The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-02-15
THE GIDDY GARTER.
Its Uselessness as an Alleged
Stocking support.

doctors to get their names well before
the public than abusing the most
time-honored garments of their lady
patients. We know how the stays
have been pulled about by the medi-
cal critics, he says, and how they have
held their own and kept their shape
in spite of all the efforts of their OPP
ponents. | know hear that the En-
glish doctors at a recent congress
have been handling carriers roughly
on the pretext thatthey injure the cir
culation of the blood. But how are
stockings to be worn if garters are to
be discarded? As our foremothers for
centuries were gartered, and only few
complained of the varicose veins, it
strikes me that the evil lies not so
much in the wearing of the garter as
the way in which it is worn.
1t may be a loose fit (which doesjust
as we'll to keep the stocking from fall
ing or getting wrinkled at the ankles)
or it may be a tight fit, which OF
course is injurious. / have been n
terviewing q couple of weavers OF
surgical stockings for persons troubled
with varicose veins. Would it surprise
you to hear that the greater number
of their customers W. wore carriers
since their childhood. they being OF
the non-genNe sex! Perhaps this is
because sons take after their mothers,
and inherit their acquired weakness in
exaggerated forms. Nor is it persons
who walk the most that want these
special stockings. The demand for
49,, - nh.nAxr r,,a1A Lxr f1rtl fad man
who lead sedentery lives and drink
more wine than is good for them.
A wearer of the a~nti-varicose stock
ing feels worse after a series of dinner
parties, when the tempting varieties
of the menu lead him to indulge too
freely in the pleasures of the palate.
1t is rather odd that the crusade
against the garter has not been made
at a ladies' congress. My notion was
that it belonged to the topics which
should only be discussed at Eleusis,
until / found that q congress of doc
tors took it up. l have been round to
museums to ascertain to what remote
antiquity we owe the garter. Chate-
LANES, in the Gothic times, before
knitting was invented, used to wear
in cold weather CATERS made of warm
stuffs covered with silk embroidery,
and laced at the sides. i fancy that
stockings were rarities when the
Countess of Salisbury dropped her
garter, to the scandal of the ladies of
Queen Philippa's court, and that the
few which were displayed there came
from Flanders, and were lacy-looking
articles.
An antiquarian has been showing
me an old Flemish garter in goffered
leather, with a Observation-Disclosures
silver clasp, representing st. Martin
and the beggar. What that high
spirited and generous saint had to do
with carriers my friend is at a loss to
think. Carriers, at any rate, were not
SO hidden as is generally supposed
when Edward III. instituted a guard
of honor for those of the Countess of
Salisbury. They We're shown by ladies
who went out riding to hawk. When
the side-saddle later came in it did rot
involve the use of the long riding
habit, and SO the leg-gearment to be
used on horseback became of more
costly and curious workmanship.
Brantome casts side lights on the
grand and proper DANES who were
| aided by their valet-de-chambre to
dress for the hunting field, and were
particular in learning from them how
their chuusses shorts, chdusetts
(stockings), and carriers impressed
them. a garter "as ADORNED Win
bearings or WITH ianciiui
concerns. Ihey We're oiten richiy
leweiieu ana mign1 nave sefved as
ariniels JOE hniSIils VINO glorieu IN
displaying sucn tokens.
Az Weuuiilgss, pfiues CAREERS We're
cuU up ana Tue pieces given 60 d
young men VINO Ihey
wore them as IN Italy
and the oi SPAN; when stock
ings came u tnefe, daggers were
STUCK py q Weafefs yhereof INTO
their carriers, 2 sign tilat they, wanted
no . q chivairy TO defend them.
4 very neautiIui English lady whom
knew trled soIne years ago to revive
TINS Iasnlon ~ Florence. Her nus
pand q deserted hef, and she had
70 80 ABOUT Win q KIND OF .cGU0tteT
sefveafe- as sne spoke much OF her
dagger, sometimes aliowed part OF 1t
to De seen, n was lovely as she
could De, she 1ound but
they We're not Lucretias. The garter,
find, IS becoming more than ever an
object de luxe. When It IS SO It is
got up With exquisite taste. There
are garter Germs orsdressing tables as
there are bracelet Germs. Jeweiry
enters lnlo the arrangenlenf OF elastic
band and quilted SILK. 80 does skilled