Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-08-02
Head. Hands and Feet.
From the Diapers Trade Journal


The degeneracy of the human race
is with some people cherished article
of faith, not to be lightly parted with,
and many are the facts by which this
foregOne conclusion has been temper
arily sustained Very recently, for
instance, it was said that the heads of
English people were growing small by
degrees, if not beautifully less"
Upon this point the testimony of hat
ters was approximately unanimous
Thirty years ago the average size of
hats was considerably larger than now,
and the conclusion followed that heads
must have been also. A little discus
sion, however, showed that the con
cluSiOn did not necessarily follow from
the promises Hair is cut shorter
than it used to be, and the method of
wearing hats has changed also-they
are nowadays not pressed so far down
on the head. The two facts together
explain the mystery without making
thatprofound plunge into physiological
details and the laws of life which was
at first suggested. Next comes an out
cry about gloves and hands, but here
again not nature, but fashion, must be
held accountable People have de-
velOped a fancy for thrusting large
hands into small gloves, and so long
as they can strain a glove across the
back of the hand many persons appear
to be satisfied, no matter how badly
the fingers are accommodated This
is, of course, very absurd In the
first place it is bad for the glove, which
has only certain amount of stretch"
in it. and when this is exceeded some
thing must give way, either the
stitches or the leather, or both Then
again, an over tight glove is uncom-
Portable to wear and ugly in appear
its aspects, there is positively not
single gain to balance the disadvant-
ages.
The fact, however, remains, Messrs.
Dent, Alcroft & Co. inform us that
the sizes formerly kept in stock were
from y to 10 for gentlemen's gloves,
and that they never thought of MAX
ing anything smaller, except to special
order Now the sizes range from Z to
10, with an increasing demand for the
smaller skies. In ladies gloves the
smallest size formerly kept in stock
was IS, now 81 are kept They have
further found it necessary to issue
circulars calling attention to the in
creasing practice of wearing gloves
too small, and the consequent multi
plication of complaints of the gloves
giving way; naturally, neither shop
keepers nor manufacturers can be
expected to hold themselves response
BILE for gloves destroyed IN this man
ner. So, after all, it is not hands, but
gloves, that are smaller. The latest
story of this kind is that feet are di-
minishing IN size. A contemporary
says: 1T cannot have escaped the
observation of the trade that in ladies'
goods there is a decided tendency to
wear boots shorter and wider than
was formerly the case" and suggests
that it is possible, with reference
both to hands and feet, that we are
developing smaller extremities. :" We
can well believe in any amount of
distortion in ladies' feet, as a conse-
quence of the idiotic boot-heels which
have been fashionable for some years
past; but most probably the fact, if it
be fact, referred to by our contempor-
airy Will be as readily explained when
it is examined as the question Of hats
and heads and gloves and hands have
been