The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-08-06
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that small waist is admired of all
men and all women. No matter how
the Psychologists or the physicians may
tslk, women have always compressed
their wrists and expanded ther skirts,
and they always win, until public opin-
ion pronouncss fer the heavy figure. It
has never influenced a fashionable
woman yet to hear that the Venus de
Medici has large waist-she has been
told SO ever since that faultiess image
of female beauty was disinterred. She
knows very we'll that If she went TO Il
bali with that figure Of the Venus, no
man would ask her to dance. So i'm
portant a matter Is It TO have a small
waist, that il has become a matter of
pride to the Austrian people, and is
often mentioned in the court journals,
that the Empress of Austria is eele-
brated for possessing a waist which
only measures sixteen inches. This is
greater nobility than even the pos
session Of sixteen ouarterings on your
shield, without which you cannot be
admitted TO the best society of Vienna.
" Sixteen" " therefore. is a magic NUM-
Der at Vienna. There are many per
sons, to be sure, who have es small a
waist, but they have not the height and
contour and becoming fnllness which
the Empress has. Nor is the small
waist fttrOre' alone confined to the
women of civilized lands, so called.
The small foot Of the Chinese women
is local popularity; the small waist or
the striving for it, is universal. Even
grave Humboldt describes the beauties
of Java as eating a sort OF clay called
anapo, by which they become very
much reduced ia size. 1t kills them
finally, but what Of that ?
The sava9es Of the islands in the
Pacific and Indian Oceans use very
potent means to attain slenderness Of
figure for the young women, and re-
searches among the ruins Of Palenque
Gone Of those mysterio0s forest cities Of
Central AEaerice) prove that those al
most forgotten people knew of the most
srtifieialfand well-ftting and compressi-
bic corset which has ever been invented.
Savage eorsets are made of rattan, bones
ofsaniInals and skins, and laced with
leather shongs, and are worn by men
and women. The young Indian war
rier Of to- day laees himself when he
goes on the war-path or to see his lady
love ina 'fskin and bone" belt, which
is very good corset.
a The women Of Egyps, If we can be-
lisve the Pyramids, were not above
tight Iacine In fact, gloves, corsets,
bracelets, and ornaments for the hair go
back to the remotest antiquity.
IN the book of Isaiah we read of the
divine displeasure manifested against
the people of Jerusalem and Judah,
andof the depriving Of the women of
personal adornment, and there is this
striking allusion to the corset in the
splendid poetieal Language of the time:
g Instead of a girdle, there should be
rent; and instead of a wellsset hair,
badness and instead of stomacher,
girding of sackcloth I; and burning
instead of beauty."
The Jewish ladies of rank wore pro-
fuse ornamentation, and always a light
" laced bodice, which Is carefully and
beautifully alluded TO by Scott in his
descriptions of Rebecca, that most ex-
quisite of ideal Jewesses.
Now, in looking at the loose, classical
4 drapeIy of the Roman women, one
would say that the corset bad disap-
peared for while from one well-dressed
period of the world. But history tells
us differently. In fact, any lady of
/ modern times who has draped herself
for private theatricals, or for tableaUs,
4 IN the Roman robes, knows we'll that it
must be a very carefully construct
/ dress. It cannot be lightly assumed.
It is very ugly unless the shape be per-
4 feet underneath its apparently negli-
/ gent folds. We learn from poets and
/ dramatists, as we'll as from historians,
/ that the Roman women wore a girdle,
which they called the strophium, and
/ which was probably the same as the
mira or girdle of the Greeks. The fe-
: nous cestus Of Venus is affirmed by apo
! etical London tradesman to have been
merely well-fitting corset And tne
zone which plays so attractive part in
all alIegorical and human history may
/ have been only a combination OF we'll
/ fitting whalebone and steel quilted into
/ silk or cloth as the wearer chose.
Thus the supposed purely natural
and statuesque figures of the Roman
women were really laced into shape and
held in g durance vile" as much as are
those Of French ladies of to-day and
here we may as well remark that when
we talk of modern luxury we must not
/ forget that Cleopatra's earrings were
worth - one hundred and sixty thou
sand pounds" +" and that julius Caesar
gave to another lady of his acquaintance
/ a pair OF earrings which cost him at the
/ Tiffany's of that day forty-eight thou
sand pounds, Some industrious Eng
/ lishman has translated the Roman
! money into pounds for us. We can also
I EGAEI u INC LNGOAAo VI f|IA@N1N e--AN
/ Flinv for samples of female extraya-
/ gance which make the patroness Of
/ Worth to-day almost feel ashamed Of
| herself for her moderation. Martial
4 and Juvenal do not hesitate to record
that, when these wealthy danes being
/ dressed in their gorgeous 12ef1tisDls,
their tresses Of false hair, +" which they
/ frizzIed with hot irons" when they put
on their splendid pearls and ornaments
| of gold, and painted their faces and
| eyebrows. they would throw the little
brass hand mirror at the head of the
offending slaves, or even applying the
whip If the tire-woman did not make
her mistress beautiful.
We see that there is nothing new
upder the SUM- even onr " little temp
ers - have all been INDUCED in by the
Portias, the Cornelias, the Cieopatras
of the past. nor can we invent a new
FOLLY, or caprice, or absurdity of dress,
but we find In history that some women
has been before us. So the corset has
its antiquity with all the rest.
About the middle Of the tenth cen
turv there came up a terrible and cruel
corset, called c0ttes hardSes. These
were stiffened with steel. and claspeo
with grass or gold. We know veF5
well from the pictures of that perioc
what intensely small waists were pro
dueed, and what stiffness of figure
The French words corps and series ftS
/ tiehten), which seem TO have suggested
the word corset, could not have bettei
expressed this article of dress. We do
not know how many women died 81
these eorsets-probably more than have
ever died of a broken heart. Men a
well as women wore the horribls things
One lady Of rank is described as wear
! ing - splendid girdle Of beaten golS
about her middle small. ChauceF de
soribes one of his beauties as being
small as a weazel and upright As
J bolt" which does not suggest 3 YER
; pleasing image Of female loyeliness Z
= the modern mind.
. e But, If it was one thing to lace IN thi
waists, it was another 20 augment tn
) size Of the skirt until its oatrngeou
circumference should make any wais
, look small. This idea undoubledI.
arose when the rich silks Of the middl
! ages. stifened with gold and silk bro
/ eade, came TO be plated into skirt 70
a slender figure. The great mssa stoo.
=. ont of itself aud made the waist lool