Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-05-15
Hints on Ladies' Dresses.

/ agree that the tax OF carving
clothes about the waist is utterly I'M
justifable, and that the parts that
should bear the burden are the shoul-
ders and none other. In this regard
women ought to be placed under just
the same favorable conditions for move
ment of the body as men. and the
greatest emancipation that women will
ever have achieved will have arrived
when she has discovered and carried
out this practical improvement.
In saying this l do not for moment
wish to suggest that the outward ap'
pearance of the feminine dress should
be like that of the masculine dress. To
the woman, the flowing robe which even
trespass little on the ground, is most
graceful, and is signally characteristic
of feminine beauty. / would therefore
that it should remain in all its grace
fulness, but in so far as everything else
is concerned, for every circumstance in
which health is involved, for warmth,
for freedom of movement, for mode by
which the dress is carried from the
shoulders, would say: Let the women
have all the advantages which now be-
long to the men.
For any one who will for a moment
think candidly must admit that The dress
of men, however bad it may be in taste,
or in whatever bad taste it may have
been conceived, is, in respect to health.
infinitely superior to that of women. In
the dress of the man every part of the
body is equally covered. The middle
of the body is not envelopcd in a num-
Der of close layers. while the lower
limbs are left without close clothing
altogether. The center of the body is
not strained with a weight which almost
drags down the lower limbs and back.
The chest is not exposed to every wind
that blows, and the feet are not Devil
dered with heavy garments which they
have to kick forward or drag from be-
hind with every advancing step. The
body is clothed equally. The clothing
is borne by the shoulders; it gives free
motion to breathing; it gives freedom
of motion to the circulation; it makes
no undue pressure on the digestive or
gans; it leaves the limbs free; it is easily
put on and off; and it allows of ready
change in vicissitudes of weather. These
are the advantages of modern attire for
the man, and all l claim is that they
should. by faithful copy, be extended to
the woman, with the one exception of
the graceful outer gown or robe. as a
supplement to her own superior grace
and beauty.
1t is told of the late eminent SUI rgeon
Mr.. Cline, the teacher of Sir Ashley
Cooper, that when he was consulted by
lady on the question how she should
prevent girl from growing up mis-
shapen, he replied: 'Let her have no
stays and let her run about like the
boys" 1 gladly re-echo this wise adj
vice of the great surgeon; and [ would
venture to add to it another suggestion.
1 would say to the mothers of England:
Let your girls dress like your boys,
make no difference whatever in respect
to them-give them knickerbockers, if
you likc-with these exceptions: that
the undergarments be of little lighter
material, and that they be supple
mented by an outer gown or robe which
shall take the place of the outer coat of
the boys, and shall make them look
distinctively what they are-girls
clothed cap a pie, and we'll clothed
from head to foot.--LOndoa Lancet.