Year: 1879

"A large pTOpOTJlOn OF our QlSCOmIOrL
in hot weather comes from our fashion
of wearing apparel. Our garments are
not adapted for torrid heats. Our dress
conforms mainly to fashion and cool
weather.


The garments of the native of the trop-
les fit him loosely. Ours are tight. We
bandage ourselves with stiff linen collars
and neckties. Our feet are now cramped,
feverish and uncomfortable in the shoe
and stocking of civilization. The Ori-
entail has the sandal or slipper, which is
merely sole caught to the foot. The
turban of light, gauzy material is bet
ter protection for the head than our al
most rimless and senseless summer hats.
We allow tailors, who remain almost
entirely indoors, to devise the shape of
garments with which we must brave the
scorching sun. We must wear the band
aging shirt collar, though it be required
to change it half a dozen times daily. A
spring or summer hat means in many
cases a hat of light color, but which in
other respects would answer as well for
winter as summer. This is another tri-
umph of the designing halter.


But let our garments be of what cut,
color or fashion they may, for summer
they must be tight fitting. They must
exclude air from the skin. This is the
law of custom and fashion. In winter,
the closer fit may be desirable because
we need as much as possible to retain
the natural heat of the body. But in
summer we require to rid ourselves of
superfuous heat. Thin clothing does
not answer this purpose if thin clothing
6 fits like a glove" Yet with his under
shirt, shirt, vest and coat, the gentleman
of the period goes about with four tight.
natty-fitting bandages about his person
and then complains of the heat. He
swathes his legs in tightly-fitting drawers
and trousers. His feet are likewise actual
ly bandaged with close-fitting leather
and cotton, silk OF linen, and he COM
plains of the heat. He perches on his
head hat nearly devoid of rim and COM
plains that the sun dazzles his eyes. For
protection and comfort in hot weather
the European costume is a mass of alb
surdity. We could, with advantage to
health and comfort, take lessons of the
Orientals. But who will have the cour-
age to appear on the street in Turkish
trousers? He would be mildly mobbed.
Yet we scorn the people of London who
threw the mud of prejudice at the man
brave enough to carry there the first
umbrella, likewise an adaptation from
the Oriental. And our women bandage
themselves in light but tight material
even more than the men, and their only
comfort in this hot weather is, first, to
make themselves secure against visitors,
retire to their inmost chamber, close the
blinds and take it off. And we are the
people who propose to carry the war into
Africa and teach the benighted dweller
of the desert how to live!


Let it be remembered that among us,
v2lere one person dies Immediately of
sunstroke, ten of whom we never hear
are seriously and probably permanently
injured through the same cause, and
twenty more indisposed. The exhaus-
ton caused through q succession of
blazing, scorching days takes many
forms of disease, and some of this might
be avoided if our customs contormed
more to the requirements of this trying
season. Our June, July and August
climate is tropical. We need to study
tropical summer habits, where nearly
all the outdoor labor is performed in
the early morning or evening, where
garments are worn, not only thin but
loose, save when the European clings
with senseiess prejudice to the fashion of
his own country. York Graphic.