Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-05-05

are between 130 and l35 pounds, while
the New York girl weighs about I26.
Polycletos. an old Greek sculptor
from Licyon, left rules governing the
relative proportions of the female
frame. He said that twice the thumb
was once round the wrist, which it is
not, unless the thumb is unusually
large and the wrist unusually slender
that twice the wrist is the size of the
neck, which is about the case in a well
propOrtioned woman; that twice the
neck is once round the waist, which is
abou so. But he also says that the
hand and foot and face should all be
of of the same length, which is very
rarely the case, and that the body
should be six times the length of the
feet, which would limit most men,
whose feet average ten inches in
length, to a stature OF five feet. The
gentleman from Licyon is evidently
not a trustworthy guide.
Referring to the above table, it will
be observed that the waist OF the New
Yorker is much smaller than that of
the other two. The fashion OF small
waists is the rage in the East, and the
desired result is obtained by tight lac
ing, which is carried to such an extent
that the physiognomist is lost in
amazement as to where the lady has
bestowed her vital organs. No statue
in existence exhibits such dispropor-
tion between the waist and those por-
ton OF the trunk which lie above and
below it. The compression of the
girth is mere fashionable fad which
good taste must condemn. Our Cali.
fornia girl wears a 24.inch corset,
which might easily be reduced to 23-
inch if the wearer saw fit to sacrifice
comfort to Eastern fashion. There
are bellies in New York who are not
satisfied till they have squeezed them
selves into a 17-inch corset. Such
persons, it would seem, would have
enjoyed the Scottish boot.
The bust and hips should, in q per-
fectly formed woman, be exactly the
same in circumference. They are SO
in Ballow's ideal, in the Venus Of Milo,
in the Cnidian Venus and in the
California girl. In the New Yorker
the circumference of the bust is half
an inch greater than that of the hips,
which is probably the work of art, not
nature.
Ballow does not give the dimensions
of his ideal feet or hands. He merely
says that they are "in proportion" )"
which is rather vague. The rule
among sculptors is that the foot
should measure one head, which is
unsatisfactory, rs some large women
have small heads, and some small
women large heads.
The female foot is probably smaller
In New York society than here. for
the simple reason that it has less to
carry. Shoemakers say here that they
sell more 4 and 43 shoes than any
Others, but many ladies in society buy
-, 3 and even q shoes. The knights
of st. Crispin do not believe in the
sculptor's rule about feet, They say
that small feet, like large wits, are a
gilt from heaven, and may be found
attached to persons of any dimensions
Everybody has observed that there i.
no necessary connection between the
hands and the figure; that some slim
girls have large hands, and some girls
with opulent figures small hands
and fingers.
Take all the measurements together
and the conclusion is forced that IN,
California girl more closely resembles
the Cnidian Venus than the Venus al
Medici, and that representative
! Californian ssatue should be cast after