Mrs. Ecob, in her book, The Well-dressed Woman, which every young wife should read, says: “The corset curse among women is more insidious than the drink curse among men. Total abstinence from both sins is the only safe ground. A woman can no more be trusted with a corset, than a drunkard with a glass of whiskey.”
To sum up the evils of dress and suggest lines of study, is all we have room for in our short space.
1. Insufficient underwear.
2. The corset—which compresses the vital organs, overheats the region it covers, displaces the pelvic contents, serves as an excuse for hanging the clothes upon the hips, impedes the circulation of the blood in the extremities, lungs and brain, and robs the wearer of freedom and grace of movement; while it brings in the long line of ills which have doomed our American women to invalidism, and robbed their children, if they have any, of their lawful inheritance, good health.
3. Heavy and trailing skirts, which burden the wearers, and impede their motion.
4. Inequality of clothing, which covers the waist and abdomen, which should not be overheated, with from ten to fifteen thicknesses, while the shoulders and limbs are often covered with but one thickness, and that of cotton.
5. The high-heeled shoes which throw the body out of the natural poise, and so displace the womb.
6. The general lack of thought of what dress should be in order to give health and comfort to its wearers.
“Evil is wrought by want of thought