The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1871-02-04
The COrsets.

The question of appearance bring us at
once to the consideration of the corsets, for
1t Is undeniable that these articles of dress
are now worn mainly for appearance sake.
When and by whom they were devised no
one knows. 1t is said they were first intro
duced as a means of furnishing refractory
wives, by lacing the ladies up in them in
the days when the husbands will was abso
lutte, and ''woman's rights" We're unknown.
II this is true, woman, with her usual skill,
mas converted the weapons employed
against her, to her own use. For every
other article of female attire, we can find
some model, either in Nature or Art, how
ever far fetched the comparison may be,
but the most lively imagination can trace
no resemblance between the corset and its
use, and anything else in creation, except
i'll the form of the wasp, or in some of the
ancient statues of Pallas, where she is pre-
sented wearing breastplate of scales, the
shape of which somewhat resembles the
modern corset; but the learned and war
like goddess wore this for defence, not for
the production ola small waist; and indeed,
had she secured this great desideratum of
modern time, she would probable have
been safe from the solicitations of Vulcan;
for with the Ancients, as well as
men,-the wasp-like waist of to-day would
have been considered a deformity. 1t is
strange that woman should have so far
departed from the old models of female
beauty that we see represented in the Greek
and Roman statues that have been pre-
served to us. In all these the female waist
is represented as full, round and handsomely
moulded, and could never have been
restricted by bands or ligatures of any kind
l read lately of gentleman visiting some
ancient Italian sculptures in company with
several ladies, when he took the handker-
chief of one of them, encircled her waist
with it, measuring the girth, and then
passed it about the waist of one of the
ancient Venuses that are models of what a
beautiful female form was, showing the
difference i'll size. He was an observing
fellow, but a bold one, and probably got
his ears boxed for his impudence. Sur
geons sometimes employ continuance like
the corset for holding broken ribs to their
places, but they would not dare to lace it
as tightly as the corsets are worn by many
ladies. Women dress to please the other
sex (and to anger each other), but assure
them the corset adds nothing to their
attractions in the eyes of men, for but very
few Of that Sex admire a small, stiff, wasp
like waist, preferring the naturally full
rounded outline, which can never exist
where the corsets are worn SO tightly as to
compress the waist to any great extent
DR.. Holmes, in his poem of "My Aunt"
we'll describes this insane idea of tight
lacing:
my aunt! Ny dear unmarried aunt,
Long years have DER her flown;
Yet still she strains the aching clasp
That binds her virgin zone.
l know it hurts her-though she looks
AS cheerful rs she can;
Her waist is ampler than her life
For life is but span.
'They braced my aunt againts board
To make her straight and tall;
They laced her up, they starved her down,
To make her light and small;
They pinched her feet, they singed her hair;
They screwed it up with pins.
o never mortal suffered more,
In penance for her sins! "
The present mode of wearing the clothes
suspended from the waist, united with the
tight corset, restricts woman in the exer-
else Of every limb, as is seen in the fact
that when she wishes to engage in any
active work, off comes the corset or at
muscles of the trunk and limbs may have
full play. See how free and graceful the
motions of children are in their loose and
easy clothing, before they are put into the
tight bands and ligatures that are consid-
cred necessary to make them appear grace
ful(?) Childrens clothing is generally sus-
pended by waists, and it is a pity that
children of older growth should depart
from the " customs of their Childhood in
this matter: Our country girls are often
and justly envied for their pretty round
forms and ruby checks, and freedom and
ease of movement, and they gain these by
being less entrammelled by the dictates of
fashion, and living more in accordance
with the laws Of nature, among which the
wearing of tight corsets and suspending
the clothes from the waist are certainly not
to be found.
HOW CoRsETs SHOULD BE WORN.
That corsets are alaoays injurious have
not stated, for there are cases in which,
when they are properly moulded and fitted
to the form, they may be of great comfort
to the wearer such as cases of weakness or
deformity; but the moment you lace it SO
tight as to compress the chest and abdo-
men, it ceases to be of benefit, and is pro-
ductive of injury. corset might be con-
structed, nicely fitted to the form, moulded
at the top so as TO receive and support the
breasts when necessary, and the lower por-
ton so shaped as to rest on the hips-not
the waist-an elastic strap should pass over
the shoulders, and be made adjustable to
different lengths by buttons or buckles.
Some means of attachment for the skirts
might be devised that would suspend them
from the corsets, by buttons Or otherwise,
and yet allow their weight to be suspended
mainly from the shoulders by reason Of the
straps passing over them. These straps
should support the corset, and prevent it
pressing too heavily on the hips; and if the
corset is properly fitted to the hips, these
will easily support what little weight comes
on them. Remember there is a distinction
between the waist and hips, and that the
corset is to be SO constructed that the
| weight of the skirt shall fall mainly Oh the
shoulders. When women ,oM wear corsets,
some improvement of this kind can be
easily devised by the modiste, and single
trial will be all that is necessary to con-
vince any one of their superiority over the
old style.
THE CHESAPEAKE OYSTER BEDs.-The