The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-01-08
Clothing for Cold Weather.

The usual dress is sufficient in guam
tity, and often good in quality, but it is
very badly distributed. There is too
much about the trunk, and too little
about the lower extremities. If one
quarter of the heavy woolen overcoat or
shawl were were taken from the trunk,
and wrapped about the legs, it would
prove great gain. When we men ride
in the cars or in the sleigh, where do
we suffer? About the legs and feet.
When women suffer from the cold,
where is it 1t is about the legs and
feet
The legs and feet are down near the
floor, where the cold current moves.
The air is so cold near the floor that all
prudent mothers say, "Don't lie there,
Peter; get up; Jerusha Ann, play on
the sofa, you will take your death cold
lying there on the floor" And they
are quite right. If the room be well
ventilated, the air down near the floor
is very much colder than it is up about
our heads. And it is in that cold stratum
of air that our feet and legs are con-
stantly.
Besides this, the feet and legs, on ac-
count of their being so far away, and on
account of their size, with the air all
about them, are disposed to be top cold,
even without being IN colder atmos-
phere.
Under all these circumstances, men
wear one thickness of wool and cotton,
and one thickness of black broadcloth
about his legs, and three or four times
as much about their chests and now
they often add an immense pad called a
Chest Protector. And women in
dulge in full greater contrast.
Without discussing this blunder fur
ther, 1 will give you a little practical
advice, which my observations and ex-
perience during more than thirty years
fully endorse.
During the damp and cold season,
the legs should be encased in very thick
thick woolen drawers, the feet in thick
wooden stockings (Which must be
changed every day, and the shoe soles
must be as broad as the feet when fully
spread, so that the blood shall have free
passage. If the feet are squeezed i'll
the least, the circulation is checked,
and coldness is inevitable. The free
circulation cannot be secured by @ loose
upper with narrow sole. H,when the
foot stands naked on sheet of paper,
it measures three and half inches, the
sole must measure three and half.
I will suppose you have done all this
faithfully, and yet your feet and legs
are cold. Now add more wooden, or if
in sleigh, procure a. pair of chamois
skin or wash leather drawers, which
have found to be most satisfactory.
+" J. have known number of ladies af-
flicted with hot and aching head, and
other evidence Of congestion about the
upper parts. who were completely re-
lieved by pair of chamois skin draw
ers and broad soled shoes. Three
ladies in every four suffer from some
congestion in the upper part Of the
body. 1t is felt in fulness of the
head, in sore throat, in palpitation OF
the heart, torpid liver, and in many
other ways. 1t is we'll known that hot
foot bath will relieve for the time being
any and all of these difficulties. The
bath draws the blood into the legs and
feet, relieving the congestion above.
What the hot foot bath does for an
hour, the broad soled shoes, with thick
wooden stockings and pair of flannel
drawers, with a pair of wash leather
drawers added, will do permanently.
OF course I am speaking Of cold wea.
ther. No one hesitates to multiply the
clothing about the trunk. Why hesi
tate to increase the clothing about the
legs? AS a preventive of many common
affections about the chest, throat and
head, including nasal catarrh, know
nothing so effective as the dress of the
lower extremities which I am advoca
ting.
The bath is a good thing, exercise is
a good thing, friction is a good thing
but, after all, our main dependence il
this climate must ever be, during the
cold season, warm clothing. Already
we overdo this about our trunks, bu
not one person in ten wears clothing
enough about their legs and feet.-Dic
Le1CiS.