Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-09-26
ABOUT WOMEN.
The Short Ladies to BsMsdsT Taller
The English and French Women
Compensation 20 Swim-Mar'
rying q Menagerie.
L~ENarHENINa sHoRr woMEN.

O..
The London World tells Of q new
contrivance for making ladies taller.
The woman who is to undergo this
process is encased in a very tight cor
set and her feet are placed in shoes
weighted with fifty pounds Of lead
each. She is then placed in a machine
consisting Of a ring, which encireles
her waist, and is suspended from the
ceiling at such a:.height as to prevent
her feet from touching the ground.
The pressure Of the corset forces the
upper part Of her body upward, and
the weight of the shoes stretches her
from the waist downward. 1t is esti-
mated that the extreme length to
which the spine can be stretch by the
process thus described is two inches,
and that the knee and hip joints can
be stretched inch and q half more.
Thus three inches and q half can be
added to the height Of almost any
woman who has the courage to under.
20 the trouble and pain necessarily
connected with the stretching process
lasting, with brief intervals, five or six
months.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH WOMEN.
London Standard: The French are
very fond of decrying the women Of
our country as q fat chested, long
membered. large footed race, awkward
in gait. i'll dressed or over dressed, IN
learned in the elementary rules Of that
important matter, the dressing Of the
hair and incapable Of harmonizing
colors. These criticisms are ill ma
tured and exaggerated but, neverthe-
less, q good many grains Of truth
underlie them. Take a London and a
Partisan shop girl as an example. The
former has generally the advantage
over the latter in a clearness Of CONS
plexion and in eomeliness yet she loses
by the comparison. She is neither so
becomingly dressed nor SO careful to
suit the color OF her dress TO her com
plexion, nor so neatly shod; and above
all. she seems to be ignorant Of the re-
sources an abundant head of hair af>
fords her as a frame to an attractive,
youthful countenance. The horrible,
barbarous fashion Of cutting the hair
short, which obtains no favor in
France, prevails, | observed with real
regret, to a CON iderable extent in
London; and, when the scissors have
not been ruthlessly applied to mason
liniEe the female head, there seems to
be a d~eplorable want OF taste displayed
in the arrangement Of their tresses by
London girls. Those | met out, those
| saw behind the counter, appeared to
have 9 peculiar penehant for screWibg
their hair into tight. ugly little knots,
singularly ungfaceful-so thought
at all events, fresh from the sight OF
Psrisienne heads. The appearance Of
the London nursemaid also c~oDtrasted
unfayorably with that Of the French
bonnie. | do not refer to the elite OF
the calling in either country but to the
ordinary middle class nurse girl OF
bonnie such as one meets with ia Ken
sington Gardens or in the Tuileries
Perhaps the tasty cap worn by the
latter, with its meter and a half oil
broad ribbon streamers behind, gives
her an advantage; perhaps she hold.
herself better, OIL pays more attention
to her general appearance. Whatever
may be the cause, the result undoubt
eddy is that the eye rests with more
pleasure upon a group Of French
nurses gathered together with theil
charges in a public garden than upo1
Q similar group in a London park. Tt
sum up my impression concerning
london women of the middle or lowe
classes, they seemed, as a Frenchmar
would put it, yetues, not habillees-
clothed, not dressed.