Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-07-31
Kate Field on Clothes.

is Il question proves something wrong.
Men, first and foremost bread winners of
the world, have adopted a practical, if hid
eously unpicturesque attire. Women,
/ first ana foremost puppets, and incidental
| ly mothers and workers, buy whatever
chains Interested persons choose to pre-
sent and label Fashion" That these
metaphorical chains appeal neither u
sense nor beauty demonstrates an amount
of stupidity and ignorance in women
which |. us one of them, am not dishonest
enough to deny.
Sister sinners, | took up the June num-
Der of the North A mCricnn in the fond
hope of obtaining an answer to the great
conundrum of our age. Alas Pm in
worse plight than before ! find three
women and two men of eminence contra
dieting one another and leaving the read
ers brain sadly muddled. When they
don't contradict one another they contra
diet ones own experience, which is worth
all the ipse diXits ever Illuminated.
| If you doubt me read what | have ex-
tracted for your benefit.
at lisa cardinal principle, =" declares Kate
l.. jackson, "that the weight of garments
be supported mainly from the shoulders
u 4 Obviously, so long as one or two, thick
nesses of clothing are considered ample
for the eNtremities while five to eight are
worn about the trunk above the waist
line and twelve totwenty below, the blood
must be diverted from its rightful chan
nels to others already overcharged and
congested
What is DR.. Wilton A. Hammond's
version
at has been strenuously urged by many
so-called sanitary reformers that women
should support their skirts by straps pass
ing over the shoulders, and some few have
been induced to adopt the method. 1t is
to be hoped that it will not spread. A
womans hips are proportionately wider
than those of man, and there Is no bet
ter way of keeping up the many pettcoats
| that it is sometimes necessary to wear
than by fastening them with strings or
bands around the waist, over the corset.
Shoulder-Straps hinder the movement OF
the chest, and tend to make those who
wear them round shouldered.'
| Here we have Kate l.. Jackson and DR..
Hammond at swords points Now let us
turn TO Mrs f. l.. King:
I'm Offering palliatives, the radical error
III WOnanS dress was overlooked, ana
only that part was attacked which direct
ly caused injury. Stays were attacked,
without considering that they were only
the protection of the body against the
weight and pressure of petticoats. Then
when cOrSets were removed, and pettl
coats found were found enduraDie, came
a second palliative, which SAID They
must hang from the shoulders, then all
will he right 1t makes me smile to hear
women offer this panacea, and see them
| lift their arms, enchanting: w hen | hit
my arms | lift all my petticoats,' What
should we say to natures handlWork II
she put muscles on the shoulder to lift and
propel the legs Whatever we should say
to that the same must be said to suspend
ing the leg covering from the shoulders.
Pressure over the abdomen is partially
removed, certainly, but at the expense OF
chest and spine. Weight is not diminished
| for the fact remains that the higher we
carry weight the heavier it is When
doctors disagree who shall decide? En-
perience and common sense. nile |
know that heavy weights carried from the
waist are most injurious, | also know that
suspending skirts from the shoulders Is "A
still greater evil. No woman who uses
her voice will ever contract her chest by
adopting suspenders. She will steer be
tween Scylla and Charybdis by wearing
as few and as light skirts as possible.
Mrs. King advocates Lady Habberton's
divided skirts and believes it to be
great reform. | know it to be an unmlt-
gated nuisance. On hearing of this lnVen-
ton which was to emancipate woman
from her present thraldom, ! sent to Eng
land for an entire suit that had received a
prize at health exhibition. 1t consisted
of IA waistcoat and outside jacket, very
like the old 'zouave," pair of remarka-
bly, wide drawers and an overdreSs, so long
AS to very nearly cover the drawers and
make them look like an ordinary skirt.
| was not AS free in the Jacket as IN a
Jersey" Though the bifurcated skirt
was walking length found it annoying
in dust and abominable IN mud, Tor I'M
less skirt stops at the knees there are
always occasions when the. wearer must
hold ii up Clutch the reform garments
whichever side might the other would
still be Topping about the ground, owing
TO that absurd division i'll the middle.
Unless seized both sides with both hands
and made spectacle of myself art or
wet was inevitable. Disguised with Il
very bad investment, sold II at half price.
Lady HaDberton' 5 invention Is deluSlon
and snare. If it had redeeming Tea
ture it escaped my notice Mrs. klng
would abolish DetticOatS by adopting an
inconvenient. unwholesome, double bar
relied petticoat with oversklrt attached.
She will find no followers among Amerl-
can women.
In denouncing shoulder-straps Mrs.
, King declares that the higher we carry
weight the heavier 1t Is. why then 90
negresses and the working women OF
/, Europe habtually carry weights on their
heads | have sean a vigorous woman III
the Pyrenees handle Il trunk with such
deXterity as an American baggage smash
er might emulate with advantage to help
less travellers Posing it upon her head
the peasant girl strobe off with her burden
in way that would have been utterly
impossible had she borne the weight low
er. 1t is the carrying of water bottles ON
the head that has given Roman and GER
tain Eastern women so fine Il carriage. |
personally can carry with comfort much
more weight on my shoulders than about
my waist 1t is the unnatural pressure OF
shoulper-straps, not the weight they en-
tail, that is Objectionable. Mrs. King
further states that "woman's dress has
, proceeded from bad to worse, now injur.
ing her body and degrading her mind. y
,, Is this fact Look at the paper-soled
shoes of our mothers Look at the dirty,
, unhealthy wigs of former days a woman
,, of fashion several centuries ago was tor
.. tured from head to foot. Madame de
. Pompadour, Il pretentious poseuse, had
: what is conventionally called an elegant
figure" She laced her high stays tightly
; wore long stiff waist, and heels that