The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1851-12-17
From Punch.
Bloomerism.
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A mac world this. my friends, a world
in its Iunes. petty and other, III lunes
other than petty now for some time in
pettylunes, petlileiies, or pan,aleites, a.
bout these six weeks, ever since when
this rampant, androgynous Rloomerism
FIRST came over from Yankee land. A
sort Of shemale dress you call Bloomer-
ism; fashion of Sister Ionathan's.
Trousers tight at ankles. and for mos,
part frilled; ,unic descending with some
degree Of brevi,y. perhaps to the knees,
ascending to throat. and open a, chemi-
sctte. front, or butioned there collar
down -turned over neckerchief; and.
crowning all, broad brimmed hat; said
garments severally fea,hered, trimmed,
rlbhoned, variegated. according to the
fancies and the vanities: these, chiefly,
are the outward differences between
Bloomer dress and customary fem
mime old clothes. Not much unlike
nursery uniform you think this descrip-
ton Of costume, but rather considerably
like it, compute. To me-" writes
6umm, in his own rough way. "these
Bloomers seem to resemble, in great
measure, overgrown schools girls, kept
backwards. as they say. by juvenile
mamma, at Preparatory Establish>
meni for Young Ladies' see nothing
at all admirable in them, for my part,
but much not to be admired on any ac>
count. and look upon them, at the best.
as mere s,rspping hoydens and audacious
uufeminine tomboys" Nor will you,
most likely, more than GIumm, discern
auphl laudabls in external BloomerIsm
masquerade frippery an excrescence
Of the conceis aud the coquelries. In
visible are the merits of The Rloomer
dress, such as il has. A praseworIhy
DOltt I'D
of the ribs an exceeding good rddance
the dellyerance from corset, trammelling
genieel ,horax with spring. Of steel and
whalebone. screwing in waist to deaths
hour-glass contraction, and squeezing
lungs. liver, and mdriff into an unutter-
able cram. Commendable, too. the re-
nouncemen, Of sous jupe bouffante. or
an inefTabe wadding invented. l sup>
pose, by some Hot,entot TO improve fe-
male contour sfier the type OF Venus.
his fa,herland's, and not Cythera's.
Wholesome, moreover. and convenient,
the abbreviation of trains, serving in
customary female old clothes the pur-
pose of besom, and no other real i'm
provements, doubtless, these abandon>
meuts of ruinous shams, ridiculous un>
veracites, and idolairies Of indescriba-
BILE mud.Pyihons. But Bloomeris, mex
pressib ble affeciations, and mimicries oi
masculine garments, ne;ter and upper
such, my friends, take to be no more
than dumb, inar,iculaie clamorings fol
the Rights Of Women. George Sane
phan,asmr. and mulinous female radical
isms grown termagant and uanscend'
ent. The last new madness is THU
. Bluomerism; the latest species of insan
; ity epidemic from time to time; Pusey
ism having been the mama before that
, Disputes about surpllces in pulpit, ant
5 abs elsewhere, give place to con,rover
q sizes in theatres and lecture -hall., con
e cerning petty lunes and frilled trousers
e paraphernalia, however, not less impor
e tan, than canonicals.as Judge. for One
u Better, | say, Mrs. Bloomer in her pett
a lunes, than the Rev. Aloysius Quiddle
: pope in dalmatic aud chasuble. Bu
y here are we, my kiends. in this ma
" world, amid the hallooings and bawl'ng
d aud outlaws and imbecile sinperinf
o and ,i,ierings, blinded by the Novemb'
IF smok ke-fog Of coxcombries and vanitie
d stunned by the perpetual hallelnlshs
!. funkeys, bese, by maniaes and simple
y tons in the great lunes aud the pei,
y lunes here, | say. do we, with Bloou
re erism beneath US, bubbiiug :uppermos
1. stand, hopelessly upturnins sur'eyes f
h. the daylight of heaven, upon the bri'
n Of vexed, unfathomable gulf Of ap
he hood and asshood slmmering forever !