Dress-Reform (Woolson)/Appendix
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
The common and serious charge brought against all reformers is that they are always ready to pull the world to pieces, and very slow to reconstruct it again. And yet a dissatisfaction with existing evils must precede the desire for any thing better, and is the one step without which subsequent advance would be impossible. To create a "divine discontent" with reigning abuses is to prepare the way for their ultimate overthrow.
But, in the matter before us, immediate remedies are so desirable and important that those who are calling attention to pernicious features of the present apparel feel impelled to provide some acceptable substitute. It is their wish to show not only why, but how, a dress-reform should be made.
Accordingly, the preceding lectures have not merely demonstrated that all the devices of the female mind as to personal attire have been evil, and that continually, but they have sought to indicate what other and better garments should now be adopted. Further detailed and definite suggestions concerning the changes that need to be made will be found in this Appendix, which is intended to supplement the words of the physicians, and which will contain such directions for the proper fashioning and adjustment of the under dress, and for the improvement of the whole apparel, as may render its pages of practical value.
"This book is for the good, and not for the bad," wrote the "child" Bettine, in her crude English, at the beginning of that volume of Correspondence which she was struggling so hard to translate from her native German into a foreign tongue. And so I may say at starting that this Appendix is for earnest and sensible women who are seeking to reconstruct their clothing upon true principles of physiology and art: it is not for triflers, who have no interest in reform beyond the diverting literature it supplies. Doubtless many such will peruse it; but, if they are warned at the entrance that it is dangerous passing here, their delicate sensibilities cannot bring a complaint for any injuries they may receive. A description of novel garments, to be of any service, must be minute and explicit; and, since I am writing for women, the designations in common use among them will be employed, without foolish circumlocutions.
The unreasoning prejudices of the general public are so strong against any radical change in the present appearance of woman's dress, that they could not fail to conquer, at last, whatever bravery and intelligence might to-day be displayed in the adoption of a wholly new and singular garb. It would, therefore, seem wise to conciliate, as far as possible, these powerful prejudices; while, at the same time, effecting that thorough reform in the structure of the underwear, and those modifications of the outer dress, which health imperatively demands. So long as the entire underwear remains ill-formed and ill-adjusted, no fitness in the externals can confer the ease and freedom which our clothing should secure. If we would gain essential improvements that are vital to good health and long life, we must decide to attempt no specious and superficial reform, nor one, however thorough, that would inevitably come to a speedy and disastrous end. Great care and much delibcration are needed in devising a style of dress that shall be loose, light, and of uniform thickness, while it retains the general and obvious features of the costume of our time.
But the problem is one which patient and continued efforts have at length solved. Many ladies, interested in the work, have devoted their ingenuity and practised skill to the invention of a simple, healthful, and complete suit of underwear, which may take the place of our present objectionable styles, and they have succeeded in obtaining it. The forms and combinations of the ordinary garments have been well considered, and their evils and advantages clearly defined. As the result of this examination, we have been led to abandon altogether some of the garments commonly worn, as hopelessly bad, to modify others, to recommend a few hitherto but little known, and to invent some that are wholly new and strange. These last have been evolved by slow stages from what were at first but floating visions of hygienic principles embodied in clothes; and these visions have thus assumed a local habitation, and even a name, among the regenerated garments of the new dispensation. Whoever has given herself to the cutting, basting, fitting, and altering, which are needed for the final realization of such dreams, will allow the inventors to survey their triumphs with pardonable pride. It is no idle thing to wrestle with cotton cloth and come off the victor.
These selections and successes have been of sufficient number to present a variety of forms for the choice of would-be dress-reformers; for even they have prejudices to be humored and individual tastes to be met. No two of them were ever known to choose the same outfit, in all its combinations and details; though all must agree on the general principles to which every article should conform.
Before proceeding to particularize, let me define these few hygienic principles, and state, also, the precise objects which have been held in view in our attempted reconstruction of dress.
First, and most important, the vital organs situated in central regions of the body must be allowed unimpeded action.
Second, a uniform temperature of the body must be preserved.
Third, weight must be reduced to a minimum.
Fourth, the shoulders, and not the hips, must serve as the base of support.
The first will require that all tight-fitting waists of whatever sort, whether in under or outer wear, and all tight ligatures about the waist, be entirely removed.
The second will require that the clothing be made of the same thickness throughout, in order that the uniform temperature natural to the body may not be disturbed and destroyed. There must be no less on the limbs than on the trunk; no less on the shoulders than on the waist; and no more below the waist than above. I have said that there should be no less on the limbs; but there should really be more, since, being of great length in proportion to their diameter, and disconnected with the main part of the body save at one end, they offer a large extent of surface for the radiation of heat, and therefore tend to become colder than other sections. They are remote from the vital organs whose constant action increases the temperature of surrounding parts; and the blood, on which the system chiefly depends for its warmth, has to traverse long distances in order to reach their extremities, and must suffer a gradual diminution of heat as it flows outward. This is especially true of the feet. They are very far from the centre, and move upon the ground, in the lowest and coldest stratum of the atmosphere. Thus the blood in them is liable to chills, and these are transmitted to portions above. Special pains must therefore be taken to protect the feet with warm coverings, to elevate their soles above the ground, by many layers of stout leather rendered nearly impervious to cold and moisture, and, also, to give as much freedom to the movements of the feet beneath their coverings as ease in walking will allow. By so doing, we shall permit the vital currents within the feet to flow freely back and forth from the heart. So much for the limbs. On the trunk of the body, all the upper garments should extend from the neck only so far as to meet the lower garments; otherwise, we shall have the neck and shoulders cold, and the pelvic region overheated. Every thickness of cloth which covers the trunk should furnish sleeves and drawers for the limbs; and additional coverings should be had for the legs and feet, to be worn in the outer air.
The third principle will require that the skirts, which do now, and must ever, so long as they are worn, contribute the chief weight of our clothing, shall be made as few, as short, as scant, as sparingly trimmed, as good looks will permit.
The fourth will require that all the lower garments be attached to the upper garments, or that they have separate and special supports of their own passing over the shoulders.
If we try our present attire by these requirements, we shall see clearly why it fails to embody, or even to recognize, the elementary principles that have been stated, and why radical changes must be made.
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 supreme; in the outer dress, the plain or biased waist is usually buttoned as tightly over the corset as it can possibly be drawn. Beneath such 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, furnish, accordingly, sixteen layers of cloth girding the stomach and the yielding muscles situated in that region. These bands are all placed one directly 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 cscapes weak lungs, short breath, palpitation of the heart, liver-complaint, and indigestion, it is by a special interposition of the higher powers in her individual case. Who shall say this is not an age of miracles? Thus the first hygienic rule is set at naught.
The second rule, which enjoins uniform temperature, meets with like respect. The limbs have not half the amount of covering which is put upon the trunk of the body. Many garments have no sleeves; and what sleeves there are either 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 as far as the elbow 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 warmth to the limbs beneath. The feet, half-clad, and pinched in tight boots, are chilled in consequence. 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 receives the additional coverings of under-vest, corset, and chemise. The torrid zone begins with the belts and bands, and extends to the limbs below; for all the upper garments are continued below the belt, and all the lower garments, the drawers and skirts, come 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 quadruple; forthe tops of all these lower garments have a superfluous fulness of material which is brought into the binding by gathers or by plaits. These are especially abundant at the back, over the spine, where one of the centres of the nervous system is situated, and where the kidneys lie. When to this excess of cloth is added a panier and sash-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."
The weight of our clothing increases every year; and, if much more is added, women will be compelled to maintain a sitting posture the greater part of the time, in order to render their dress endurable. Sedet, æternumque sedebit, infelix Theseus. Skirts, in their best estate, require considerable cloth; and the greater number of them are made of the heaviest material commonly worn,—viz., cotton cloth, with the addition of trimmings. The dress 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 linings, facings, and "skirt-protectors" at the bottom, and the weight can only be 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 necessity; but all the lower garments, as now worn, hang from the hips, and have no connection whatever with any piece above. Many would fain believe that the hips are the proper points of support; but the testimony of all medical intelligence on this subject is clear and indisputable. Our four physicians were unanimous and emphatic 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 suspended mainly from their hips; and, as the clothes press by their weight upon the soft abdominal walls, they cause displacement of the internal organs." It is this dragging down—not upon the hip-bones themselves, but upon the front and unprotected portions of the body which they enclose—that produces the chief harm. Even the dress skirts now force the hips to carry their excessive burdens. Formerly, as we all remember, each dress had but one skirt, and this was invariably sewed to the waist. Thus it hung directly from the shoulders, provided the bodice was loose enough to allow any tension to extend to the regions above. When the dress skirts were first made as separate garments, and put into bindings of their own, the arrangement was thought to add greatly to convenience, but it has proved one of the most pernicious features of our present style of dress.
The facts already stated must convince my readers that the attire now worn by women, in its utter disregard of physiological laws, is not only an injury to themselves, but an insult to their Maker, and an undoubted abomination in his sight.
Some garments are found to be wholly irreconcilable 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 two 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.
Corset.—Concerning the evils of this garment, it would seem that enough has already been 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 protests, 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.
Enfecbled 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 hopeless failure. He was able, it appears, to construct man so that he should be equal to the requirements of the life conferred upon him; but woman came forth from his hand wholly incompetent to maintain herself erect, or to discharge the daily duties enjoined upon her. Fortunately, some one of his creatures, sceing the deficiency, succeeded in supplementing his work. Thus one skeleton sufficed for men; but for women it had to be propped up externally by another skeleton strapped about it. Or, in other words, Nature made man, but Nature plus Art made woman: take away Art, and she becomes chaos,—"a shapeless form and void." Does any one believe that, when the Creator gave to women their forms, he did not also give them the muscles which its proper maintenance would require?
Tie a strong, healthy arm to a board, and keep it there for months; then remove its artificial 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. If an undue fulness of bust needs support, let the support come from above, and not from below. Portly Roman matrons girded up their breasts from shoulder to shoulder, and never dreamed of a corset.[1] For them, support did not imply, or necessitate, compression of the waist. Cannot modern women equal them in ingenuity and good sense? Cases which would require such provision are rarer than they seem. The great majority of women, growing up without corsets, would find them wholly useless. In strength the body would prove sufficient unto itself. To doubt this is to doubt divine foresight, power, or benevolence.
It is true that corsets prevent one from feeling, at every motion, the pull and drag of each separate binding at the waist; but it is as Nature relieves us from the sensation of pain when it becomes excruciating. Numbness deadens the nerves; and corsets deaden sensation by a compression which induces partial numbness. 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 corset, and retain all other garments as previously worn, and the clothing becomes insupportable. The remedy is not to replace the compress as before, but to modify the remainder of the clothing till it is brought into some accordance with physiological laws. To reduce the weight of the skirts, to enlarge their bindings and suspend them from above, would be the only sensible cure. The corset would then be a superfluity, if it were nothing worse.
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 condemned. This statement is inadmissible. A corset is always bad, whether laced or not. Its very structure 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 enforce 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 column, with the greatest girth about the middle. The lower ribs spread out, and enclose a larger space than the upper ribs, as a glance at page 47 will show. Below these floating ribs, there are no bones whatever at the waist, if we except the spine behind, which serves as a connecting 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 organs 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 wonderful fidelity to nature which ancient sculptors displayed.
Furthermore, the trunk of the body is meant to be flexible, to bend backward and forward easily within certain limits. To allow this, the one bone which runs its entire length—the backbone—is broken wholly apart at every inch of its extent, and a supple joint inserted. But the corset, by means of two long, stiff whalebones behind, and two long metal bars in front, forces the body to remain as inflexible throughout that section 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 would 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 Nature 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." Without doubt there is a choice in their varieties. Many women, I am aware, rise up and call Madame Foye blessed; and there are manufacturers who proclaim "comfort corsets," 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 determination 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 good. A witty writer once discoursed 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 practices of ignorance disappear, the compression of the waist now practised by European and American 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.
One of the strongest reasons for the general adoption of the corset—though it is one not commonly 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 conspicuous from the attempt made to conceal them. The waist itself, lacking the easy, varied motion and the peculiar shape which Nature gives, deceives no one as to the cause of its small dimensions; 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 unnaturally small waist, all women persist in believing that a wasp-like appearance, at whatever age, and under whatever conditions, is sure to render them lovelier in the eyes of their admirers. Mature matrons should have a look of stability, and that dignity of presence and carriage which only a portly, well-developed person seems to confer. Such a mien is as much 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.
But the defenders of the garment in question are found ready to dispute every inch of ground on their forced retreat. They say, "The corsets now worn are surely a great improvement on those of the past: how much more delicate and flexible they are than the stanch buckram stays of a hundred years ago!" Before me lies a pair of such stays, looking as bright and new as if made yesterday, and yet known to have been worn in the year 1787, by a country squire's wife, in what was then the province of Maine. They are home-made, stout, and formidable. Between an external covering of firm green worsted cloth, of unknown make, and a lining of white linen, bound together on the edges with white kid, are ranged stiff whalebones,—over a hundred in number, by actual count,—placed close beside each other, with rows of white stitching set faithfully between. Seven segments, or gores, divide the stays from top to bottom, and give them that clumsy shape for which, no doubt, they were chiefly prized. In Hogarth's pictures we see their exact prototypes. Glancing at them, one would say that they were incomparably worse than the corset of to-day. They are stiff and thick and heavy, laced behind with a leather string, still tied to the eyelet-holes, while a broad wooden busk keeps the long front as straight and imposing as appear the bodices of Copley's painted ladies, or that of Queen Elizabeth herself. In our modern corset, it is not all stiffening there are lucid intervals between the bones, where cotton cloth pure and simple has a place; but these are in reality a. whalebone cuirass, with a hundred vertical joints. Yet, terrible as they look, there is no ground for supposing that they proved fatal to their wearer. Her great-grand-daughter, who writes this, knows little concerning her, save that she lived honored and respected in spite of her stays; and if she died in consequence of them, it was at a goodly age, and the cause of her demise was never suspected. Certainly her sons were stalwart men, of almost giant stature; and if her later descendants are not all blessed with bounteous health, they are never heard to attribute their weakness to the sinful lacing practised by a female ancestor long before they were born.
Nor do these stays deserve to be blamed for present ills. While they are bad enough, they are better, and not worse, than the inventions that have succeeded them. The latter allow not an inch of empty space to be enclosed beneath their supple bones, and the many cunning gores fit themselves closely to every indentation and every curve; while the former, by maintaining one unbroken slant in front from top to bottom, made the concave, hour-glass shape impossible, and allowed the stomach to preserve its proper contour. One can believe that there might have been comfortable breathing beneath them, even when they were brought well together by the leather string. Then, too, the old-fashioned stays were seldom worn till womanhood; and the hardy life of a New England country girl in those early days had probably given the wearer of this garment that sturdy strength and vigor which enabled her to resist the evil influences of the dress of later life. And, after she became a matron, she put on her cuirass only occasionally, when she was to ride, perhaps, on her pillion, to the great town of Falmouth, six miles away, or to take tea with the doctor's wife, in the august presence of the parson. But now woman's form is not suffered to attain its natural size and strength; for corsets are put on in early girlhood, and worn steadily ever after, as a necessary part of the daily dress.
The corsets in use thirty or forty years ago, when the buckram stays had had their day, and before the products of French and German manufactories had become so common, were less objectionable than either of the other styles. Rows of soft wicking stitched into cotton jean took the place of the whalebones; and broad straps passing over the shoulders helped to support the weight of the clothing. In the front, the wooden busk still held its place.
This last feature of the old garment is usually regarded as the worst article that woman ever invented for her own torment; but it had merits which should not be forgotten. Besides preventing a depression of the stomach from tight waist-bands, it was capable of being readily removed, when its wearer was at home and inclined to sit at ease; but the two iron bars, or clasps, which have taken its place, are too firmly fastened to the cloth to be withdrawn at will, and the discomfort they occasion must be endured without respite. In this connection, I think of Madame de Staël, sitting at table, as some one describes her, engaged in high and mighty discourse with her gentleman friends,—with Benjamin Constant, Schlegel, and perhaps Goethe himself,—and interrupting her disquisition on the philosophy of literature to crowd down an unmanageable wooden busk that would assert itself in spite of her efforts; till, discouraged at last, she drew it boldly forth and laid it on the waiter's tray to be removed. Even under that short bodice of hers, then, she thought it necessary to wear this instrument of torture. In matters of daily life and habit the wisest women appear to be little superior to their contemporaries.
Chemise.—I have shown why the corset must inevitably perish. The chemise is condemned for quite different reasons. No charge of compression or of inflexible shape can be brought against that it crrs 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 system, 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 dresswaist. There is an excess of material where it is not needed, over the lower portion of the trunk; and a deficiency where it is needed, over the extremitics. The chemise can offer no support to any other garment; and in every respect a more absurd and worthless article of clothing could not possibly have been devised. Its rude and primitive construction should recommend it to no intelligence higher than that of South Sea Islanders, by whom it is doubtless worn. In civilized countries it is doomed to follow the corset to that limbo which dressreformers will hereafter keep for the cumbrous and injurious habiliments of the past.
So much, then, we abandon: what do we retain, and of what will the reconstructed and hygienic attire consist? It is evident that no mercy can be shown to tight waists, built on the inverted pyramid plan; and that bindings for the waist must be utterly annihilated, if that shall prove possible; if it does not, they must be kept below the line of the waist, and terraced one above another.
Dividing our entire clothing into three divisions,—viz., underwear, skirts, external dress,—let us consider each in order.
The first division, the underwear, will in winter usually comprise two layers,—the flannel and the cotton garments; in summer, only one,—the cotton, or linen. Dealers in such goods tell us that the number of woollen under-garments sold to women in our country during the last ten years has been greatly in excess of previous sales; and it is gratifying to know that good sense in this department of dress is so rapidly on the increase. Many now wear such garments throughout the summer. We must, therefore, treat them as a part of the ordinary dress.
Flannel Underwear.—As commonly worn, this consists of two distinct garments, the drawers and the vest. The objections to their present arrangement are that one overlaps the other over half of the trunk of the body, while the only provision for the support of the lower is a binding pulling at the waist. Thus we have inequality of temperature and improper suspension of weight well provided for at the start.
The remedy for these evils is twofold. Retaining the two garments, we may shorten the upper till it only meets the lower; and may connect the lower directly with it at several points, so that the weight shall be borne by the shoulders, and not by the hips. Or we may have onc garment woven entire, which shall take the place of the two commonly worn. This remedy is much to be preferred. And garments of this description are neither new nor strange. They have been manufactured for years in England, by the well-known firm of Cartwright & Warner, whose merino goods take the lead in every market. They are worn a great deal in Europe, and have been inported into this country at different times by nearly all the leading dry-goods houses of our principal cities, under the name of ladies' union flannel suits. Many American ladics have learned to like them during a stay abroad, and have since created some demand for them here; but in general they are little known. They are usually made of soft, thick merino wool; are high-necked and long-sleeved; and nothing more light, warm, comfortable, well-suspended and simple can be imagined. A representation of them will be found in the illustration which accompanies this Appendix, upon the card marked 4. Care must be taken in selecting these garments, if one wishes them to reach to the ankle under the stocking, as many only come well below the knee; while all those which have been found for sale in this country during the past season have had the objectionable feature of short sleeves. There is a long-sleeved variety, however, which is constructed throughout in strict accord with our four hygienic principles of dress; and this will, no doubt, be imported when the demand for it appears.
Those who have obliging friends travelling abroad can obtain these goods from shops in nearly all the leading cities of England and Scotland, and perhaps from the continent. Something similar can be formed by sewing together our ordinary knit under-vest and drawers just below the waist, and cutting off all superfluous cloth. Such a combination garment is a part of the hygienic suit worn by patients at the Health Home in Dansville, N. Y. Or a similar garment may be cut and made from unshrinking flannel cloth, and it will be found very comfortable.
Material.—No directions can be given concerning the quality and thickness of the flannel which shall comprise this suit: every lady will consult her own taste and habit; but, if the limbs be well covered, the material may be much thinner than is commonly worn. While our climate seems to require that we should protect ourselves well from its fitful changes, it is nevertheless true that many persons accustom themselves to more clothing than they really need. Rousseau held the opinion that men could dress in linen suits in winter, if they never enervated the system by wearing any thing more substantial; and though this notion, like many he cherished, was a little extravagant, there is no doubt that the less one wears the better, provided there is no sensation of cold. The thicker the clothing, the heavier it is to carry about, and the less readily does it permit the constant and invisible exhalations from the body to pass through its folds. Then a thin, light flannel cloth, such as the Scotch make, is often as warm as heavier goods. All flannel used for underwear should be light, warm, and porous; and in its manufacture a little cotton should be mixed with the wool, to prevent shrinking. Undergarments of very nice all-wool flannel, if washed every week, as of course they should be, soon become nearly impervious to air, and they ought then to be discarded. Those persons who object to flannel under-garments for summer may wear, instead, a suit of woollen gauze, or one of delicate knit silk. This last is the coolest and lightest of all materials; but it is not recommended to poor people, or to those who object to becoming such. Its durability, however, compensates in some measure for its high cost. For the first suit, almost any material should be preferred to cotton, as this has a peculiarly drying and heating effect upon the skin.
The union flannel suit just described is incomparably better than any other similar garment or garments, since it fulfils perfectly all the requirements of the four hygienic principles to be observed in dress. But, if two separable garments are preferred to one, we must provide for the joining of the two at several points somewhere below the waist, so that the weight of the whole may depend freely from the shoulders. The upper garment will be shortened till it extends only far enough to meet the lower, in order to avoid the inequality of temperature which the present adjustment of these garments necessitates.
Foining of Two Garments.—The more common and acceptable method of fastening the two garments together will be by buttons. Upon the straight lower edge of the vest,—when it has been made of the right length, and properly stayed either by a hem or a narrow facing,—sew four or six buttons; and in the top of the other garment make button-holes to correspond. The buttons should be of flat or concave surface, and about half an inch in diameter: one should be placed on each side of the vest; and between these, both on front and back, may be one or two others, set at equal distances apart. If the top of the lower garment is divided into two sections of equal length, there must be a horizontal button-hole in both ends of these sections; and the two button-holes on the same side will pass over the same button. The other buttonholes will be vertical.
If the top, or binding, is of one piece,—as will be the case, if the garment is of the open pattern,—its two ends should meet at the front; and, if the vest also opens on the entire length of the front with a buttoned fold, a simple mode of lacing may be used to connect the two garments below the waist. In place of the buttons and button-holes, imagine common metal eyeletholes to be set, an inch apart, in each garment. Lay the edge of the drawers upon the vest, with the eyelet-holes exactly corresponding in position. Then run a lacing or cord in and out, alternately, through the corresponding eyeletholes, as may be seen in the illustration, card 9. There, however, the under row of èyelets is not set in the garment itself, but in a firm English tape an inch and a quarter broad, which is secured to the garment by two rows of stitching upon each edge, with the inner rows crossing at regular intervals. This gives a neater finish, and does not allow the cord to pass through to the under side, but it is at the expense of more labor. For the cord, any common corset-lacing will do, but a flat linen braid with a long metal at one end is best: to the other end, sew a loop of smaller braid: through this pass the lacing after it has gone through the first eyelet-holes, and draw it up closely; thus the end is secured. The other end, when the lacing is done, must be tied to a piece of tape sewed to the garment. The eyelets are very readily put in by a simple instrument made for the purpose, and in use in many stores and manufactories; or, in fine cloth, they may be punched by a stiletto and sewed over by hand, as in embroidery. This forms a smooth, pliable, and secure mode of fastening, connects two garments more closely than it is convenient to do with buttons, and thus distributes the weight and the pull equably over the shoulders. It renders the garments practically one while they are worn, and they might so remain; but it also allows that they may be made two, when it is desired to change either one and not the other.
The tops of all drawers and skirts should be without gathers or bindings. How these may be avoided in skirts will be hereafter shown. Superfluous cloth in the tops of drawers should be removed by gores if properly cut, one gore on cach side and two behind will suffice. Line the smooth top, thus made, with a facing sufficiently wide to hold button-holes or eyelets. Thus we rid ourselves of the work of putting on bindings, and of the clumsy, thick seam they give, while we lessen the cloth over the hips. In woollen material, however, two flat plaits of the cloth should be laid in place of two gores, somewhere on the sides or behind, as a provision against shrinkage.
White Cotton Suit.—The second layer of the underwear, made of cotton cloth,—or muslin, as it is called outside of New England,—usually comprises chemise and drawers. The chemise we abandon, and to the ordinary cotton drawers the same objections apply as to the flannel. The best substitute for both is a new garment called the chemiloon. It is represented on card 3 of the illustration, and is essentially the union flannel suit put into cotton. Like that garment, it covers the body with a uniform thickness; it is light and loose, with no gathers and no waist-band, and the whole weight hangs freely from the shoulders. It is very easily donned, may be cither of the closed or open pattern, and can be adorned with all the embroidery and ornament that any one wishes to bestow upon it. It has been made and worn by many ladies, and they find it exceedingly comfortable. The material for it should be either common cotton cloth, linen, or Lonsdale cotton.
The only objection brought against the cotton chemiloon is its oneness; but this will prove, on wearing, to be the strongest point in its favor. For those who cherish the objection, however, a similar garment is provided, which is composed of two parts. Its upper section is a white basque waist, fitted well to the form, with a skirt five inches long; and it will be found represented on cards 5 and 6. It may be made of cambric for summer, of jean or twilled cotton for winter, or of common cotton cloth for all seasons. Buttoned upon this basque, below the waist-line, and just above the faced edge, are drawers, of the open style; and another tier of buttons above holds the underskirt, or the colored flannel drawers that sensible women wear in its place. A button higher still, on the middle of the back, serves in part to support the balmoral and to keep it in place. Instead of buttons, the mode of lacing already described may be used on this waist to advantage, for the lower garment at least. The inner faced edge of the basque serves to hold buttons for such attachments as stocking supporters. This arrangement of two separable garments probably furnishes the best possible substitute for chemiloons; but the superiority of the latter garment in simplicity of structure and of make, and in the facility and speed in dressing which it allows, is plainly apparent.
The stocking must be classed with this division of the apparel. It should be of warm woollen for winter, the warmer the better. The worsted balmoral stockings now so common are an improvement on the cotton hose in which it has been fashionable to shiver for the past few winters; but they are not as thick as they should be to ensure warm feet. For keeping the stocking in place, no garters are to be thought of. The highest order of English knighthood may adopt the garter as its badge, and may append to it the motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense; 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 upon the hips is far worse than to compress the arteries below 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 button or small safetypin. When the suit is loose at the ankle, the stocking 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 the shoulders may serve 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 the lower point of the doubled tape attach some such stocking-supporter as will be seen depending from cards 3 and 4 in the illustration, or any other variety 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 simple clamping contrivance upon the ends of the supporter.
Skirts.—This brings us to the second division of dress,—the skirts. They must be recognized as indispensable parts of our present attire; but no one who makes a study of female gear can fail to see that they are essentially bad. Do what we will with them, they still add enormously to the weight of clothing, prevent cleanliness of attire about the ankles, overheat by their tops the lower portion of the body, impede locomotion, and invite accidents. In short, they are uncomfortable, unhealthy, unsafe, and unmanageable. Convinced of this fact by patient and almost fruitless endeavors to remove their objectionable qualities, the earnest dressreformer is loath to believe that skirts hanging below the knee are not transitory features in woman's attire, as similar features have been in the dress of men, and surely destined to disappear with the tight hour-glass waists and other monstrosities of the present costume. Though our eyes may not be privileged to behold that promised land of the far future, wherein women shall move about, no longer swathed and hampered by floating raiment, but clothed simply and serviceably as men clothed, we may yet express a conviction that any changes the wisest of us can to-day propose are only a mitigation of an evil which can never be done away till women emerge from this vast, swaying, undefined, and indefinable mass of drapery, into the shape which God gave to his human beings. It cannot be that we are to remain for all time the only creatures in the universe that destroy their natural appearance by artificial coverings. Animals, birds, and the whole brute creation add nothing to the apparel given them at birth; men, in all save a few countries, outline their forms by the dress they have chosen. Why, then, should woman, whose shape differs so little from that of her brother man, be expected to hide and confuse the contours of this common human form, as if they were a disgrace to her, and to her alone, and walk and work and live at perpetual disadvantage, because the wonderful mechanisms of the body, provided for her use in such work and such living, are clogged and weakened by masses of superimposed and useless drapery?
But since it is ordained that one half of European and American humanity may now appear in the shape which God gave them,—as bipeds,—and the other half may not, but must venture abroad only with a balloon-like expansion swinging loosely from the waist where it is tied, we cannot abolish skirts altogether from our present regenerated dress, as we do the corset, but must treat them as necessary evils. They seem intended for two purposes,—to keep the legs warm and to conceal them. As producers 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 inflating 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 require. 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 lightest serviceable cloth: the manufactured balmorals 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.
The number of these skirts will be one at least; for we are not providing for a gymnasium or bloomer suit, which requires none. This one will be a balmoral, or its substitute. The underskirt would make a second, but it has given place to an extra pair of drawers, usually of colored material somewhat like the outer dress. Retaining the under-skirt and adding a hoop, we have three,—the largest allowable number.
When the under-skirt is dispensed with, the outer colored drawers which are worn instead should button upon the garment beneath, whether it be chemiloon or basque waist. Or they should form part of a second chemiloon of colored flannel, covering entirely the white flannel suit; and then the cotton chemiloon is omitted.
When the under-skirt is retained, it may be so constructed that there shall be no useless fulness at the top to be removed by gores. The cloth of which it is to be made should be cut semicircular in shape, as outlined on card 7. A small piece of the same shape is cut from the centre, of sufficient size to leave the top of the desired width. Sew the two straight edges together, allowing for a placket, and the skirt is shaped completely, without other scams. The lower rounded edge cannot well be hemmed, and a facing would be troublesome to fit; therefore scallop the edge with the button-hole stitch, or set on a ruffle or a Hamburg edging with a narrow straight facing. Do not hem the selvages of the placket: they may be faced, if thought necessary, and a gusset set in for a stay. Face the top for button-holes, and hang the skirt upon the chemiloon beneath. The placket should be on the front, or on the left side near the front; and this is true of all skirts. They are then whole in the back; and a buttonhole should be made directly behind, to meet a button set rather high on the seam of the waist, as represented in card 5. This button will prevent the skirt from twisting around or sagging down out of place, and it will also support half its weight. The cloth for the semicircular underskirt should be at least a yard wide: if only one is to be cut, two yards in length will be required; but, if there are to be two, three yards will be sufficient. When the skirt is to be of flannel that is liable to shrink, the top should be cut larger, to admit of a plait or two behind; and in that case the cloth must be wider than if the ordinary piece is removed from the centre.
When Prince Albert admired the red flannel skirt of the Scotch peasant girl, as she walked across the fields near Balmoral Castle, and his loving queen straightway ordered for herself a similar garment, she introduced a fashion which has resulted in a permanent gain to the dress of her sex. Colored woollen skirts became popular, and were soon manufactured ready for all to wear. In former times such skirts were of the quilted variety, made at home with much labor, gathered over the hips so as to contribute excessive heat to that region, and 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 semicircular shape, the flounce will not be needed. Besides hanging from the button behind, the balmoral should be fastened to the front of the under-waist by two buttons; or it may be attached to suspenders.
Suspenders.—As to these articles, no style seems so good as the regular men's suspender of the Guyot pattern, stamped also as the bretelles hygieniques. They cannot 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. In the illustration, they are seen passing over cards 1 and 2. There are many new patterns of suspenders made especially for women, each claiming 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 comfortable suspender of some sort, many women to the contrary notwithstanding. But it is always best to attach all the skirts to an under-waist, if that garment is able to carry them: if it is not, adopt suspenders for the balmoral.
The hoop seems banished from our attire; but it has survived many frowns of fashion since it monopolized the drawing-rooms of the reign of Queen Anne, and forced the courtly Addison to sncer at it in the Spectator; and it will no doubt return to us after a brief exile. Many persons will not abandon it even now, for, worn of diminished size, it brings advantages which compensate for its weight. It keeps the folds of the balmoral from clogging the lower limbs in walking, and it allows the tops of other skirts to be so attached to it as to prevent undue heating of pelvis and spine and to render all waist-bands unnecessary. This healthful and comfortable arrangement may be understood by a glance at card 8, and by a careful description. On the waist-binding of the hoop make the following changes cut in it, directly behind, an upright button-hole, to match the button on the waist worn beneath it. On each side of the button-hole sew three buttons for holding common suspenders, placing the front ones just over the firm side terminations of the upper hoops. This will bring the front bands of the suspenders back under the arms, where they should be, for women. The loose end of the hoopbinding, which passes around the front to buckle on the left side, is now useless: cut it off. Thus your hoop will hang lightly from the shoulders and keep in place, with only half a binding. The suspenders, even, may be dispensed with, by buttoning the two ends of the remaining section of the binding upon the waist, at the sides. Now for the adjustment of underskirt and balmoral. Make the plackets in both on the left side, near the front. The top of the semicircular under-skirt should be as large as the circumference of the upper hoops; in this faced top set eyelet-holes, about three inches apart; through these, lace the skirt upon the inside of one of the hoops near the top, and carry the lacing along on the front, to meet the other end of the lacing. These two ends of the lacing tie and untie. The balmoral is finished at the top with a semicircular binding or facing, which is to lie upon the hoops outside, quite near its waist-binding. It is held there in place by three buttons on the tapes of the hoop, one behind, and one on each side where the hoops end, with button-holes corresponding in the top of the skirt. The hoop is removed with the skirts upon it, when the balmoral is simply unbuttoned, and the under-skirt untied, on the side plackets. The lacing, when put in, is secured at each end by a knot tied over the last eyelet-hole. Thus one pair of suspenders and one button lift the whole skirts so lightly that the wearer is almost unconscious of their weight: they are nowhere felt at the waist, nor do they touch the body behind, below the waist, if the hoop projects, as it should, in something like a bustle, so as to make an air-chamber beneath the tops of the skirts.
This closes the catalogue of improved undergarments. Very many varieties might be mentioned, but these are the essential forms. Let me recapitulate, for the benefit of those who desire to wear the best assortment. Your first suit will be a chemiloon. In winter, it will be of flannel; in summer, of woollen gauze, silk, or cotton, but a chemiloon it will be. Above this, there may be another chemiloon of cotton, if the first suit is of a different material, and to this may be buttoned the under-skirt. But, if no under-skirt is worn, another chemiloon of colored flannel is added, or a pair of drawers made of colored woollen goods is buttoned to the chemiloon beneath. Then comes the balmoral hung upon the waist, upon suspenders, or upon a suspended hoop.
The Outer Dress.—The external costume forms the third and last division of the apparel. For this no singular style is required, since our present fashions will supply a model which is the most healthful, convenient and artistic that is possible for us to-day: I mean the Gabrielle, or gored dress, with additions and modifications as represented in cards I and 2. 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 band 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 Gabrielle, 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 Gabrielle; cut off 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 suited to all seasons. If you must yield to the tempter and trim the bottom, 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 comfortably 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.
Ornament.—The ornament used upon the dress should be light, durable, and simple. The heaviest trimmings 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 unobjectionable. There is no need of profuse trimmings where the material of the dress is rich and handsome; and, where it is cheap and simple, they are certainlyout of place. Thomas Fuller says of the good wife, "She makes plain cloth to be velvet 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 play of fold which belong only to smooth and floating surfaces and lines. All ornaments worn upon the person should at least pretend to serve some useful purpose. There is no pretence of use in bracelets, ear-rings, necklaces, and such meaningless appendages, which are an inheritance from the barbarous tribes who hang rings in their noses as well as in their ears, smear their cheeks with red paint, wear strings of shells about their necks, and in all things mistake toggery for grace. Men have rid their dress of such unworthy gewgaws; and since we seem to follow slowly after their styles, adopting into our costume many minor features of their dress, we shall in time discard heathenish baubles for something less suited to childish tastes.
Waist of the Dress.—In the waist of the Gabrielle dress, biases should be recognized only so far as they are useful in outlining the natural form they must never serve as accessories to that compression of the waist which has become so pernicious. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, in that brilliant and suggestive monograph entitled "What to Wear," which has done such valiant service in the cause of dressreform, does well to insist that plain biased waists have much to answer for in the tortures inflicted upon women by their dress. Her charges are none too strong. Nature is so directly at variance with this feature of our apparel, that it seems invented only to aid and abct the corset in its deadly work. We read in the old fairy story that, when Cinderella's haughty sisters would go to the prince's ball, more than a dozen laces were broken in endeavoring to give them a slender shape; and we know full well that without the biased waist their endeavors to make a presentable appearance would have been in vain. I have seen the Digger Indian women roaming the woods of California in a single garment, and that a calico dress with a biased waist. They could be indebted to civilization for but one article, and they chose that. But this feature of our attire has had its day. Before the growth of intelligence, it must inevitably disappear. The substitutes thus far provided have been straight waists girded with a belt drawn tight enough to keep the loose gathers down in place; so that one fault has been corrected by another equally bad. Belts for the outer dress are no more deserving 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 decply as she may wish.
Length of Skirt.—The length of the skirt can even now be very much shortened, without attracting attention or bringing annoyance to the wearer. When the bloomer dress was devised, high boots for women were not known; and for the long gap between skirt and boot a visible pantalette of the Turkish pattern was provided. This made a conspicuous feature of the short dress. But, if a dress-skirt reaches the tops of our present boots, it is a long way from the ground. A skirt of that length will look graceful and becoming to all sensible observers. But, were it necessary to make a choice between cleanliness and grace, no lady should fail to choose the former, especially when health and comfort accompany it. Many persons pause to look after any display of the latest styles, any fresh, beruffled train sweeping the sidewalk; and the wearer appears in no wise dismayed or saddened by the attention she excites. Cannot we show as much heroism in the cause of good sense as she shows in the cause of folly, and endure an occasional glance at the novelty of a short, trim skirt and unencumbered feet? Fashion finds plenty of followers to do her bidding: why cannot reformers equal them in fortitude and composure?
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 swaying motion of the dance that bears its name; but it impedes the movement of the body in walking, covers the arms till they are nearly useless, and crowds about the neck. When we have a mind to be statuesque at all hazards, or when we can 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 nothing but an encumbrance. Then a simple, sleeved garment is far preferable.
Clothing of the Extremities.—The hands in winter 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 perfection 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 thank 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 different occasions; and they should be changed often, as should also the stocking, owing to the moisture of the foot. We may not have as large an array of shoes as the historian Prescott kept for his own use; but slippers for the house, made of thick cloth for winter, "Newport ties," and boots of several varieties of make, seem essential to daily comfort. Calf-skin is the best leather for ordinary wear; but, while goat-skin is no protection against wet, its porous nature allows the exhalations from the foot to pass off freely. Nothing should be suffered to interfere with this function of the skin. Cork-soles covered on one surface with enameled cloth, and rubber shoes, are too impervious to the air. Indeed, rubber shoes, and especially rubber boots, should very seldom be worn. The Maine lumbermen secured rubber boots for themselves as soon as these articles appeared in the market, thinking thus to keep their feet dry while rafting logs on the Penobscot; but they soon found their feet more damp than before, 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. In a January thaw, or on a glare of ice, rubbers are indispensable; but they should be removed as soon as possible.
For the head, a soft, light hat seems perfection; 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 articles called hats, presents a style of composite architecture not edifying to behold. It is less beautiful and becoming than the plain hat which men wear; but the latter might borrow to advantage a few of our useless feathers. The width of the hat-brim should render parasol and veil unnecessary; but it should not be wide enough to become unmanageable in the wind.
When women can lay aside all the braided tresses that belong to another, as well as part of their own, and can show a well-shaped head in short, curling locks with their graceful curves and rings, they will have added inexpressibly to their comfort, health, and good looks.
Such is the apparel which intelligent care would proffer 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 go with him twain.
Even in this day of pinching corsets and entangling trains, women are fast learning to respect 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 equipped for the chase, yet with a dress too simple to absorb their minds, too easy to cripple their movements, too healthful to rob their checks of a bloom which should be as fresh and rosy as that of the clover-tops they tread.
- ↑ "Stays for compressing the form into an unnatural appearance of slimness were not known to the ancients, and would have been an abomination in their eyes. In one of the plays of Terence, a severe censure is conveyed on so unnatural a taste, which is confirmed by all the monuments of art. Still we should be in error if we supposed a girl in those days, even though vincto pectore, was provided with stays. All they had was a bosom-band (strophium mammillare), for the purpose of elevating the bosom, and also perhaps to confine in some degree the nimius tumor. We must not confound with this the fascia pectoralis, which was merely worn to confine the breast in its growth, and was, consequently, not a part of the usual dress. The strophium was placed over the inner tunica, and was usually made of leather."—Anthon's Roman Antiquities.