Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-11-13
WOMAN'S HEALTH.
IT'S PRESERVATION OR LOSS, AND
HOW ACCOMPLISHED.
Some Plain Facts by Lucy NJ. Hall,
Assistant Professor of Physi-
ology at Vassar College.

y
drapings and plaitings, fold upon fold, the
braids and buttons, the beads and tassels
and tags. it is no wonder that many a
weary woman has been dragged by them to
remain a chronic invalid, always to be
cared for ar the hands of the family doctor
or specialist.
The length of the skirt for street wear
especially, is matter OF much importance
TO health. The most direct and dangerous
| result of skirts too long is that they become
damp around the bottom whenever streets
or sidewalks are wet, and the feet and
ankles are from this contact made the me-
| dunn of arrangements OF the circulation,
and often of COMPOSITIONS of sensitive or
gans, serious disturbances to health thus
| being engendered.
| A little care in the selection of light in
| stead of heavy material for dress, Innings
and trimmings included, would obvate
the unnecessary weight. Suitability of
| length is a matter still more easily con-
| trolled
One day last winter nervous, over
| worked teacher came into my office, threw
| off her cloak, and sat down with a groan.
lifted the garment, and exclaimed at its
great weight. . Yes, she said " il is a
| terrible load to carry l believe it is killing
me-" Whether she saved her life by sub
stituting the short, light, warmly-lined
| wrap which / advised am unable to say ;
I certain it is that her health rapidly i'm
proved after she made the change
| Except for driving, long, heavy cloaks of
sealskin, seal plush or other material of
great weight, are unsuitable and injurious.
! The jet-trimmed wraps worn in warmer
weather are little better some Of these
weighing twenty pounds or more.
The use of jet in the making and garnish-
| ing of bonnets, so much in vogue at pres
ent, is harmful, as the weight is so great as
to tire the muscles of the back of the neck,
cause headache and general feeling OF
| WEAKNESS.
The wearing of tight sleeves impedes the
circulation, interferes with muscular action,
and makes the wearer nervous and uncom-
| Portable To such degree has this silly
fashion been carried that in many cases
the wearers have been unable to raise their
hands to the head or even 10 the throat.
OF the exposures entailed by the wearing
of sleeveless, neckless, nearly shoulderless
dresses, the outrage to both the physical
and moral nature of woman is about equal,
and equally patent TO any unpreiudiced
mind 1t is an unhealthy fashion in more
ways than one.
! The warmth of the lower extremities
should be secured by drawers reaching to
the ankle, the texture and number of pairs
required being determined by the state of
| the weather and the necessities of the
wearer.
Clara Barton, when working SO bravely
on the battlefields of our own and of other
countries, was wont to wear dress, skirt
and drawers all of one plain, dark material,
and she has assured me that the many adj
vantages of this arrangement had no small
share in enabling her to Withstand the
fatigues and exposures of her self-imposed
labors.
The shoes commonly worn are too light,
and are not properly shaped. The favorite
French kid is quite unsuitable for street
wear in cold or damp weather.
On raw winters day saw two ladies
enter street-car. Each wore long, heavy
seal cloak, and light, thin-soled French kid
shoes. One was red almost purple, in the
face the other pale as ghost. One was
gasping for breath with her blood all surg
ing towards her head the other painting
and weak, with not much blood to go in
anv direction. That they both had feet
like ice l will venture to assert.
The shape of the shoe is a matter OF i'm
portance in double sense. That the high
heeled shoe throws part of the body out
of its normal axis and prevents the natural
spring of the foot and that narrow toes
cause a multiplicity of local Ills, are grave
objections but Nature is bountiful and
Will adjust herself in a measure to such in
references. The baekaches and headaches
caused by the unnatural jar which comes
to these parts from pegging about upon feet
with the elasticity and spring all taken out
| of them. can be borne. If the discomfort
caused by corns, bunions or ingrowing
nails makes you still more nervous and
possibly a little cross, your friends will
probably bear with you, and an occasional
trip on the stair or a sprained ankle now
and then will not hurt your sister, though
it may be little hard upon you.
The most serious objection is that women
with such shoes and such feet will not, or
rather cannot walk. They ride up and
down in the street cars or other convey
ances, instead of taking the vigorous tramp
which would put new life into their tagging
pulses, new strength into their muscles,
new Yigor into every movement.
Imagine q woman with corsage which
renders a full inspiration impossible,
| sleeves so tight that the arms ache from
pressure, ten to twenty pounds of skirts
hanging from her hips and twisting about
her ankles, as many pounds of cloak sus-
pended from her shoulders, and narrow
toed, high-heeled shoes on her feet, trying
to take a six or ten mile walk Surely
Nature made wise provision f9r the hui
man race when she made women hard to
kill otherwise the world would soon be
depopulated for lack of mothers.
The degree to which servant girls, shop
girls-all that struggling class of women
initiate their mistresses and the fine ladies
with whom they come in contact in this
matter of tight-lacing, skirt-trimming, foot
torturing, and all the rest of it, is a potent
reason for much of the illness, the low
wages, or the failure to achieve an honest
self-support among them. Even the raw
recruits who come to u.s. flushed and
brown from over the sea, to take upon
their shoulders the burden of our house
hold toll, soon succumb to this evil influ-
ence, and suffer accordingly.
One of the largest dry-goods merchants
in this city writes me that of the many hun
dreds OF men and women in his employ the
ratio of excuses from business on account
of illness is nine women to one man.
But he adds, F" woman physically
strong and mentally well balanced has a
less proportion of excuses than almost any
man."
Another says OF course, more women
, than men are excused from business on ac-
count of illness :" and others still tell the
same unwelcome story.
Other causes, no doubt, contribute TO this
unfortunate showing, but the larger share
by far is in some way the outgrowth OF
mistaken ideas in dress.
OF the intricacies and complications, the
variety and elaborateness, of woman's at
tire, the evil to herself is that it requires
much of thought and attention, to the ex-
clusion of higher and better things. Even
among the rich, much personal care and
labor is expended upon it, while among
those of moderate means it becomes bur
den of ceaseless toll, keeps the women
of the family confined to the house in
cramped positions, any is the source Of
much anxiety and of expense not easily
borne, the latter being too often met by
scrimping in the necessaries OF EfeS
To those girls who are irving to earn a