Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-07-23
The New Birth of the Bend.

From the New \ ork w orid, lStn.1
1t has come again. Like courses,
home to roost," like a :" bad penny" or
like anything to which one likes to COM
pare it, the Grecian Bend is upon us /;
and, whether it be Amanda or Aspasis,
whether in the park or in the surf, or in
the shade, or where jocund day stands
tiptoe on the misty mountain tops, it has
come, and the cry is still it comes. What
was last year presumed to be caricatured
out Of existence, and what last winter
dared not curve itself within the smiles
of men or before the sneers of women,
new expands on the street, appears on
the promenade, upresrs itself in the par
lor, and hies to the hop in all its com.
posite magnitude and wonderful dispro-
portions. Nor has its arrival been her
aided, nor was it expected. 1t has burst
upon us with the secrecy and the sudden
ness of an epidemic. The cholera was
dimly foreseen. OF the yellow fever
there were premonitions. Casual hydro
phobia was to be looked for, because the
dog-star ragged and the deg-law was nulli.
fed. But this calamity, in its wide
spread fury, concealed itself as an inner
earth fire, and then, from Key West to
the St. Lawrence, broke upon us
IAN at once, and nothing first.
Just as bubbles do when they burst"
The offense is not contagion; it is
conspiracy. No few exclusives renewed
the custom, so that il could be taken up
in imitation by others. The event was
simultaneous. Every bend erected itself,
by what must have been an instinct, at
the same time. Skowhegan was as prompt
as Saratoga, and Burgtown was not be-
hind Brooklyn.
Any one viewing the fall result, which
is Grecian Bend, may wonder, but can
not analyze. To marvel is inevitable.
To understand is not permitted. The
way in which the "eifect is produced,
however, is authoritstively said to be as
follows:
"High-heeled shoes dispose the vesFer
TO incline forward, aud high-heeled CATERS
are, therefore, adopted. She (the belle
of the season. is thus the more readily
enabled to elevate her hips unn aturslly be-
bind, enhancing the aspect of the panier
to contract the stomach and to form an
S-like curvature Of the upper shape BY
thrusting out the chest, drawing back the
shoulders and bending forward the head,
the latter crowned BY hideous chignon.
To secure this posture, 10 which nature
is unequal, Il is said that belt is fastea-
ed about the waist, from which belt, down
either side, descend two straps furnished
with buckles, and these are attached TO
strong bands made fast around the lower
thighs. The tightening OF these buckles
draws up the hips aud holds them in
place. Thus, BY the aid of the panier,
hustle, contracted stomach, expanded
chest, outthrust head, enormous chignon
and the apparatus just described, the
whole superstructure standing upon Al
CATERS. we have the Grecian Bend
With the boy who had just learned,
after six weeks study, the a1phsbet, il is
pertinent TO exclaim: f" Why 60 through
90 much to get 90 liitle"3 Let no man
laugh The decree has passsd. The bend
is ordained. Bsther let rs bail the effort
and the work ss indicative Of what vo-
man can DO when she has 9 fair chance,
nor sneer when Miss Anthony and the
whole sisterhood seek, BY tightening the
straps aforesaid, 70 lift themselves to
higher sphere. .r.r .rffrr p