simple. The heaviest trim- 
 mings known are kilt-plaits, and fringes of jet 
 beads ; and no approval of fashion should tempt 
 one to wear them. The softness of lace, the gloss 
 and swing of silken fringes, smooth, stitched 
 bands of cloth or of braid, — these offer styles of 
 adornment that are always tasteful and unobjec- 
 tionable. There is no need of profuse trimming* 
 where the material of the dress is rich and hand- 
 some ; and, where it is cheap and simple, they are 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 137 
 
 Img 
 
 the 
 
 as 
 
 ^hite 
 
 certainly out of place. Thomas Fuller says of 
 the good wife, * 8he makes plain cloth to be vel- 
 vet by her handsome wearing of it ;' and a well- 
 cut garment, of becoming shape and color, has in 
 itself a beauty of contour and a ])lay of fold 
 which belong to smooth and floating surfaces and 
 lines. 
 
 ** Belts for the outer dress are no more deserv- 
 ing of favor than those found in the under- wear. 
 If any one cannot yet reconcile herself to the 
 flowing curves of a loose Gabrielle waist, she may 
 take refuge in an infinite variety of pretty little 
 sacques, made beautiful with trimming ; and with 
 their adjunct of an overskirt, she can move as 
 freely and breathe as deeply as she may wish." 
 
 . WINTER COMFORTS — THE UNDER FLANNEL. 
 
 As to the changes necessary for cold weather, 
 these likewise allow of great 'ariation. A woven 
 undergarment, all in one piece, of wool or merino, 
 similar to those sold for children, will be found 
 very comfortable. If it cannot be purchased all 
 in one piece, the drawers and vest may be bought 
 separately and sewed, buttoned, or laced together, 
 after cutting a piece off the top of one or the bot- 
 tom of the other. 
 
 Our illustration represents what is called in the 
 United States the " Union Underflannel." This 
 
t 
 
 •» I 
 
 1^1 I l < , I H I ii 
 
 t f. 
 
 138 
 
 CUITING AND FITTING 
 
 may be purchased here in good quality of lamb's 
 wool and merino at from $3 50 to $4 75 each. 
 The American make is entirely open, and is 
 
 much more convenient, as it 
 may be put on along with as 
 several other gaiments — a 
 great comfort in point of 
 rapidity and ease of dressing. 
 A garment made of flannel, 
 which will not shrink^ may 
 more economically be used 
 instead of this, though of 
 course it is clumsier. The 
 principal objection to the 
 white lamb's wool is that it 
 shrinks to a great extent. 
 These garments are not yet, 
 so far as we know, made in 
 gray wool for ladies ; but 
 them the fact that they • 
 can, if they like, purchase a suit of that 
 made for men, and by cutting, fitting, joining 
 and neatly binding with ribbon, they may manu- 
 facture a neat garment, of which no one will sus- 
 pect the origin, and which will cost even less than 
 flannel. • • . • . - 
 
 ' ' THE BLOOMER;!i. 
 
 Above this comes the cotton chemilette, and 
 
 we 
 
 Figure 6. 
 may whisper 
 
 to 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 139 
 
 then for outdoors the colored flannel drawers or 
 *' bloomers'' called *' Dress Drawers" in the States, 
 which are fortunately customary in this country. 
 Those who are feeble, or who live in cold houses, 
 will find themselves very comfortable if, instead 
 of bloomers, they wear an entire chemilette of 
 colored flannel above the two others, thus cover- 
 ing themselves completely from waist to ankle, 
 with three thicknesses of warm clothing. We 
 say to ankle, for the drawers ought to be very 
 long, and the stocking should be pulled up over 
 the under ones at least. Those who prefer a less 
 complicated arrangement, will make a long sleeved 
 chemilette of heavy Canton flannel, reaching to the 
 ankle under the stockings and will simply button 
 the bloomers, the legs of which should be made 
 both wide and long, to it. Instead of putting the 
 bloomers on an elastic at the waist, it will be 
 found advantageous to put them on a neatly fit- 
 ting yoke band, say six inches wide, containing 
 four button-holes around the top to meet corres- 
 ponding buttons on the chemilette. This will 
 lu^^ke them wear better, but, if lightness be more 
 desired than strength, they may be gored to fit be- 
 tween the hip and the waist and faced with broad 
 tape at the top, and button-holes inserted as before. 
 It is important in connection with this to re- 
 member that the chemilette, though it supplies 
 
140 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 the place of three garments, will not be nearly 
 equal to them in warmth. It is cooler for sum- 
 mer wear than the former arrangement ; but in 
 winter it must be reduplicated to be sufficiently 
 warm — the great advantage being that the warmth 
 thus gained is evenly distributed ctver the body. 
 
 W^INTER DRESSES. 
 
 * - 
 
 A word as to winter dresses. Those who do no 
 active housework and who ride in their carriages, 
 instead of walking, can afford to wear heavy 
 dresses. Those who would possess the health, 
 strength, vigor, and beauty, which are only to be 
 attained as the result of active exercise cannot af- 
 ford to do this. Walking is difficult enough in 
 winter, and we need not make it more so by add- 
 ing pounds of unnecessary weight to the cloth- 
 ing. The problem of how to have a handsome 
 winter dress which will not be heavy, is a difficult 
 one, and each lady will have to work it out for 
 herself. A few hints, however, may help. • First — 
 do not attempt to loop up a train to make a short 
 walking- skirt. The train, graceful enough in the 
 drawing-room, should be confined to it, as it ne- 
 cessitates extra widths of the material, out of the 
 question for walking. Second — Having made 
 your skirt as narrow as possible, and of reason- 
 able length, avoid the use of unnecessary linings, 
 
 "■ io 
 
 H 
 
I. 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING . 
 
 141 
 
 i* 
 
 ^ 
 
 i 
 
 ■s^ 
 
 facings, and the heavy " skirt protectors." Third 
 — Avoid heavy trimmings. The weight of a skirt 
 is sometimes doubled or trebled by the trimmings. 
 In the days when a dress skirt was attached to 
 the waist, a few rows of braid, ribbon or velvet 
 were considered sufficient for trimming. Now, 
 when the skirt has no support, it is loaded down 
 with pufFs and flounces and pleatings, and if fa- 
 shion demandsit, with jet trimmings, of which no 
 one who has not felt it, can imagine the weight. 
 Now if the material be heavy, trimmings of the 
 same ought to be out of the question ; if it be com- 
 paratively light they ought to be flat, and 
 should contain as little cloth as possible. The top 
 of the dress- skirt may be put upon lining some 
 twelve or fifteen inches below the waist, the gap 
 being concealed by the overskirt or polonaise, or 
 the linen basque waist to which it is attached 
 may be extended downwards for the same dis- 
 tance, thus forming in effect a Gabrielle dress made 
 of two materials instead of one, the make being con- 
 cealed by basque and overskirt. Here we may say 
 a word in favor of cloth dresses. A broadcloth 
 dress will look handsome, though made up with 
 perfect plainness ; will be light and comfortable, and 
 will wear winter after winter. The material is 
 apparently an expensive one, but will be found 
 really very economical on account of its dura- 
 
142 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 bility and of the immense saving which will be 
 made by having no trimming to go out of fash- 
 ion. Materials of this sort will, we think, be 
 much more in favor in the future than they have 
 been in ' the past, when ladies learn that it is 
 not absolutely necessary for their position and 
 happiness that they should always appear in gar- 
 ments cut i.1 the most recent fashion. 
 
 One of the authorities already quoted says on 
 this subject : — 
 
 " Time and money considered, nothing is more 
 important in dress than the material of which it 
 is made. A substantial, plain, elegant fabric car- 
 ries on the face of it its own recommendation. 
 Like a well-bred person, it is always presentable in 
 any place and upon any occasion ; while the flimsy 
 stuff, however much ornamented, like a merely 
 superficial character, shows its worthless origin ; 
 and the more you attempt to cover over its 
 defects by gaudy externals, the more apparent 
 they become. 
 
 " And how much more economical and sensible 
 is it to have one comfortable suit of clothes, 
 adapted, in color, cut, and warmth, lo our needs, 
 than to possess a variety of garments, none worn 
 enough to justify us in abandoning them, but all 
 left on our hands when the season ends ! The re- 
 modelling of such attire, which thus becomes a 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 143 
 
 part of the next year's labor, reatty consumes 
 more time, and gives more annoyance, than the 
 making of wholly new garments." 
 
 SKIRTS FOR WARMTH. 
 
 We cannot leave the subject of skirts without 
 haviijg a little more to say about the evil of trust- 
 ing to them to supply the necessary warmth. The 
 idea that extra skirts are the proper way of sup- 
 plying extra warmth, is so firmly rooted in the 
 feminine mind that we fear the effort to entirely 
 eradicate it will be futile, yet common sense 
 shows that it is far more to the purpose to put the 
 extra thickness into the drawers than into the 
 skirts, and medical authorities agree that it is much 
 safer. If necessary, wear three pair of warm 
 drawers in the house and more out of it, but keep 
 your feet warm — and your skirts light. We cannot 
 resist making another quotation from Dio Lewis, 
 whose remarks are so much to the point: — . 
 
 '* Women should dress their arms and legs with 
 one or two thicknesses of knit woollen garments 
 which fit them. The absurdity of loose flowing 
 sleeves and wide-spread skirts I will not discuss. 
 
 " Do you ask why the arms and lejfs may not 
 become accustomed to exposure, like the face P I 
 answer, God has provided the face with an im-* 
 mense circulation, because it must be exposed. 
 
144 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING, 
 
 i 
 
 " The underskirts should be no heavier in Jan- 
 uary than in July, for it is bad to carry a load 
 suspended either at your waist or from the 
 shoulders, and certainly very absurd to think, of 
 keeping your legs and hips warm by skirts which 
 hang a foot more or less from them. 
 
 INFLATING DISFIGUREMENTS. 
 
 -• 
 
 Speaking of skirts, Mrs. Woolson says ; — 
 
 "They seem intended for two purposes,— to 
 keep the legs warm and to conceal them. As pro- 
 ducers of warmth, they are utter failures : one- 
 half the cloth they require, if put into the form 
 of drawers, will give twice the protection from 
 cold, while the swinging motion of the skirts 
 gives rise to a constant current of air beneath 
 them. But nothing can take their place as in- 
 flating disfigurements. So let us be wise in our 
 day and generation : let us seem to wear them, 
 and yet wear only enough to save our appearance. 
 
 **By skirts in this connection, I do not mean 
 those of the outer dress, but all beneath them. 
 Before speaking of their number, a few hints may 
 be given in regard to lessening the weight of 
 each. Put as little cloth into them as possible ; 
 make them no wider or longer than good looks re- 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 145 
 
 1 
 
 e 
 ill 
 
 .-to 
 
 3ro- 
 
 me; 
 
 orm 
 
 rom 
 
 drts 
 eatb. 
 in- 
 cur 
 bem, 
 ance. 
 mean 
 iliem. 
 may 
 [lit of 
 sible ; 
 Iks re- 
 
 quire. The hem of the longest should be at least 
 four inches from the ground, their tops two or 
 three inches below the waist-line. From these 
 tops, all superfluous material should be removed^ 
 by gores or other means, and not retained 
 in gathers and plaits. Thus heat, as well as 
 weight, will be diminished. Make them of the 
 liehtest fierviceablo cloth : the manufactured Bal- 
 morals of felt are too heavy and too thick at the 
 top, though admirably shaped. For white goods, 
 cambric weighs much less than ' muslin.' If 
 tucks must adorn them, let them be few and fine. 
 " In former times skirts of the quilted variety,, 
 made at home with much labor, were gathered 
 over the hips so as to contribute excessive heat to 
 that region, and were worn with weariness to the 
 flesh. The plain tunnels of felt that have driven 
 them out of existence are a great improvement on 
 the straight quilted skirt ; but they also are too 
 heavy and too warm, and, moreover, they cannot 
 usually be washed. It is better to substitute a 
 skirt made of colored flannel, or other washable- 
 material, with its top made like the under- skirt 
 just described, and with a straight, scant flounce- 
 set upon its lower edge, at the knee. If cloth is 
 found sufficiently wide to cut the entire length of 
 the skirt of this semicircuL r shape, the flounce? 
 will not bo needed." 
 
 G 
 
 . / 
 
^f 
 
 146 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 THE EMANCIPATION WAIST. 
 
 The garment of this 
 name, wliich has re- 
 cently been patented in 
 tlie United States, is in- 
 tended for those who do 
 not adopt the other re- 
 form garments, but who 
 merely wish for a waist 
 on which to button their 
 skirts. It is made of 
 double cotton and the 
 buttons are so arranged 
 Figure 7. that the bands of the 
 
 outer skirts should each come in a different place. 
 Some button the drawers to it also. This illustra- 
 tion may furnish hints as to shape and trimming- 
 to those who desire a waist for this purpose. 
 
 SUSPENDERS. 
 
 As to the suspenders to which wo have alluded, 
 they may be either bought or made at home. 
 Mrs. Woolson recommends a particular kind, the 
 description of which will give an idea of the 
 qualities required, she says : — 
 
 "As to these articles, no style seems so good as 
 the regular men's suspender of the Guyot pattern, 
 stamped also as the hretellea hi/giefiiqucs. They 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 147 
 
 oaiinot fall over the arms ; and, however full the 
 bust may be, they will, if properly adjusted, pass 
 behind it. They are to be bought anywhere, as 
 white, as delicate^ as washable as one could wish. 
 Ladies who have worn them for years pronounce 
 them perfect. There are many new patterns of 
 suspenders made especially for women, each claim- 
 ing peculiar excellences. Dress- reformers have 
 grown learned concerning them, but space fails us 
 to rehearse their ins and their outs. We are firm 
 in the faith that no one 
 need be without a com- 
 fortable suspender of 
 some sort, many wom- 
 en to the contrary not- 
 withstanding." 
 
 One kind, made espe- 
 cially for ladies, is ar- 
 ranged with safety pins 
 of a peculiar construc- 
 tion, and has the ad- 
 vantage that it can be 
 attached to both skirt 
 and over- skirt. These 
 suspenders, with others 
 of more or less merit, 
 may be purchased at 
 from 45c. to 75c. Figurf, 8. 
 
tf 
 
 i^sam 
 
 148 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 They may, however, easily be made at home 
 witli a little ingenuity. Broad, white tape, 
 sewed double, answers very well. Two straight 
 strips, about three-quarters of a yard long and 
 joined between the shoulders by a cross-pieco of 
 five or six inches, may be sewed on the waist-band 
 at the back, and be attached by buttons in front. 
 This is a very simple arrangement, and those' 
 whose time is valuable will find it convenient to 
 have them thus attached to each dress- skirt, in- 
 stead of having movable ones which take time 
 to adjust. The stocking suspenders may, in like 
 manner, be either purchased or made at home. 
 One kind is sold, having two elastics attached to a 
 waist-band. This style has a fatal error in the 
 construction and should be carefully avoided, as 
 it is much more dangerous to wear than the ordin- 
 ary garter. A combination shoulder-brace, stock- 
 ing and skirt supporter, represented in Figure eight 
 is recommended by the Boston Committee ; but, as 
 we have said, simpler arrangements may be made 
 that will be quite as satisfactory. 
 
 LEGGINS. 
 
 Figure nine sh.ows 
 the Icggins which 
 are intended to keep 
 the leg from ankle to 
 
 knee dry and warm 
 during cold and 
 wet weather. This 
 is a very important 
 
 Figure 9. 
 
CUITING AND Firi'ING. 
 
 149 
 
 in- 
 
 article of dress, a« inunv colds arc taken 
 through sitting with wet ankles, and there are many 
 days in winter when it is impossible without them 
 to keep oneself dry. Yet it is, so far as we know, 
 impossible to obtain them ready-made, and no 
 little ingenuity is required to make them at home. 
 We hope, however, that the time is not far off 
 when these useful articles, as well as broad- soled 
 low-heeled boots, may be obtained without diffi- 
 <julty. 
 
 WRAPS. 
 
 With regard to wraps and clothing for the ex- 
 tremities, we copy the concluding pages of the 
 Boston book : — 
 
 " Wraps. — For outer garments, the short sacque 
 is the most serviceable. The shawl has antiquity 
 and grace to recommend it : we remember how 
 universally its shape entered into the component 
 parts of the female dress of the Greeks, in what 
 rich folds of drapery it sweeps down from the 
 shoulders, and how, in the hands of a Lady 
 Hamilton, it may lend a charm even to the sway- 
 ing motior of the dance that bears its name ; but 
 it impedes the movement of the body in walk- 
 ing, covers the arms till they are nearly useless, . 
 and crowds about the n6ck. When we have a 
 mind to be statuesque at all hazards, or when we 
 
I 
 
 150 
 
 CUTTINO AND FITTING. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 Qan rest at ease on carriage cushions, or take a 
 siesta at home, it may be made available ; but, 
 when we wish to walk or to work, it can be noth- 
 ing but an encumberance. Then a simple, sleeved 
 garment is far preferable. 
 
 " Clothing of the Extremities. — The hands in win- 
 ter should never be confined in a muff ; nor should 
 furs be worn about the neck. Mittens are better 
 than gloves for warmth ; and women should learn 
 to move their arms freely at the side, instead of 
 keeping them bent, with the hands pinioned at 
 the waist. The sleeve has reached j^erfection in 
 the close coat-sleeve, cut high on the shoulder, so 
 as to give freedom of movement to the shoulder- 
 joint. We are indebted to the French for so many 
 pernicious fashions, that we may thanlr them for 
 a. style as sensible as this. 
 
 " I need not say that a low-heeled, broad-soled 
 boot or shoe, of soft, stout leather, not too loose 
 or too tight, is requisite to the proper clothing of 
 the foot, and to an easy and elastic gait. There 
 may be a variety in the shoes to be worn on differ- 
 ent occasions ; and they should be changed often, 
 as should also the stocking, owing to the moisture 
 of the foot. Calf-skin is the best leather for 
 ordinary wear ; but, while goat- skin is no protec- 
 tion against wet, its porous nature allows the ex- 
 halations from the foot to pass off freely. Noth- 
 
 ■Tr tflhiMirflftrffiliHiii 
 
CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 151 
 
 ing Bhould ho snffored to intcriVro witli tliis func- 
 tion of the wkln. Cork-H(jloR covered on one sur- 
 face with ennmoUed clotli, iind rubher shoes, are 
 too impervioiis to the air; Indeed, ruhher shoes, 
 and especially rubber boots, shouhl very sehlom 
 be worn. Tlie Maine lumbermen secured rubber 
 boots for themselves as soon as these articles ap- 
 peared in the market, thinking thus to keep their 
 feet dry while rafting logs on the Penobscot ; but 
 they soon found their feet mnv.^ damp than be- 
 fore, and were obliged to abandon the boots. The 
 exhaled moisture of the foot, instead of passing 
 off into the air, was again absorbed, to the injury 
 of the system. 
 
 " For the hoikd, a soft, light hat seems perfec- 
 tion ; and one may not deny it the ornament of a 
 curling ostrich feather ; though if birds would 
 only teach us the art of keeping their plumes in 
 curl in damp weather, so that we could wear them 
 confidently in a fog, there would be no drawback 
 to their grace and beauty. That conglomeration 
 of bows, muslin flowers, buckles, feathers, lace, 
 and beads, usually heaped upon the useless arti- 
 cles called hats, presents a style of composite 
 architecture not edifying to behold. The width 
 of the hat-brim should render parasol and veil 
 unnecessary ; but it should not bo wide enough to 
 become unnianajreable in the wind. 
 
i 
 
 -J 
 
 
 152 
 
 CUTTING AND FITTING. 
 
 I 
 
 "Such is the apixirel whicli intelligent care 
 would }>roffcr to the women of our time. Clothe 
 yourselves thus, and life is no longer a burden. 
 You look like other women, and no one suspects 
 that you are not as miserable as they ; but you 
 breathe where they gasp, the library books on the 
 top shelf are within your reach, and when a 
 friend asks you to walk a mile you are ready to 
 ^o with him twain. 
 
 " Even in this day of pinching corsets and en- 
 tangling trains, women are fast learning to re- 
 spect the nature in themselves ; and they will, ere- 
 long, forswear bands and burdensome toggery, 
 and roam the meadows and walk the streets, if 
 not kirtled like Diana and her nymphs when 
 equip^ ed for the chase, yet with a dress too sim- 
 ple to absorb their minds, too easy to cripple their 
 movements, too healthful to rob their cheeks of a 
 bloom which should be as fresh and rosy as that 
 of the clover- toj^s they tread." . 
 
IX. 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 "We have now laid before our readers the pro- 
 posed dress-reform, both in its principles and in its 
 details, and with them remains the responsibility 
 of carrying it out. We say the responsibility, for 
 it is no mere question of comfort or taste or fash- 
 ion. It is the duty of every woman to use every 
 means within her power to preserve or regain her 
 health. It is her duty to be as strong as possible, 
 and as fit for the work which God has given her 
 to do. If then she finds the testimony of this 
 book as to the injurious nature of her present 
 attire unanswerable, let her begin as soon as possi- 
 ble to improve matters. 
 
 Those who arc so conservative as to be quite 
 unwilling to give up at once their accustomed gar- 
 ments, or who have worn their corsets so tight 
 that they feel as if they were " falling to pieces" 
 without them, and who therefore cling to them 
 with a not unnatural desperation, should consider 
 carefully what point they are willing to yield. 
 
 
 -% 
 
154 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 and begin there. Do not relinquish the hope of 
 relief because you are unwilling at first to go the 
 whole length. If you are willing to loosen your 
 corsets, do so. If you can agree to lighten your 
 skirts and wear suspenders, do not hesitate to do 
 it because you object to the chemilette. It is so 
 Tiiuch clear gain. If you can make up your mind 
 .0 the chemilette, wear, if you must, your corsets 
 above it, but loosen them and support the outer 
 skirts by waists and suspenders, and by and by 
 you will find yourself forgetting to put them on 
 at all, and then you may consider the victory 
 gained, and month by month you will see with 
 pleased surprise your former ailments and weak- 
 nesses disappear, and will wonder much at former 
 blindness and ignorance. You will not then des- 
 pair if you find your friends as slow to avail 
 themselves of the way of escape avS you were, but 
 will persevere in pointing out the right way. 
 
 A caution here ma}' be necessary. Man^ have 
 tried to reform at one point or another, and the 
 change not being in harmony with the rest of the 
 dress has made them very uncomfortable, and 
 they have speedily returned to the old style. 
 Many, for instance, after reading or hearing of 
 the evil of the corset, have laid that article aside 
 and have attempted to button the waist-bands to 
 an under- waist. The residt of this policy was a 
 
RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 155 
 
 feeling of discomfort, as though the waist were 
 girt about with a tightly fastened rope. Ex- 
 peric^nco teaches that if the corset is abandoned 
 the Vviiist-bands must be abjindoned also. Others 
 have experimented on stocking suspenders, at- 
 tempting to fasten them to the corset or waist- 
 band, and have soon relinquished the plan as un- 
 feasible. Others declare skirt suspenders in- 
 jurious, because they have not the wit to fasten the 
 front strap nearly under the arm, where it can do 
 no harm. 
 
 Any one with a moderate amount of resolution 
 and intelligence can easily surmount ail obstacles 
 and make her " freedom ' suit, as enthusiasts call 
 the new aitire, everything that is desirable and 
 beautiful. She will then teel inclined to call her 
 neighbors and friends to exult with her over the 
 wonderful discovery which she has made, and will 
 soon induce them to follow her example if she 
 perseveres in keeping before them the merits of 
 the system, letting nothing turn her aside from her 
 purpose. 
 
 FAI*SE ECONOMY. 
 
 The first thought which will arise in most 
 minds on this subject, will probably phrase itself 
 something as follows : " My underclothes are all 
 made; I have enough to last me for several months 
 
15fj 
 
 KKSOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 f 
 
 or years. It will be time enough when they 
 are worn out to attcnii)t the new kind. I cannot 
 afford to do anything at present." " Cannot 
 afford" generally means " will not afford." The 
 name people who cannot afford the two or three 
 dollars necessary to purchase the material for the 
 new underclothes, will maiuige in one way or 
 another to afford the new bonnet and handsomely 
 trimmed suit when the season changes. It de- 
 pends upon what relative importance you attach 
 to health compared with outside appearance as to 
 which style of garment will have the preference 
 in the immediate future. If economy be neces- 
 sary, you will, as we have shown, be able, with 
 a little ingenuity, to transform most of your 
 present garments into those demanded by the re- 
 form. It is a very false economy to save off mat- 
 ters affecting one's health. Illness and doctor's 
 
 bills will come to far more than chemilettes and 
 suspenders. 
 
 1 I 
 
 • PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE. 
 
 The main difficulty is to persuade women that 
 they are really injuring their health at present. 
 Retribution comes surely, but it comes often so 
 slowly that the victims of dress cannot be per- 
 suaded that it is coming at all. Many will read 
 this book carelessly and yield but a half assent io 
 
 il 
 
RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 157 
 
 is teachings, and the effect will soon pass off with- 
 out producing any result. Wo can only advise 
 such as do not feel themselves sufficiently impress- 
 ed to reperuse the chapter entitled '' Compressing 
 AND Depressing," and to notice that so many 
 qualified observers all agree exactly as to the in- 
 jury done, and point out the same remedy. 
 
 " The mills of God grind slowly, 
 But they grind exceeding small." 
 
 Your health may be now what you call perfect, 
 but there is no doubt that by errors of dress you, 
 in the first place, lose a great deal of that elasticity 
 and buoyancy which is your natural right ; and, 
 in the second place, if you do not change, injury 
 is being gradually done which will certainly show 
 itself in the course of time — injury which is pro- 
 portioned to the compression caused by the corset 
 and bands and to the depression caused by the 
 weight of skirts. A glance at the delicate sub- 
 ject treated in pages 87 to 91 will show one of 
 the most serious of the ways in which harm may 
 be done, and yet perhaps the one which is least 
 often attributed to dress. Teach the young to be 
 wise in time. 
 
 UINTS FOR REFORMERS. 
 
 Now that the ordinary underclothing is im- 
 ported at such rates as to undersell that produced 
 
 *^ 
 
158 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 in our midst, those who are interested in the sale of 
 the latter would probably find it for their ad- 
 vantage to provide a supply of the new under- 
 wear, of which they are likely to have, for a 
 while at least, the monopoly. To introduce these 
 it would be well to obtain a variety of pat- 
 terns and make up several complete suits in differ- 
 ent styles, and then call the attention of cus- 
 tomers to them by advertising. Prejudice may 
 be excited by exhibiting the individual articles, 
 but when the whole underclothing is seen, to- 
 gether, and the facility is observed with which it 
 may be slipped on and off en tnmse, as well as the 
 comfort and economy of the whole arrangement, 
 no thoughtful women can fail to feel that it sup- 
 plies a long- felt want. If it is not considered de- 
 sirable to make the garments until sure of the de- 
 mand, a large doll might be dressed hygionically 
 and exhibited to customers, and orders be taken. 
 Measurements would have to be numerous and 
 exact to make sure of the garments fitting well. 
 
 Speaking of patterns, we may say that the cir- 
 cular of the Boston Committee giving descrip- 
 tion and price may be obtained by addressing 
 Miss II. L. Lang, No. 4 Hamilton Place, Boston, 
 Mass. Madam Demorest also publishes a pattern 
 which she calls the " Ladies' chemise drawers," giv- 
 ing the puffed piece for the bust represented in 
 
RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 159 
 
 our third illustration. Other pattern makers will 
 doubtless follow in a short time, but those who 
 have only themselves to provide for, will probably 
 find a pattern cut from a neatly fitting waist and 
 drawers quite satisfactory. 
 
 If the fashion is set in any place by ladies of 
 position and influence it will not be long before it 
 is followed by the mass, and we may hope that it 
 will soon be as much the fashion to be healthy as 
 it is now to be delicate. 
 
 The position which this reform is taking in the 
 United States may perhaps be best shown by a 
 chapter taken from Miss Alcott's last work, " The 
 Eight Cousins." It is entitled, 
 
 *' FASHION AND PHYSIOLOGY." 
 
 It may be explained that Rose, the heroine, had 
 become quite delicate under the unwise nurture 
 bestowed upon her by her auuts, when fortunately 
 her guardian uncle. Dr. Alec, returned from 
 abroad, and with a few months under his wise 
 physical training the weakly girl had grown 
 strong and hearty : — 
 
 " * Please, sir, I guess you'd better step up right 
 away, or it will be too late, for I heard Miss Rose 
 say ^0 knew you wouldn't like it, and she'd 
 never dare to let you see her.' ^# 
 
 t 
 
160 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 " Phebe said this as she popped her head into 
 the study, where Dr. Alec sat reading a new book. 
 
 " * They are at it, are they ?' lie said, looking 
 up quickly, and giving himself a shake, as if 
 ready for a battle of some soi't. 
 
 " * Yes, sir, as hard as they can talk, and Miss 
 Rose don't seem to know what to do, for the 
 things are ever so stylish, and she looks elegant 
 in 'em ; though I like her best in the old ones,' 
 answered Phebe. 
 
 " * You are a girl of sense. I'll settle matters 
 for Rosy, and you'll lend a hand. Is everything 
 ready in her rooni, and are you sure you under- 
 stand how they go ?' 
 
 " * Oh, yes, sir ; but they are so funny ! I 
 know Miss Rose will think it's a joke,' and Phebe 
 laughed as if something tickled her immensely. 
 
 " * Never mind what she thinks so long as she 
 obeys. Tell her to do it for my sake, and she will 
 find it the best joke she ever saw. I expect to 
 have a tough time of it, but we'll win yet,' said 
 the Doctor, as he marched upstairs with the book 
 in his hand, and an odd smile on his face. 
 
 '* There was such a clatter of tongues in the 
 sewing- room that no one heard his tap at the 
 door, so he pushed it open and took an observa- 
 tion. Aunt Plenty, Aunt Clara, and Aunt Jessie 
 were all absorbed i!i gazing at Rose, who slowly 
 
KESOLVINO AND DOING. 
 
 IGl 
 
 revolved between them and the great mirror, in a 
 full winter eostume of the latest fashion. 
 
 " ' Bless my heart ! worse even than I expected,* 
 thought the Dooior, witli an inward groan, for, to 
 his benighted eyes, the girl looked like a trussed 
 fowl, and the fine new dress had neither grace, 
 beauty, nor fitness to recommend it. 
 
 " The suit was of two peculiar shades of blue, 
 80 arranged that patches of light tmd dark dis- 
 tracted the eye. The U2)per skirt was tied so 
 tightly back that it was impossible to take a long 
 step, and the under one was so loaded with plaited 
 frills that it * wobbled' — no other word will ex- 
 press it — ungracefully, both four and aft. A 
 bunch of folds was gathered up just below the 
 waist behind, and a great bow rode a -top. A 
 small jacket of the same material was adorned 
 with a high ruff at the buck, and laid well open 
 over the breast, to display some lace and a locket. 
 Heavy fringes, bows, puffs, ruffles and re vers 
 finished off the dress, making one's head ache to 
 think of the amount of work wasted, for not a 
 single graceful line struck the eye, and the beauty 
 of the material was quite lost in the profusion of 
 ornament. 
 
 " A high velvet hat, audaciously turned up in 
 front, with a bunch of pink roses and a sweeping 
 plume, was cocked over one ear, and with her 
 
162 
 
 KESOLVINO AND DOING. 
 
 curls braided into a club at the back of her neck, 
 Rose's head looked more like that of a dashing 
 '^ young cavalier than a modest little girl's. Jligh- 
 heelod boots tilted her well forwftrd, a tiny mufF 
 pinioned her arms, and a spotted veil tied so 
 closely over her face that her eyelashes were rump- 
 led by it, gave the last touch of absurdity to her 
 appearance. 
 
 " ' Now she looks like other girls, and as / like 
 to see her,' Mrs. Clara was sapng, with an air of 
 great satisfaction. 
 
 *' ' She does look like a fashionable young lady, 
 but somehow I miss my little Rose, for children 
 dressed like children in my day,' answered Aunt 
 Plenty, peering through her glasses with a troub- 
 led look, for she could not imagine the creature 
 before her ever sitting in her lap, running to wait 
 upon her, or making the house gay with a child's 
 blithe presence. 
 
 " * Things have changed since your day, Aunt, 
 and it takes time to get used to new ways. lUit 
 you, Jessie, surely like this costume better than 
 tlie dowdy things Rose has been wearing all sum- 
 mer. Now, be honest, and own you do,* said Mrs. 
 Clara, bent on being praised for her work. 
 
 " * Well, dear, to be quite honest then, I think 
 it is frightful,' answered Mrs. Jessie with a can- 
 dor that caused revolving Rose to stop in dismay. 
 
 b 
 
RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 163 
 
 << ( 
 
 Hear, hear,' cried a (loop voice, and with a 
 general fitart the ladies became aware that the 
 enemy was among them. 
 
 " Rose bliwhed up to her hat brim, and Htood, 
 looking, as she felt, like a fool, while Mrs. Clara 
 hastened to explain. 
 
 " * Of course I don't expect you to like it. Alec, 
 but I don't consider you a judge of what is pro- 
 per and becoming for a young lady. Therefore I 
 have taken the liberty of providing a pretty 
 street suit for Rose. She need not wear it if you 
 object, for I know we promised to let you do 
 what you liked with the poor dear for a year.' 
 
 ** ' It is a street costume, is it ?' asked the Doc- 
 tor, mildly. * Do you know, I never should have 
 guessed that it was meant for winter weather and 
 brisk locomotion. Take a turn, Rosy, and let me 
 see all its beauties and advantages.' 
 
 " Rose tried to walk off with her usual free 
 tread, but the under-skirt got in her way, the 
 over-skirt was so tight she could not take a long 
 step, and her boots made it impossible to carry 
 herself perfectly erect 
 
 " * I haven't got used to it yet,' she said, petu- 
 lantly, kicking at her train, as she turned to tod- 
 dle back again. 
 
 ** ' Suppose a mad dog or a runaway horse was 
 after you, could you get out of the way without 
 
i 
 
 1G4 
 
 llESOLVINO AND DOING. 
 
 upsetting, Colonel?' asked the Doctor, with a 
 twinkle in the eyes that were fixed on the rakish 
 hat. 
 
 " ' Don't think I could, but I'll try,' and Hose 
 made a rush f cross ihe room. Her boot-heels 
 caught on a rug, several strings broke, lier hat 
 tipped over her eyes, and she plunged promiscu- 
 ously into a chair, where she sat laughing so in- 
 fectiously tluit all but Mrs. Clara joined in her 
 mirth. 
 
 " * I should say that a walking suit in which one 
 could not walk, and a winter suit which exposes 
 the throat, head and feet to cold and damp, rather 
 a fuilure, Clara; especially as it has no beauty to 
 reconcile one to its utter unfitness,' said Dr. Alec, 
 as he helped Rose undo her veil, adding, in a low 
 tone : ' Nice thing for the eyes ; you'll soon see 
 spots when it is off as well as when it is on, and, 
 by and by, be a case for an oculist.' 
 
 " ' No beauty !' cried Mrs. Clara, warmly. ' Now 
 that is just a man's blindness. This is the best of 
 silk and camel's hair, real ostrich feathers, and an 
 expensive ermine muff. What couM be in better 
 taste, or more proper for a young girl ?' 
 
 " * I'll show you, if Rose will go to her room 
 and oblige me by putting on what she finds there,' 
 answered the Doctor, with unexpected readiness. 
 
 u 
 
RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 165 
 
 " * Alec, if it is a Bloomer, I shall protest. I've 
 been expecting it, but I know I cannot bear to see 
 that pretty child sacrificed to your wild ideas of 
 health. Tell me it is nH a Bloomer !' and Mrs. 
 Clara clasped her hands imploringly. 
 
 " ' It is not.* 
 
 "'Thank Heaven!* and she resigned herself 
 with a sigh of relief, adding plaintively, * I did 
 hope you'd accept my suit, for poor Rose has been 
 afflicted with frightful clothes long enough to 
 spoil the taste of any girl.* 
 
 " * You talk of my afflicting the child, and then 
 make a helpless guy like that of her !' answered 
 the Doctor, pointing to the little fashion plate 
 that was scuttling out of sight as fast as it could 
 
 go. 
 
 " He closed the door with a shrug, but before 
 any one could speak, his quick eye fell upon an 
 object which caused him to frown, and demand in 
 an indignant tone : — 
 
 ** ' After all I have said, were you really going 
 to tempt my girl with those abominable things P' 
 
 " ' I thought we put them away when she 
 wouldn't wear them,' jnurmured Mrs. Clara, 
 whisking a little pair of corsets out of sight, with 
 guilty haste. * I only brought them to try, for 
 Hose is growing stout, and will have no figure if 
 it is not attended to soon,' she added, with an air 
 
>\ 
 
 I' 
 
 '' i. 
 
 166 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 of calm conviction that roused tho Doctor still 
 mv-rc, i'or this was one of his especial abomina- 
 tions. 
 
 *' ' Growing stout ! Yes, thank Heaven, she is, 
 and shall continue to do it, for Nature knows how 
 to mold " woman better than any corset-maker, 
 and I won't have her interfered with. My dear 
 Clara, hare you lost your senses that you can for 
 a moment dream of putting a growing girl into 
 an instrument of torture like this ?' — and with a 
 sudden gesture he plucked forth the oflPending 
 corsets from under tho sofa cushion, and held 
 them out with ti. sxpression one would wear on 
 beholding the thumbscrews or the rack of ancient 
 times. 
 
 " * Don't be absurd, Alec. There is no torture 
 about it, for tight lacing is out of fashion, and we 
 have nice, sensible things now-a-days. Every one 
 wears them ; even babies have stiffened waists to 
 support their weak little backs,' began Mrs, Clara, 
 rushing to the defense of the pet delusion of most 
 women. 
 
 " ' I know it, and so the poor little souls have 
 weak backs all their days, as their mothers had 
 before them. It is vain to argue the matter, and 
 I won't try, but I -vish to state, once for all, that 
 if I ever see a pair of corsets near Rose, I'll put 
 them in the fire, and you may ser'd the bill to me.' 
 
 -B >- 
 
 •■ 'J^ 
 
RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 167 
 
 "As he spoke, the corsets were on their way to 
 destruction, but Mrs. Jessie caught his arm, ex- 
 claiming merrily, ' Don't burn them, for mercy's 
 sake. Aloe ; they are full^of whalebones, and will 
 make a dreadful odor. Give thorn to me. I'll see 
 that they do no harm.' 
 
 "* Whalebones indeed!. A regular fence of 
 them, ai)d metal gate-posts in front. As if our 
 own bones were not enough, if we'd give them a 
 chance to do their duty,' growled the Doctor, 
 yielding up the bone of contention with a last 
 shake of contempt. Tlien his face cleared sud- 
 denly, and he held up his finger, saying, with a 
 smile, ' Hear those girls laugh ; cramped lungs 
 could not make hearty music like that.' 
 
 *' Peals of laughter issued from Rose's room, 
 and smiles involuntarily touched the lips of those 
 who listened to the happy sound. 
 
 " * Some new prank of yours. Alec ?' asked 
 Aunt Plenty, indulgently, for he had come to be- 
 lieve in most of her nephew's ^dd notions, because 
 they seemed to work so well. 
 
 " ' Yes, ma'm, my last, and I hope you will like 
 it. I discovered what Clara was at, and got my 
 rival suit ready for to-day. I'm not going to 
 ' afflict^ Rose, but let her choose, and if I'm not 
 entirely mistaken, she will like my rig best. While 
 we wait I'll explain, and then you will appreciate 
 
 "V^; V 
 
"tipr- 
 
 168 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 ' . 
 
 I f 
 
 the general effect better. I got hold of this little 
 book, and was struck with its good sense and good 
 taste, for it suggests a way to clothe women both 
 healthfully and' handsomely, and that is a great 
 point. It begins at the foundations, as you will 
 see if you will look at these pictures, and I should 
 think women would rejoice at this lightening of 
 their burdens.* 
 
 " As he spoke, the Doctor laid the book before 
 Aunt Plenty, who obediently brought her spec- 
 tacles to bear upon the illustrations, and after a 
 long look exclaimed with a scandalized face : 
 
 " * Mercy on us, these things are like the night- 
 drawers Jamie wears ! You don't mean to say 
 you want Rose to come out in this costimie P It's 
 not propel*, and I won't consent to it !' 
 
 " * I do mean it, and I'm sure my sens'Me Aunt 
 will consent when she understands that these — 
 well — I'll call them by an Indian name, and say 
 — pajamas — are for underwear, and Rose can have 
 as pretty frocks as she likes, outside. These two 
 suits of flannel, e.' ..h in one piece from head to 
 foot, with a skirt or so hung on this easily fitting 
 waist, will keep the child warm without burdening 
 her with belts, and gathers, and buckles, and 
 bunches ound the waist, and leave free the muscles 
 that need plenty of room to work in. She shall 
 never have the back-ache if / can help it, nor the 
 
RESOLVING AND POINQ. 
 
 169 
 
 
 Aunt 
 Hose — 
 say 
 have 
 two 
 ad to 
 tting 
 Lenin g 
 and 
 uscles 
 shall 
 ir the 
 
 long list of ills you dear women think you can- 
 not escape.' 
 
 ** '/ don't consider it modest, and I'm sure 
 Hose will be shocked at it,' began Mrs. Clara, 
 but stoiipcd suddenly as Rose appeared in the 
 doorway, not looking shocked a bit.' 
 
 '' 'Come on, my hygienic model, and let us see 
 you,' said her uncle, with an approving glance, 
 as she walked in looldng so mischievously merry, 
 that it was evident she enjoyed the joke.' 
 
 " 'Well, I don't see anything remarkable. 
 That is a neat, plain, suit ; the materials are good, 
 and it's not unbecoming, if you want her to look 
 like a little school-girl; but it has not a particle 
 of style, and no one would ever give it a second 
 glance,' said ]\Irs. Clara, feeling that her last re- 
 mark condemned the whole thing.' 
 
 "'Exactly what I want,' answered the pro- 
 voking Doctor, rubbing his hands with a satisfied 
 air. ' llosy looks now like what she is, a modest 
 little girl, who does not want to be stared at. I 
 think she would get a glance of aj^proval, though, 
 from people who like sense and simplicity, rather 
 than fuss and feathers. Revolve, my Hebe, and 
 let me refresh my eyes by the sight of yoii.' 
 
 " There was very little to see, however, only a 
 pretty Gabrielle dress, of a soft, warm shade of 
 brown, coming to the tops of a trim ir of boots 
 
 H 
 
t 
 
 170 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 ! 
 
 with l(5w heelH. A seal-skin sack, cap, and mit- 
 tens, with a glimpse of scarlet at the throat, and 
 the pretty curls tied up with a bright Vfclvet of 
 the same color, completed the external adornment, 
 making her look like a robin red- breast — wintery, 
 yet warm. 
 
 ** *How do you like it. Rosy?* asked the Doc- 
 tor, feeling that her opinion was more important 
 to the success of his new idea than that of all the 
 aunts on the hill. 
 
 " ' I feel A'ery odd and light, but I'm warm as 
 a toast, and nothing seems to be in my way,' an- 
 swered Rose, with a skip which displayed shapely 
 gaiters on legs that now might be as free and 
 active as a boy's, under the modes'^^ skirts of the 
 girl. 
 
 " ' You can run away from the mad dogs, and 
 walk off at a smart pace without tumbling on your 
 nose, now, I fancy ?' 
 
 " * Yes, uncle ! suppose the dog coming, I just 
 
 hop over a wall so and when I walk of a cold 
 
 day, I go like this .' 
 
 " Enter mg fully into the spirit of the thing. 
 Rose swung herself over the high back of the 
 sofa as easily as one of her cousins, and then went 
 down the Ion j hall as if her stout boots were re- 
 lated to the f » Jious se^en leaguers. 
 
RESOLVING AMD DOING. 
 
 171 
 
 ** * There ! you see how it will bo ; dress her in 
 that boyish way and she will act like a boy. I do 
 hate all these inventions of strong-minded women !' 
 exclaimed Mrs. Clava, as Rose came back at a run. 
 
 " ' Ah, but you see some of these sensible in- 
 ventions come from the brain of a fashionable 
 modiHtc, who will make yo\x lovely, or what you 
 value more — * stylish' outside and comfortable 
 within. Mrs. Van Tassel has been to Madame 
 Stone, and is wearing a full suit of this sort. Van 
 himself told me, when I asked how she was, that 
 she had given up lying on the sofa, and was going 
 about in a most astonishing way, considering her 
 feeble health.* 
 
 " ' You don't say so ! Let me see that book a 
 moment,' and Aunt Clara examined the new pat- 
 terns with a more respectful air, for if the ele- 
 gant Mrs. Van Tassel wore these * dreadful things' 
 it would never do to be left behind, in spite of her 
 prejudices. 
 
 " Dr. Alec looked at Mrs. Jessie, and both 
 smiled, for * little Mum' had been in the secret, 
 and enjoyed it mightily. 
 
 ** * I thought chat would settle it,' he said with 
 a nod. 
 
 " * I didn't wait for Mrs. Van to lead the way, 
 and for once in my life I have adoptod a new 
 fashion before Clara. My freedom suit is ordered, 
 
•*-*»!• idBRli^'tJ 
 
 172 
 
 RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 and you may sed' me pbiying tug with Rose and 
 the* boys before long,' answered Mrs. Jessie, nod- 
 ding back at him. 
 
 " Meantime Aunt Plenty was examining Rose's 
 costume, IPor the hat and sack were off, and the 
 girl was eagerly explaining the new undergar- 
 ments. 
 
 '* * See, Auntie, all nice scarlet flannel, and a 
 gay little j)etticoat, and long stockings, oh, so 
 warm ! Phebe and I nearly died laughing when 
 I put tliis rig on, but I like it ever so nmch. The 
 dress is so comfortable, and doesn't need any belt 
 or sash, and I can sit without rumpling any trim- 
 ming, that's aui'h a comfort ! I like to be tidy, and so, 
 when I wear fussed up things, I'm thinking of 
 my clothes all the time, and that's so tiresome. 
 Do say you like it. I resolved /would, just to 
 please uncle, for he does know more about health 
 than any one else, I'm sure, and I'd wear a bag if 
 he asked me to do it.' 
 
 '* * I don't ask that, Rose, but I wish you'd 
 weigh and compare the two suits, and then choose 
 which seems best. I leave it to your own com- 
 mon sense,' answered Dr. Alec, feeling pretty sure 
 he had won. 
 
 " * Why, I take this one, of course, uncle. The 
 other is fashionable^ and — yes — I must say I think 
 it's pretty — but it's very heavy, and I should have 
 
RESOLVING AND DOING. 
 
 173 
 
 to go round like a walking doll if I wore it. I'm 
 mueli obliged to auntie, but I'll keep this, please.' 
 
 " Hose spoke gently but decidedly, though there 
 WHS a look of regret, when her eye fell on the 
 other suit which Phebe had brought in ; and it 
 was very natural to like to look as other girls did. 
 Aunt Clara sighed, Uncle Alec smiled, and said 
 heartily : 
 
 " • Thank you, dear ; now read this book and 
 
 you will understand why I ask it of you Then, 
 
 if you like, I'll give you a new lesson ; you asked 
 
 for one yesterday, and this is more necessary than 
 
 French or housekeeping.' 
 
 " ' Oh, what ? ' and llose caught up the book 
 
 which Mrs. Clara had thrown down with a dis- 
 gusted look. 
 
 ** * Physiology, Rose. Wouldn't you like to be 
 a little medical student with Uncle Doctor for 
 teacher, and be ready to take up his practice when 
 he has to stop ? If you agree, I'll hunt up my 
 old skeleton to-morrow.' 
 
 " That was too much for Aunt Clara, and she 
 hastily departed with her mind in a sad state of 
 perturbation about Mrs. Van Tassel's nev/ cos- 
 tume, and Rose's new study.'" 
 
"t*. 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 X. 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 CAUSE AND EFFECT. 
 
 It is to be expected that many readers of this 
 Utile book will at first feel incredulous us to the 
 sliitenients niado of the amount of injury done by 
 dress. Thoy have never considered the subject, 
 but have taken for granted that women suffered 
 under natural physical disabilities, and could never 
 expeirt to be very strong ; and they have not ob- 
 served many startling facts, because their eyes 
 have not been open. Intelligent observers have, 
 however, been noticing an apparent general decay 
 of vigor in the girls and women of cur day. They 
 have noticed that country-bred girls, reared under 
 many of the most favorable conditions, coming 
 into the city to take situations at service, are often 
 not strong enough to do more than half a woman's 
 work. They have noticed that girls in the higher 
 classes of the schools, and in Normal Schools, are 
 apt to drop out ,of their places for months, or per- 
 haps altogether, from ill-health. Those familiar 
 
THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 175 
 
 with Bible-class work nmong the middle and 
 lower classes, know with wluit sad frequency the 
 excuse of ill-health is given for prolonged absence. 
 Among women, rich and poor, married and 
 single, a certain amount of ill-health seems to be 
 the rule rather than the exception. This fact is 
 often unrecognized, for with true martyr spirit 
 most women conceal from their own immediate 
 family a great part of their sufferings, and go 
 about with a smiling face while the body is racked 
 with pain or exhausted with sleepless nights 
 and weary days. 
 
 This general ill-health, when it has been ob- 
 served, has been attributed to various causes. 
 Now it is overwork that is blamed ; now too much 
 devotion to study ; now it is the sewing machine, 
 and again the many stairs that have to be climbed 
 in modern mansions. Now it is the standing in 
 shops, then it is the exposure to all weathers, and 
 the rapid monotonous movements exacted from the 
 factory operative. Then we hear that it is the 
 luxurious idleness of the drawing-room, or the 
 late hours and excitement of the woman of fashion 
 that is at fault. With another writer, the diet is 
 the sole trouble, while some one else lays the 
 blame on the fact that girls cultivate delicacy of 
 health in order to increase their attractiveness. 
 That so many reasons are found for ill-health. 
 
r 
 
 » 
 
 176 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 proves, in the first place, that there is a great deal 
 of it to be accounted for ; and, in the second place, 
 that there is something radically wrong in our 
 arrangements. What that something is, the 
 readers of this book are now prepared to point 
 out. All the causes named are probably at work 
 to produce the effect, but a moment's reflection 
 will show that there is hardly one of them which 
 is not aggravated by the prevalent errors of dress. 
 If standing all day, or running up numerous 
 stairs, or overwork, be injurious under any cir- 
 cumstances, how much more so will it be if heavy 
 skirts drag the internal organs out of position, and 
 at the same time free breathing is prevented. If the 
 diet bo faulty, digestion is certainly not helped by 
 the corset steel and waist-band pressing the 
 stomach out of shape. Exposure to the weather 
 is not dangerous if suitable clothing be worn. 
 Hiird study would not have the same chance to 
 injure, if the body of the growing girl were not 
 crami^cd in clothes which prevent the natural 
 development. The -child is early taught to sub- 
 stitute an artificial shape for that given her by 
 nature ; and it is not altogether wonderful if in 
 otht ^' matters she distrusts nature and attempts to 
 improve upon it. 
 
 Dress thus intensifies and aggravates every 
 other cause of ill- health and it becomes the duty of 
 
al 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 177 
 
 every sensible woman to do what she can for its 
 reform. 
 
 ETHICS AND ^ISTHETICS. 
 
 Wo have touched but lightly, so far, upon the 
 outside dress, and have treated it entirely with 
 regard to health of body. There is another and 
 equally serious aspect, however, about which we 
 would like to say a few words. If dress so easily 
 affects the health of the body, it may, with equal 
 facility, affect the health of both mind and soul. 
 Let us put a case. Suppose a man of education and 
 refinement with a small income for which he does 
 not need to work, and which, with economy, suf- 
 fices for his wants. Suppose that, with the ex- 
 ception of some hours given to society, he spends 
 his time in the construction of his garments, mak- 
 ing them himself for the purjjose of saving tailor's 
 bills and spending the money thus saved in the 
 purchase of clothes as fine as any worn by his 
 wealthy neighbors. Let us suppose, farther, that 
 he stints himself in food — for body or mind — all 
 summer, that he may be able to purchase a hand- 
 some fur coat when winter comes ; that he goes to 
 church chiefly to study the new clothes worn 
 by the worshippers, and that when a new style 
 is observed on any one whom it would be safe to 
 copy, he straightway rips his own garment to* 
 
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 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
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 pieces, and, laboriously, matcliing the cloth, does 
 his best to imitate the stylish model, at the ex- 
 pense of perhaps a week*s work. 
 
 The whole supposition is absurd, — no one would 
 for a moment imagine such a man to be sane. If 
 sanity could by any possibility be pre- supposed, 
 no words would suffice to express the scorn with 
 which such conduct would be viewed. It is only 
 women who can spend their lives in this way with 
 impunity. Of course we have taken an extreme 
 case, and, besides, the parallel between a man in 
 such circumstances and a woman is not exact. But 
 are there not many women whose conduct ap- 
 proximates in foolishness that of the man in the 
 case we have described ? Is it then with impunity 
 that they thus spend their lives ? To take a low 
 view of the matter — can any one give the mind 
 to the never-ceasing consideration of clothes and 
 not have it essentially vulgarized thereby ? How 
 much more true refinement there would be in 
 wearing such clothes as could be easily afforded, 
 and not attempting to vie with those who are 
 richer. It is very desirable to dress weii. Every 
 garment should be neat, suitable and becoming ; 
 but the question of becomingness is very different 
 from that of expense and from that of following 
 every vagary of the fashion. A garment that is 
 becoming one year ought, if well preserved, to 
 
THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 179 
 
 be equally so the next, even though the fashion 
 books suggest something a little different. 
 
 The fashionable color, the stylish ruffle, the pre- 
 valent mode of dressing the hair or of cutting the 
 dress-waist, may all be most unsuitable to the 
 complexion, shape of head, or figure of the wearer, 
 yet the slave of fashion prefers to be most un- 
 becomingly dressed rather than show in the least 
 her independence of fashion's freaks. Ladies of 
 educationandpresumablyof culture, will, if not pos- 
 sessed of sufficient means to employ freely the art 
 of the dressmaker and milliner, frequently sacri- 
 fice their entire time and power of thought, as 
 well as all the money they can obtain from fatlier 
 or husband, to the pett}'^ desire of wearing as ele- 
 gant garments as the neighbor or relative who 
 may have six times as much money to dress upon. 
 This, however, is not the v irst of it. The mel- 
 ancholy thing is to hear these ladies boasting that 
 they do all their own sewing, and expecting, for 
 this, to receive the praise of all right-thinking peo- 
 ple. They look complacently at the ruffles and 
 frills and pleatings, the shirrs and revers, the 
 puffings and cordings; the fortnight's work put 
 upon one dress of flimsy material and expect 
 praise for " doing their own sewing.'* They have 
 no time for reading — they do all their own sew- 
 ing. They have no time to play with or instruct 
 
180 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFITL. 
 
 their children ; no time for Sunday-school visit- 
 ing ; no time for correspondence — they do all 
 their own sewing. They have no time, in fact, 
 for the things which make life really valuable, 
 because if they do not keep the sewing machine 
 running vigorously they may be left behind in 
 the race after style. Doing all one's own sewing 
 may be praiseworthy, or it may not ; let the reader 
 judge which it is in her own case. Might it not 
 be better to dress more simplj'^, and with the 
 money thus saved pay the needy seamstress or 
 the widowed dressmaker, who is trying to bring 
 up her family respectably, for doing the work. 
 Bring conscience into your dressing, and, looking 
 at the matter in the fear of God, do as seems 
 right to you. The Christian's time is not. her 
 own, but is bought with a price, and should be 
 used for the glory of God. 
 
 The evil which we have pointed out does not 
 end with ladies. The wealthy lady dresses richly 
 and can afford to do so ; the well-to-do lady im- 
 itates her richer sister, which she can do without 
 any great sacrifice of time or comfort. The lady 
 ivhose income is barely sufficient for the wants of 
 her family must attempt to dress equally well, 
 and must therefore make up in time and thought 
 and skill what she lacks in money. If she has 
 three or four daughters, all to be dressed in equal 
 
 ■—^oJ^'^^ 
 
THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUCHTFUL. 
 
 181 
 
 style, what sacrifices must be made only the vic- 
 tims can tell. Over- worked teac^hers must sit up 
 far into the night to do what they can to imitate 
 the style of the rich ; "hop girls must, as they 
 may, vie with the carriage lady in elegance of 
 attire ; and the servant girl and the factory oper- 
 ative must do without flannels, underclothing, over- 
 shoes, and other necessaries, that their Sunday 
 dress may have as many flounces and puJfBngs 
 of the overskirt as are presented by the fashion- 
 book ; and when the attire required by the season 
 is not in perfect readiness, or when the weather 
 threatens destruction to its flimsy material, they 
 easily excuse themselves from church and Sunday- 
 school, and thus lose a large proportion of their 
 scanty opportunities of learning of a better life. 
 
 If people of all classes would be satisfied to 
 dress according to their means, these evils would 
 be largely done away with. We would not, how- 
 ever, be understood to say that this ambition to 
 dress as others do is all bad. It is a manifestation 
 of that spirit which is now working in all classes^ 
 rousing them from apathetic contentment with 
 their lot and stirring them up to seek a better and 
 a higher life. This particular minifestation, how- 
 ever, needs to be confined within rather close, 
 limits, as it has the power of causing an incalcula- 
 ble amount of evil. The true solution of the prob- 
 
•1-M* 
 
 
 i 
 
 182 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 lem will probably be found in the future, when 
 all wbo aspire to tbe position of true ladies will 
 be content with modest, w^ell-made, durable gar- 
 ments, and when it will be considered a mark of 
 vulgarity and inferiority to spend a large propor- 
 tion of the income in personal adornments, or to 
 wear anything which excites attention by reason 
 of its expensiveness, or because it is in the extreme 
 of fashion. A reform beginning at the top would 
 thus work downwards, by degrees, until it reach- 
 ed every class of society. 
 
 HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 Many ladies are not anxious to vie with those 
 • who are richer, they merely want to dress accord- 
 ing to their own station in life ; but they find that 
 _ to do this requires more money and time and 
 thought than they are willing to give. They 
 groan under the slavery, but see no means of re- 
 lief. A few suggestions may be helpful to these. 
 In the first place, then, we would say, — Try to 
 get things of real value for your money. Only 
 rich people can afford to buy bargains. Never 
 buy a cheap or poor material. It costs as much, 
 perhaps more, to have a poor material made up as 
 a good one, and it will only last a third or fourth 
 of the time, and never look as well. A cheap ma- 
 terial tempts to excessive trimming to cover its 
 
THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 183 
 
 lever 
 luch, 
 |up as 
 )urtli 
 ma- 
 fcr its 
 
 1 
 
 poorness, while a good stuff will be a continual 
 pleasure from its own excellence. A good dress 
 material may be worn for years. It may be 
 scoured, turned, dipped, made over, and at last 
 given away, while a flimsy one is imfit even to 
 give away after a little wear. To trimmings the 
 same principle will apply. A woman will often 
 spend in two or three years, on fringes and fancy 
 trimmings, an amount which would purchase 
 real lace sufficient for a "life- time. The fringes 
 wear out, fade, and are good for nothing in less 
 than a season, while the lace would last oiit her 
 time and then go down to her descendants. Yet 
 she says she cannot afford to buy real lace. In 
 purchasing dress goods, fancy stuffs should be 
 looked upon with great suspicion, especially if they 
 present an unusually fine appearance for the 
 pricGv It is safer to keep to standard materials of 
 which you have proved the durability, though 
 even these will vary greatly in different years. 
 If ladies would insist on obtaining durability, 
 rather than cheapness, the manufacturers would 
 soon rise to the demand, and would improve the 
 totyle of their goods as fast as they are deteriorat- 
 ing them at present. 
 
 Having chosen a good material, have it, in the 
 second place, ^ceU made. A well made garment 
 wears longer, looks better, and is in every way 
 
184 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 'i 
 
 !/ 
 
 
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 i 
 
 I 
 
 
 ff 
 
 
 more satisfactory, than one tliat is badly cut and 
 poorly put together. The wearer is tempted to 
 lay aside a poorly made dress, long before it is 
 worn out. To secure this point, you will probably 
 have to secure the aid of an experienced and skil- 
 ful dress-maker, and this is generally the truest 
 economy, as, apart from the fact that it will be 
 better done, your time is probably worth more 
 to yourself, and your family, than the few dollars 
 whici you will have ta pay out. It is better to 
 have one or two durable, well made dresses, than 
 half a dozen poor ones. 
 
 In the third place, choose a material and a style 
 which are not likely soon to go out of fashion. 
 Many styles are evidently so ephemeral, that no 
 economical person should have anything to do 
 with them. Extrejues of fashion should in all 
 cases be avoided, while sensible styles should secure 
 your support and approval, and you should cling 
 to them as long as possible. It is needless to say, 
 that it is not necessary to wear anything which 
 looks absurd, merely becpuse others do, or that it 
 is wrong to wear anything which is injurious to 
 health. 
 
 In the fourth place, after you have bought good 
 material, and have had it well made in a sensible 
 fashion, wear it without alteration as long as 
 possible. There is something very vulgarizing in 
 
 \ 
 
THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 185 
 
 tlie present wide spread notion that it is necessary 
 to keep things in the latest fashion by continual 
 alterations. The mind should be engaged on 
 better things than the continual study of the cut 
 and make of garments — a study which interferes 
 not only with culture, but too often with devotion. 
 If a garment gets so much out of date as to attract 
 attention from its singularity, it may be time to 
 think of altering it ; but if, as we advise, the ex- 
 tremes of fashion are avoided, this will not often 
 take place. r ^ ; ^ • ^ 
 
 In the fifth place, every woman should decide 
 how much money she can afford and ought to 
 afford to spend upon her own dress in the year, 
 and then she should rigidly keep within that sum. 
 A little calculation will show how much money is 
 required for under- clothing, how much for the 
 shoemaker, how much to pay the seamstress, how 
 
 ' much for millinery, and how much for dresses and 
 dress-makers. A little system would do away 
 with the vague wonder which many feel as to 
 
 i whether or not they can afford every pretty thing 
 they see, and save many of the interminable 
 hours which soma spend in shopping. In connec- 
 tion with this, we would ^^dvise strongly that 
 every woman should pay ;eady money for every 
 article of dry goods. It is an invaluable check 
 upon the purchase of unnecessary or extravagant 
 
T—" 
 
 186 
 
 «HOUGHT» FOB THE THOUGHTFUL. 
 
 articles. Running up bills is a most dangerous 
 thing to do. Especially should the cash system be 
 adhered to in paying for work done, both in jus- 
 tice to those you employ and in justice to your- 
 self. If you pay well and promptly you are in a 
 position to insist upon having your work done 
 well and promptly ; and you should do so. If 
 ladies would never employ a second time 
 those who lightly promise work for a definite 
 time and as lightly fail to have it done, there 
 would soon be an end to the intentional deception 
 practised by so many dressmakers, milliners, 
 shoemakers, and others who undertake work. 
 These few suggestions will, if carried out, assist 
 ladies in dressing well, without giving too 
 much time, thought and money to the work. 
 Of course, the subject is not nearly exhausted. 
 We have shown at length in this book the danger 
 to health of a blind following of the example of 
 others in matters of dress ; and we have hinted at 
 the effects produced on mind and soul by the de- 
 votion of so much time anrl thought to the ques- 
 tion of wherewithal we shall be clothed. To 
 simplify dress and render it healthful, and 
 thus deliver woman from the two-fold slavery 
 which saps the vigor of bc)th body and mind, is 
 surely a worthy subject of thought and endeavor. 
 Let our most cultivated and refined women lead 
 
 t"v 
 
r 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL 
 
 187 
 
 . If 
 time 
 ^finite 
 there 
 Bption 
 Liners, 
 work, 
 assist 
 too 
 work, 
 sted. 
 anger 
 le of 
 ited at 
 e de- 
 ques- 
 To 
 and 
 very 
 d, is 
 avor. 
 lead 
 
 this movement, being careful to avoid every thing 
 which would excite the prejudices of the ignorant 
 or rouse the fears of the fastidious, and there is 
 hope that in a short time a wonderful revolution 
 may be eiFected. Indeed it is not impossible that 
 sometime in the future a time will come when it 
 will not be necessary for a woman to give any 
 more time and thought to her dress than is now 
 necessary for a man. Let us be up and doing 
 and not rest apathetically satisfied with the pres- 
 ent unwholesome state of things. 
 
 
 •»■ 
 
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 I 
 
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