Litchfield enquirer., 1840-12-31

"4 ue same RCtlSEdI pT10clpIeS WHICH should regulate the dress of boys are appli- cable to that of girls, but there are besides circumstances peculiar to the sex which re- quire a distinct management. The greater delicaOy of the female frame would lead to the rational inference that the surface of the body requires to be more protected 1 from atmospherical alterations, and kept warmer in girls than in boys. The opposite custom, however, prevails and while boys 1 are clad i'll warm woolen vestments, which cover every part of the trunk, the shoul- ders, chest and arms of girls, are left expos | cd, and even the part of the body which is covered can hardly be said to be kept warm, from the very nature of the apparel which fashion dictates to be proper for fe- males --
 But as one of the felicities of life arist s from the contemplation of beauty, and as the perfection of this is to be found in the female form, it would be absurd to think of covering our fair countrywomen like the in- 1 mates of the Zenana, who are carefully shrouded by their vestments when travel ling, lest they should happen to fall under any other eyes than those of husband or father. It Is owing to this contrariety to the demands of nature, that so many of this loveliest part of creation fall victims to con- sumption in the morning of life. If the l 1 the beauty displayed in the female form | requires that part of it be left exposed to theseye, let us at least secure it in health and vigor, until it attain that perfection (which is its attractive essence, and by which l only 1t can fascinate. The propriety of el- egance in the fashion of female attire, and of delicacy and lightness in the material ot which it is composed, we are willing to ad- init. but while the outer garments are gauge or lace, the surface of the body should be cased in flannel or in calico, according to the severity of the season, and the dresses so constructed as to cover the chest com pletely. ..# .r
 But it is the form of the modern female attire, rather than it's texture, which proves so injurious to the growing girl; for as the rritability of the frame is great at that pe- riod, everything which can impede its func- tions produce tendency to disease; and ill conjunction with exposure of the surface to cold and atmospherical variations, symp- toms of glandular Instructions too often make their appearance-the assimilation of the food is incomplete, and enlargements of the joints occur, which generally, as the ] girl advances in growth terminate in distor- tion of the spine. To prevent the evil, which is generally regarded as the conse- quence rather of natural delicacy of consti- tuition than of management, various contri- vances have been produced at different pe- riods; of these the most ancient is the stays, or stiff bodice, which is nevertheless, a most frequent cause of distortion among girls. ~H 4 a..,.'
 We are aware that 1t is almost hopeless to preach this doctrine to those mothers | whh attend more to model the figure, than to develope the intellectual faculties of their daughters, and in whose eyes the | srsHn ,eln fR,eAN ipreposterous one, the transitory creation or fashian. is the perfection. of the female kform. To hUee, however, who n1gSe Ta. \; ajexnsl regard beauty of face, and sym metrical elegance of person, desirable only when heightened by the glow and vigor oi health, we need only mention that the pres ent fashion of stays, by pressing upon the liver and other organs of digestion, obstructs their natural functions from being properly executed; and although the chest appears to be expanded and free, yet the pressure below by preventing the due descent of the diaphragm, interferes greatly with the tunc- tions of respiration, on the proper perform ance of which the preservation of health almost wholly depernds.
 If, for instance, the blood, which is the nutritious principle for building up the ta- brio and supplying the natural waste of the frame, be not properly revivified by expo sure to the action of the air in the lungs, the heart soon loses its power for propelliDg it with sufficient energy through the blood vessels; these become enfeebled, are inca pable of maintaining duly the vital fluid III its current, until it reach the extreme ca pillaries and the secreting organs, which being improperly supplied with the Pabu- lum of their productions, the assimilation must be defeated, and even if diseases do not supervene. the body falls into state Ot direct debility. It is a very frequent re- mark, that whilst we find one crooked boy, there are twenty deformed girls. We will not deny that this is partly to be attributed to the greater freedom in exercise permit ted to boys, and to their exemption from many restraints imposed upon girls; but n
 is also partly attributable to those errors m dress on which we are remarking, and which are erroneously supposed to improve the elegance of the female form.
 It is indeed, singular anomaly that amidst the modern improvements III lemale education, and the elevation of mind and greater correctness of judgment which have consequently resulted, American women should continue to yield up their mind m matters of taste--to be enslaved by the con- ceits of the ignorant and presuInptous, and allow themselves to be beguiled into the belief that the monstrous forms m which these ministers of fashion occasionally dis guise the most perfect of the labors ot the Divinity, are elegant and attractive. The writer of this essay has pointed out the in- furious effects of compression of the body by dress upon growing girls, which his dai- ly observation and experience have dis played and confirmed {; but independent of this, he ventures to assert, in the face oi all the most approved modeilers of figures, that