Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-12-15

| thicker and looser and broader In the sole.
1t may seem a startling proposition, but
assert that nothing will make a woman's
back ache quicker than wearing tight
boots. If I were an. n. D., could NO
doubt enter into learned explanation Of
| this fact-as it is, | simply state it. Let
any woman wear the Clothes Of the present
time, made suitably for the occasion, and
venture to believe that her costume win be
as healthful as anything can be, short OF
coats and pantaloons.
don't myself think that coats and pam
taloon would make women any stronger,
or more healthy; but dare not speak with
undue positiveness about an experiment l
have never tried. One brings to the front
DR.. Clarke, the author Of s'Sex in Educa-
tion," with a certain hesitation, because to
hrs. Woolson and the earnest and thought
full women who share her views,
he is such bette n0ire; but,
low be it spoken, the experience Of
countless other women proves him 10 be a
good physician; and to my mind there was
much force in something he said the other
day to a young lady of my acquaint-
ance. Looking over her attire of tasteful
skirt, and basque, and overskirt, heavy
AAC1C M0lhAnk ldChCI d4O SUI ACAb Law IL
said, 81 see nothing harmful here-I have
no fault to find. 1t could scarcely be
better"
'But the corsets, "isaid she; "must we
give up those?"
"By no means" was the reply; 81 con-
slider them necessity and useful support.
Because they can be abused, because a wo-
man who weighs two hundred can use them
l.. L. s,,f<. Iaforrr.ffxr il oior
they are bad in themselves"
But corsets are one especial object of the
animadversions ofthe dress-reformers. They
have come to the conclusion that con-
spicuous revolution in feminine attire
is not at present possible, so they
have undertaken that there shall be a
certain outward conformity to the NAM
mon of unrighteousness, while they work
all possible changes underneath. will
not dwell upon subleties Of the in
ternal arrangements suggested IN this
volume; the bewildering combinations
of buttons and button-holes, of eyelets and
lacing, upon garments which shall be
nameless in my letter, though they have
new and mysterious nomenclature in Mrs.
Woolson's book. The pages of her ap-
pendix are n, for the perusai Of masculine
Paul Prys-indeed, no man could under
stand them, whose acquaintance with
women was not as scientific as Worh's, or
as extensive as Brigham Young's.
/, for one, certainly think that If women
will but wear the present modes sensibly,
not cramping their feet in tight boots, not
using their corsets for tight lacing, not
overlooking their skirts with trimmings,
and not walking in dresses designed for the
carriage or the salon, they can hardly, I'M
der any system, dress better or more health
fully than it is in their power to dress DOW.
But there seems to be in the inquiring and
mGtinous human mind longing
for change, a reStlessness which demands
revolution. To form is not enough, they
must reform. Men, with this beSetting ten
dency, free slaves, overturn governments,
make new laws; shall we deny to women
the lesser pleasure of revolution in cor
sets and petticoats, a triumph in button
holes? And, if, indeed, anybody prefers
garments with the new names to the old,
orthordox fg-leayes of our grandmOthers,
they could not do better than to follow
Mrs. Woolson's lead. Her book is well and
delicately written-if TO me it seem a work
Of supererogation, there are Others no doubt
who will welcome it as the herald of a new
and better dispensation.