HINTS UPON DRESS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 830, 27 June 1871, Page 3

HINTS UPON DRESS.

The " Journal of Chemistry " thus talks on thing 3 which everyone thinks about daily, and some of us, it may be, more than we ought:—The tight waists, the low necks to dresses, and the highheeled shoes, are most flagrant abuses, aud ought not to be longer tolerated. We shall not quarrel with the jaunty huts of the ladies ; for they are, indeed, pretty, and no harm results from them, as, of all parts of the body, the head needs the least clothing. But, to pass to the other extemity, we have to say that the detestable high heels to ladies' boots and shoes, running as they do, down almost to a point, are spoiling the gait and ruining the ankle joints of children and young misses. We are careful to order our shoemakers to remove such heels from shoes before permitting them to be brought into our dwellings. Heels of moderate height and good breadth are of great service in elevating the feet, so as to avoid direct contact with the moist earth, and they also give support and afford firmness to the step. Why should Fashion push good devices to absurd extremes 1 We must aid in dethroning the tyrant when decrees lead to the physical or moral injury of the race. The present fashion of leaving the neck and the upper part of the chest bare is fraught with evil consequences. It would be less objectionable in countries uniformly warm ; but that our daughters, here in this frigid and changeable climate, should constantly expose to chilling winds a vital part of the body, is one of the evils of fashion which should be discountenanced by every mother, and father, and brother. No part of the dress of men is really more absurd than the hard " stove-pipe" hat so generally worn ; and yet, all attempts to subvert it have proved abortive For thirty years we have worn this kind of head covering, and we like it butter than any other; we have tried hard to like the low soft hats, but we cannot; and this is the experience of the thousands. Absurd as the hard high hat is, it does maintain a more equable temperature • it does feel better than any other form of head covering; and so let us continue to knock it against beams in attics and branches of trees. If it serves a good purpose, in brushing cobwebs from the roofs of old garrets and stables it also protects us from bad bumps, and keeps our heads comfortable.