The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-05-21
CLOTHING.

Good clothing is the cheapest, what
ever the price may be. To be too
warmly clad is far safer than to be too
thinly clad.
Clothing ought to be suited to the
climate. Custom has a great influence
in the matter of dress but no custom
can ever change the nature of things
so far as to render the same clothing
fit for inhabitants of Greenland and
also those of Panama.
In youth, while the blood is hot and
the perspiratiOn free, it is less neces-
sary to cover the body with a great
quantity of clothes; but in the middle
and decline of life the clothing should
be increased. The clothing ought
likewise to be suited to the period of
the year. Clothing may be warm
enough for summer which is by no
means sufficient for winter. The great
est caution, however, is necessary in
making these changes. We ought
neither to put off our winter clothes
too soon nor to wear our summer ones
too long. 1t would likewise be prudent
not to make the change all at once,
but to do 1t gradually. Many bad
colds" are due to imprudence in
changing clothes.
Clothes often become hurtful to the
wearer by their being made subservi-
ent to the purposes of pride and van
ity. Even the human shape is often
attempted to be mended by dress. All
attempts of this nature are highly per-
nictous. Clothing should be loose
about the trunk and the feet should
not suffer by pressure. How a small
foot not of natures making came to
be considered genteel 1 will not pre-
tend to say; but certain it is that this
notion has made many persons lame.
COrns are universal and this painful
excrescence Is seldom occasioned but
by tight shoes. Corns are not only
very troublesome, but, by rendering
people unable to walk, they may like
wise be considered as the remote cause
of other diseases. The size and figure
of the shoe ought to be adapted to the
foot. In children the feet are as we'll
shaped as the hands, and the motion
| of the toes as free and easy as that of
the fingers; yet few persons in ad-
vanced life are able to make any use
| of their toes; they are generally
| squeezed all of a heap by narrow
shoes, and often laid one over another
in such manner as to be rendered in
capable of motion. Nor is the high
heel less hurtful than the narrow toe.
! A lady may seem taller for walking on
her tiptoes, but she will never walk
well in this manner. 1t strains her
joints, distorts her limbs, makes her
stoop and utterly destroys all her ease
and gracefulness of motion.
After the age of thirty-five it may be
better to exceed rather than be def
cient in clothing. Habit or custom
merits great attention. If persons have
| been accustomed to warm clothing
! there will be hazard in sudden changes
of every kind. Persons of delicate con-
situations, whose powers are weak and
! circulation poor, are apt to have the
perspiration checked by very slight
causes. This also happens to invalids,
| whose complaints are thereby much in
creased. Until the constitution, there
fore, has been permanently strength
! ened and, indeed, hardened, by being
gradually habituated to air and exer-
else, they ought rather to exceed than
be deficient in the quantity of cloth
ing. Such addition to the clothing
ought to be made to 1t in cold and
damp weather us to protect the body
against the sudden and severe impress
sions of either.
Permeability of air is an important
! factor in clothing. Permeability favors
conductiOn and, prima facie, lessons
heat-conserving capacity. But contact
of air with the skin induces more thor
! Ough oxidation of the blood and better
elimination of poisonous refuse; hence,
it increases heat production and indi-
rectly dtminishes heat loss. If the
sole object of nutrition were the pro-
ductton of heat and the chief object of
clothing to prevent heat loss, the sub.
! ject of best materials for clothing
would be much simplified. But this is
not the case.
Some author has spoken of the ''fa-