HOW SHALL WOMEN DRESS?

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2055, 8 September 1885, Page 4

HOW SHALL WOMEN DRESS?

B\ Dk. W. A. Hvmmond. (From the Xoith Ameiican Review). WiTiiorr going into the consideration of the <li os, of women in vaiious puts of the wOlw 01 Id, it will bo snfikient if I oo'iline what I luvo to say on the Hihj"ct to the" appaiel as woi >nt the present diy. iv? it h nn impoit mt f.iet that in the c.uhei penoil- of tlie hwtoi \ o f th" hum m i.r< theic v.as no "-si nti.il jvunts ot til Hi inn in the (Ins-, of the t>\o at sis, cxtopt, pel hap j , in the wa\ of wi.iun^ tlie li.n : Roman ii)> n anil women, foi instance, wore pittty "car the kind of e\ tiin.il <f ii nit nts A plate in Flinched "Ilistoiy cf (.'outline" lcpioMiits a gioup < f * nglo ixon men and woini nof tlie Until cuituiy, and it h dilKuilt.it not i.npossihle, to tell which of the liijiiiis 1 1 pi esc nt men a id w fitch women Iho tinditional liglt.if was the sime )m both se\(s, and fioin it weit (\ohed bknts that varied but little in slnpe and genoial ap pearaiite, wluthti' they concealed the nakedness of a man or that of a woman The dilTeienuv-, th it now ( \ist have mainly been caused by the revolt of man fiom the inconvenience of long skirts, ami the assumption by him of a scperate coveting for each leg. What he has gained in the facility with which he can inn, leap, climb ticca, saddle a hoiso, row a boat, and do the many other things that his occupations require of him, he has certainly lost in grace nn'l elegance. Tiou&cts ate of Oiiental origin, and in the fo'-in of bieeches were worn by the ancient Oauls and lintons. They went out of fashion, how evci, soon aftei the occupation by the Roman', and the gown took their place, or lallur ie acquit ed its place foi both sexes. So far as I know, the weanng of tiouseis by women is a meic mattci of convenience and .I'stlu tics that they aie pcifectly com pi tent to settle f<n t'lotn s>el\es, and that they cci tainly willdtenle without intetfereiiLU fiom the othci sc\. It is not a question into which sanitation entets. Time me no statistics to show that the paitial exposure of the lower extremities to the atmo-pheie, ■which more or less attends upon the absence of trousers, leads to gi eater ill-health ormoitality than when they aie more securely covered with trousers. Rheii matism, sciatica, hip |oint dissciso, white swelling, nenialgia, &c, are iiioie com mon in men than they are in women. It is true than women sometimes weir drawers in the winter, but tiny aie in general a poor piotection in themselves compared with the close Kiting woollen diaweis of men and the stipcrinipis- d troii3cisof even moie compact matt rial As a matter of tact, however, women endure cold wiathei as well as do men, not beei'ise they aie mil e wainily clid, but because owing to the flowing eharactei of then gai mints, and the fact that they aie not in close contact with the lower part of the body, a stratum of air cxis f s between them and the skin and this, being a good non conductor of heat, prevents the lapid cooling of the surface th it would otherwise take phce. It acts ]ti"*t as does the two or tin t-e inches thiokiuss of air when double windows aie put into a hou s e Hut as the occupations of women nre gradually becoming identical with those of men, it appeals to be desnable, on the seoie of convenience, tint they should wear tiouseis, even at the sactitice of waimth and be.itity. A woman commanding a. steamboat would certainly be moie efficient in tiouscis thin in long skit ts. A saleswoman in a shop would do hei woik with moie comfort to hoi, elf, and moie to the satisfaction of her employti, it she wer" disencumbered of tin gown and petticoats that pi event hei fiom climbing step laddeis to get down goods, or jumping over the counter like her male rival. ! Kvcn as a r>l>i sici in, or a. mu<?p in a hospital, she would more effectually perfoi in hcrwoik if she wore tiousers, and thus had moie fieedom in the motion of her lower limbs A woman suigeon, for instance, eilkd upon to nduee a diJoca j tion of the shoulder joint, would find shuts veiy incommodious when .she came to put I.ci heel into the axilla of the patient in oidtr to obt nn the necessnv, fixed point to counteract the (fleets of hei li action, Ik suits, the flow mg diapcry worn by the woman physician and muse is more apt to absorb contagion than the closelj fitting trousers of man. and hence lendtis them curiers of disease fiom house to house, or fiom person to prison. If I had the determination of the rjues tlon, I should piescnbe trouseis for all women that do manual labour, except such as ii of a purely ornamental chaiactei — imbioidery, ciocheting, &c , and such as isstuetly confined to the u«o of the hands, without the legs lining neees>.iulv brought into use— sewing, knittine, writing, painting, <S.c. The sewing machine should never be worked by a woman mskiit*. The gow n and petti coat* I would reserve exclusively for women embraced in the above named exceptions, and for those whose office in society is to be ornamental and useful in the vat ions social relations of life. Certainly a tMe.it deal of the .esthetics of a diaw ing room, a ball-ioom, oi adinneitablo would be lost if the women who at tend them wore trousers instead of the silk, satin, and velvet gowns that now add so mueii to their loveliness. I can quite conceive that a man thoionyhly imbued with the prejudices lecened from a biased education, indisposed to accept new ideas, and deeply endowed with a love for the beautifal, might be leluctant to pay his addresses with a view to matiimony to a woman weanng tiouseis Still under the influence of familial lty with the idf a of a change in the nctlier gaiments of the sex, and especially should they be geneially adopted by pietty women, it might reasonably be expected that a change of opinion and emotion \\oul<l ensue, .iml tli it perhaps in time he might even be brought to le gaid trousers as filling more completely his idea of the beautiful than do slutts at the present day. There is another point that requires consideration, and that is the- piactice of wearing the gown cut low in the neck, so as to expose the bieast, and without crneung for the aims It it, doubtful if this leads to any ill consequences It has been continued foi many k< notation*, without a;>paient inpuy. It might bo supposed, at first thought, that bion chitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, and many kinds of rheumatism and neui.ilgia, would l»e the icsiilt of the custom ; but .such is ically not the case, all of these affections being much mote fioquently met with m men who co\ or the chest and aims with seveial thicknesses of woollen mateiial in addition to a shut of linen or cotton. It has been strenuously urged by many so-called sanitary rcfoiiuois, that women should snppoit their hknts by straps passing ovei the shoulders, and some few have been induced to adopt the method It is to be hoped that it will not spiead A woman's hips are proportionally wider than tho&e of a man, and there is no better way of keeping up the inanypettt coats that it is sometimes necessary to wear, than by fastening them with stiings or bands around the waibt, over the corset. Shoulder straps injure the movements of the chest, and tend to make those who wear them round-shouldered Uesides, they could not well be worn with a low neck dress. Even if trouseis should come into geiieral use for women, it would be better that they should be kept up by the support of the hips than by lospendeis passing over the shoulders. It istiueniany men wear snspendeis, and this fact may perhaps lead to their adoption by some women, but, again, noincon sideiable number of the ma'esex suppoit their trousers fiom the hips. If comparatively narrow hipped man can do this, wide hipped woman ought to bo able to do it better.

Wr nnn\i that if e\er> one would use American ( o's Hop Hitters frerly thero would be much less "u-kncsi anil misrry in tlie world, and people are fist in ding- it ouf, whole f.innlir-s kcepuifj well at a trilling cost by Us use. We advise •>!! to try it, Read,