Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-05-06
EVILS OF THE TOILET
MARION HARLAxp ON TRI PREVAILING
FASHIONS roR WOMEN.
Are the Present styles Of Dress Better or
Worse Than These Of the Past 1.-The
Question OF the Corset
~, N. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., isssl


II would be curiously interesting 70
INQUIRE what has modified the "evils OF
our grandmothers' toilets into the toiera-
bly, sensible apparel worn oy women ID
this year Of 1889. :.
Perhaps the intermipable crusade OF
newspaper and science journal esssyists.
Imagination staggers III the effort to PIC
ture the 6ireful dearth OF topics that
would affiict these wordy pbilanthropists
were the whole race OF American women
10 put into practical operation their sug-
cested dress reforms. IL we we're simulta-
neously and dutifully to adopt divided
skirts. broad, heeless shoes, combipa-
ton garments OF sanitary flannel, loose
waists with never an artificial bone or
brace beneath them. short skirts, few
in number, hung from the shoulders
and wide brimmed hats; if we were 70
eschew wells, gloves, jet trimmings ana
Grape, do all things which our censors
enjoin and leave undone all they con.
demn, the occupation OF hundreds OF
excellent bread-winners and paragraph
makers would be gone.
NOT oBDURATE.
Our Girl is not so obdurate or vain as
the penny.a-liners and would-be bene-
factors represent her. II one doubts
that she has grown wiser with the world
LET him coax her mother, or, better yet,
her preat-aunt, who was belle IN her
voutb. into a descriptive talk OF the
GOOD old times-of the brave, simple
days when people lived near to Ma
ture's heart. The ingenious age IN which
abe and her sisters used the bed-post as q
behaving. pin about winch we're wound
their corset-laces, linen ligatures that did
not give under the weight OF the poIy
strained upon their taut length until the
waist was screwed and packed into pro-
per shape and diameter. The humane
old times when girls who were inclined
70 become stout slept in their laced stays
for months together, increasing the
pressure heroicslly and daily. Now and
then the lungs adhered to the compressed
ribs. or a heart literally broke In ball
room, but suffering aud beauty were IN
slienable associates, and waists must
taper, hips be as though they had not
been.
Among nv most vivid childish recol..
lections is that of rival bellies, one OF
whom in my admiring sight, spanned
her waist with her Joined hands, whiie
the other triumphantly crossed her arms
behind her back and interlaced the
fingers she brought around to the front
of her pirdle Our Girl may be sim
pleton. but she has taken in, II only by
absorption, q general idea Of arterial CIR
culation and lung action, and attempts
no such suicidal enormities as the above.
Our grand-aunts had small feet. II
thew were not born with them they
made them. Their fairy figures were
balanced upon high heels no larger at
the base than q silver dime, and set wen
towards the instep. While scant skirts
were in vogue few had the moral
courage to make the innermost OF these
of flannel, and merino vests were I'M
known. On the night of Elizabeth Pat
terson's nuptials with jerome Bonaparte
she wore but q single undergdrment be-
meath her bridal robe. The hair was
dragged painfully upward, tied last,
pomatumed, powdered, and pinned into
a helmet over cushions that made the
head ache the pores Of the skin were
choked with pulverized starch, rice, and
chalk. sometimes with substratum oil
taii0,o to make the powder stick !
MADE UP.
All they were very much made up
and made over, those foremothers OF
ours who smirk saintiuly at us IRON
furnished picture-frames, stonily sweet,
while we writhe and grinace at the dreg'
of the full cup of ills wrung out to us by
the iron hand of heredity.
The average measure of a woman
waist has gained two inches IN the last
half century, say old dressmakers, AND
is still making room for the free play oil
the vital organs it encloses. We wear
larger shoes and looser stays.
Let me state here distinctly that l dc
not enumerate these last-named appen
daoes 10 the toilet as an evil per sc
There are corsets and corsets, as there
are fools and sensible people among TIT
wearers. The stay-maker of our tim'
measures her customers waist and tell
her what number of corset she ma.
judiciously wear also. that certain
pattern suits best stout figure. anothe
q slim. 1t is seldom that n saleswomai
ia so shortsighted ss to advise the pur
chase of one that would be announcement
lv tight. Ii would not swear we'll. Tn
frame work of q properly-ftted corsetpro
tects the soft parts of the body, and re
lieyes these OF the weight OF skirts tina
would otherwise Cypress spine AM
stomach. / recollect date when onl,
old.fashioned and elderly women wor
corsets and what we're known as "Dus
splits" broad strips OF steel or bras
slipped into castings In the front OF th
STAYS. Every body else was buttoned u
in undcrwaists of linen or cotton, with
out any stiffening appliances whatso
eyer-iust what the dress reformer II
sists upon now. 1t helps us bea
the ills we have to recall the cruel
ty that made that date also tina
OF the reign of the hustle and msnlfol
petticoats. The strings and bands Q
these abraded the yielding flesh. tn
superincumbent dead weight Of starche
muslin filed the pockets of medical spe
cialists. while buckram, whalebone, an
stout hooks and eyes presses dress cor
sages as deeply into ribs and bosom
did the old ladies' stays.
THE SHOULDERS.
One word as to the theory that skirt
OF gown and petticoat-in fact, a.
dependent arments-should be sup
ported by the shoulders, never by tn
hips. To prevent the straps affixed t
them from slipping down upon the arm
they must he carried forward SO far as :
cross the bfosst, bringing the hang
ing weight UPON the most sensitiv
part of womaL's body. If sewers
nnderwaists take the place of straps
the form is made clumsy. A con
pactiy-builr, wiry woman may loo
well and do well without corsets on
whose bust is full and with whom th
whole tendency is to make adipose til
sue rapidly should, in my opinion, wes
an easy corset for health's sake, no les
than through laudable desire not to b
utterly fgureiess. She need not b
small Of waist-the Venus OF Milo Sc
II ~ Ss~..t .o % Tor " al,