Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-03-31
rsmrurnR pEroRHrrY.

The extraordinary perversion of taste
and sense, proved by the general opinion
of what is desirable in female form, may
60 far to prove that the principle of evo.
luton is balanced by that of retrogres-
sion- The cave.men have left proofs OF
the possession of faculties not possessed
by savage people of the present day,
which may be taken as showing in the
case of these who, incapable of improve.
ment, die out before the march of civil.
cation, that these latter are not going
over the same ground OF progress, but
relapsing from a superior condition. The
singular state of ideas respecting beauty
of form in all modern civilized countries
can hardly imply anything but retrogres-
sion in one Of the senses at least. Judg.
ing of the opinion of the ancient Greeks
as expressed in their sculpture, modern,
ideal, well-dressed young lady, probably
by natures intention as fine, or finer, than
any thing they ever saw, would be to them,
could they revisit the earth, subject Of
amazement Tiny hands, white till they
look bloodless, and pointed nails feet
with no more shape than spoon but,
above all, waist like a pipe, having
scarcely any natural reference to the form
above or below-in reality, hideous The
deeply.rooted preference for this deformity
must surely be mark of retrogression.
1t is common for deluded mothers, looking
at the grandly growing girl, to say, "The
| child is becoming monster she must be
Immediately put into stays" A little girl
of twelve, being for the first time jammed
into the abomination, complained that she
could not breathe. The answer of her
mothers French maid was, "Il fault souffrir
pour etre BELLE" and so commenced the
deformity of the poor child's body and
mind. There ought to be no such thing as
waist as now understood. In early youth
| flexible slimness is a natural characteristic,
later it does not commonly exist, being re-
placed by beauty of greater dignity and
when small waist is formed by art it is at
the expense of health and beauty. Every
young lady who congresses her waist out
of its natural shape and size should be
| made to understand that she does it at her
| peril, whether she feels the pressure or not,
| for from habit she may not be at all times
| conscious of it she should know that she
will pay fearful price in loss of health
and hight and elasticity of movement,
| without which there can be no healthy
pleasure and no real beauty. The test of
beauty of form is the effect of the silhou.
cite, and whetherit will go well into sculp.
ture in fact, the effect of the lines bound
ing the shape. Compression in one place
must produce corresponding expansion in
another, excepting indeed in the disastrous
crushing in of the ribs, which give way in.
ternally, sometimes entering the lungs.
The ampler the form the less can good taste
consent to compression. The sudden bulges
and violent amplitudes which are the con-
sequence of natural restrictions are dis
tressing alike to the sense of beauty and
modesty- positively ugly-Nature aveng-
ing herself General amplitude is indeed
far from ungracious, but on the contrary
carries dignity that is pleasant to look
upon; but short violent curves are emf
nently ugly Nineteenth Century.