St. Paul daily globe., 1894-09-02
MRS. JOHN G. CARLISLE.


The question you ask Is most i'm
| pnrtant one. Tho success aud prosperity
[ of our country In the future-nay, its
| very existence-depends upon the
healthfulness OF its women, aud there
Is probably nothing which exerts more
powerful influence upon health than
dress. To be healthy one must be
BEAUTIFULLY clothed. 1t is a matter for
| congraIulation that the whole attitude
| of society toward. not only the avOca-
| tions, but also toward the exercises and
recreatiOns in which woman may be-
comingly engage. has undergone com
plete change within the past few years.
How easily most of US can recall the
time wnen horseback riding and ,lanc-
ing were the ouly exercises in which 1t
WAS thought dec0rOus for young lady
to engage. If she had ridden bicycle.
rowed boat. played lawn tennis. iun
foo. race, exercised upon rings, hori-
zontai bars. or other form of GYM
| nastic apparatus; if she had swung
Indian clubs. manipulated dumb-bells,
I or thrown s0melsaults into the water
| from bathing raft, society and Mrs.
Grundy would nave lifted up their
hands In holy horror, and would have
deemed her liable to grave suspicion, if
| not positive reprOach. Now young
| ladies can and do indulge in all the ex.
ercises and pastimes have named.
The influence of this change has been
most beneficial in many ways, and has
| exerted marked influence for the bet
| ter over woman's dress. Many ladies
can remember when dresses were made
SO tight over the shoulders that the
| wearers could not raise their arms.
The outdoor sports in which they now so
freely participate have done away with
that, and have given rise to the much
| loOser aud more comfortable STYLE of
I today. Then wDlnan'S sphere was
thought to lie wholly within doors, aud
as consequence We all wore shoes
with sOles as thin as waters, and when
we ventured out Ct the house our feet
soon became damp, and severe colds
and sore throats were the result The
much freer life that girls now lead in
| the open air has led to the wearing Of
| stout shoes with heavy s0les, and thus
lone great foe to woman's health has
Fbeen removed.
y l am glad to see that colleges for
women, as well as men,. are making
fgymnastic exercises part of their cur
rlculum. This is one of the encourag-
ling signs of the times. We cannot have
sound minds without sound bodies, and
we cannot have the latter. unlessIwe
exercise them properly. An abundance
OF rightly directed physical exercise is
absolutely essential to health. or
fEourse athletics are often carried to all
injurious excess. Health is thus iu-
jured, aud even lives ale lost. but this
abuse will gradually tone down to mod
crate, sensible use. 5N--. o.
With the improvement in our dress
! for women. brought about by their
! present life of outdoor activity, has
come corresponding improvement in
tie health of our women. Years ago
we used to see great many girls with
little waspish waists and contracted,
consumptive chests. Such girls are
now much fewer in number than for
! merly. Our young women, as 4 rule.
are much more robust and much better
developed than they were a few years
ago. II all forms Of outdoor exercise for
young women shall continue as popular
for years to come as they are now, we
shall have reason to hope that the next
generation will be physically superior
to the present one, that the next will be
better still. and so OH till at last we shall
have all ideal race Of women, fit to be
the mothers OF race Of physical and
intellectual giants. .~~7-
| An imnrOvQmont nnmovSo Seoco
that tends to promote its healthfulness
is imperatiyely demanded. The present
agitation of tine subject of dress reform
for women can hardly fail to do good.
If it prove beneficial in no other
way, 1t will at least call the attention
| of women to this important matter, aud
may induce some of them to refrain
from some foolish practices bv which
the present style of dress is made much
more injurious than it otherwise would
be, such as wearing exagger atedly high
heels, crowding the feet into shoes too
small for the wearer. tight lacing, ct
cetera.
But no matter what improvements or
reforms we may believe to be impera-
lively demanded In the present style of
wOman's dress, it will be useless to try
to induce women to adopt them until
they are decreed by FashiOn-that stern
arbiter who has SO largely controlled
the destiny Of feminine humanity ever
since Mother Eve first donned her fix
Leaf apron In the Garden of Eden, and
who will continue to do so until the last
of her daughters shall obey the sum-
mons of GabriePs trumpet. The av-
erage woman will follow the fashion, no
| matter what 1t may be or where it may
lead. Until fashion shall decree reforms
in woman's dress there will be 10 re-
forms. no matter how imperatively they
Hay be demanded by good sense, health
or comfort.
II we were to attempt to devise a new
1.3tyle OF dress for women we should fiud
it impossible to invent one which would
be equally applicable to all women.
That which would be adapted to one
would not be to another. The FIRST es-
sential to good dressing Is that 1t shall
be perfectly adapted to whatever pur-
suit of business or pleasure its wearer
Fdesires to follow.
think there are some Improvements
in the method Of wearing the present
style of woman's dress which are more
imperatively demanded than any radical
lchanEes in the garments themselves.
The health of many women is injured by
an improper use OF the present system of
dressing. because they have never given
any thought to the subject, and 1t Is
only necessary to point out their errors
to have them at once corrected. Thus.
many women wear tight, high-hesled
shoes because they are ignorant Of the
fact that such footgear is responsible
for many Of the Ills to which feminine
flesh is peculiarly heiress. The torture
that some women will endure by crowd
ing their feet into shoes half size too