The following was found in a book written in 1858:
"FEMALE DRESS. - It is well known that a loose and easy dress contributes
much to give the *** the fine pro****tions of body that are observable in
the
Grecian statues, and which serve as models to our present artists, nature
being too much disfigured among us to afford any such. The Greeks knew
nothing of those Gothic shackles, that multiplicity of ligatures and
bandages with which our bodies are compressed. Their women were ignorant
of
the use of whalebone-stays, by which ours distort their shape instead of
displaying it. This practice, carried to so great an excess as it is in
America, must in time degenerate the species, and is an instance of bad
taste. Can it be a pleasant sight to behold a woman cut in two in the
middle, as it were like a wasp? On the contrary, it is as shocking to the
eye as it is painful to the imagination. A fine shape, like the limb, hath
its due size and pro****tion, a diminution of which is certainly a defect.
Such a deformity also would be shocking in a ****d figure; wherefore,
then,
should it be esteemed a beauty in one that is dressed? Everything that
confines and lays nature under a restraint is an instance of bad taste.
This
is as true in regard to the ornaments of the body as to the embellishments
of the mind. Life, health, reason, and convenience, ought of be taken
first
into consideration. Gracefulness cannot subsist without ease; delicacy is
not debility; nor must a woman be sick in order to please."
- from Oddities & Wonders - www.oddwonder.com - where you'll find more
than
2,000 more similar fascinating facts and strange true stories. Enjoy! -
Jeff
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