The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-04
DREss-REfoRMERs IN ARMS.

Mrs. Boomers death afforded Miss Har-
riet S. Sackett, director of domestic art at
the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, n. Y.
and Mrs. DR.. Brown of the same city an
opportunity of saying a few words to an
intelligent audience on the possibility of
woman's abili TO conform to the laws of
hygiene in the matter of dress without ap-
pearing questionable In her attire.
Miss Sackelt tackled the subject from
its primeval base. 1--WE must all be
clothed" said she; in which proposition,
in view of the American climate, the pub
lie cannot but concur. Then" she went
on. "let us make our clothes beautiful and
emancipate ourselves from fashion and
caprice" Here Miss Sackett magically
SETS up standard Of beauty which is her
own and insists that all shall conform
thereto. But there is no standard of
beauty. like thu standard of mathe-
matical truth; that which Is considered
beautiful in one age or one region
is regarded as hideous in another age and
another region, and there is no tribun al
anywhere which can decide between the
two. We of the Aryan race hold that the
Greeks discovered the true standard of
beauty and we adhere to it, but the Eeyp-
tians have another and m entirely differ
emit standard, aud they would bly,
have thought the Apollo or the Venus of
Medicis grotesque.
Mrs. DR.. Brown was more practical than
her sister authority on dress. She gave
the ladies hints which are worth nothing.
She condemned wooden underclothing, on
the ground that it is hardened by washing
so that it becomes impervious to air or
moisture. and she advised the use of wool
mixed with silk or cotton. She also
ascribed the prevalence of diseases CT the
resplra DRY system TO the habit of wearing
undergarments which are low-necked and
sleeveless. She pronounced the opinion
that the female skin becomes tOughened
and thickened by exposure to be pure
delusion. But she condemned the use of
sealskins and other furs in walking, and
on all occasions, except in long continued
exposure to severe cold.
Mrs. Brown is possessed of humor as
we'll as hygienic knowledge. Speaking of
the time which brides devote to the prep
aratiOn of their trousseau she said that
they expend so much energy in the task
that they fall into their hus bands arms
"a bundle of mysteries and millinery"
And she draws a ludicrous contrast be-
tween the costume of the untutored savage
and that OF the fashionable woman. Says
she:
Put a savage in the attire of modern fashion
able woman, squeeze his twenty-five inch mid
die into nineteen inches of steel bands, pressing
his stomach against his wobbly heart and
gasping lungs and COMPRISING his elastic ribs
against his liver; then put upon him all the
other garments that are considered necessary
with all their hooks, straps, bands, buttons and
pins-co7er these with a skirt ten yards around
the bottom. weighted down with several pounds
OF haircl0th, bodice with sleeves two and
half feet in circumference. and over all this an
outside wrap and Dut on his head a creation
varying IN size from tea-saucer to cart
wheel; put in his hand an umbrella, purse and
keTchieI-becauSe, of course, there is no
pocket in the dress-send him out shopping on
a rainy day, have him endeavOr TO mold up the
skirts and walk in shoes with high heels aud
toes the size Of thinible, expect him to keep
his temper and be smiling, and then ask him if
he would rather be lovely civilized woman or
a bowling savage. and see what he'ilsay to you.
The contrast would have been quite as
striking if Mrs. DIR. Brown had selected a
suuaw as her object OF comparison.