Ada S. Ballin

“ The perfect example of the beauty of decay is the consumptive, with soft, silky hair, delicate skin, touched on the cheeks with a brilliant flush, large, dark, sparkling eyes, made to appear still larger by the black rings which surround them, slenderly formed limbs, and tapering fingers with their filbert nails. Yet this is a beauty hardly to be desired: it is but the sign of a disease which before long will stamp it out for ever. ”

“ Failing this demand he will devise a novelty all the same, and, carefully introducing it to a select few, he knows that by imitation a large demand for it will soon be created. Now, to devise a real novelty is something which requires positive genius, and as this commodity is rare, the majority of the new fashions which are constantly appearing are, in reality, only modifications of bygone styles. Thus it is with the well-known "masher" collar, hat, and stick, with the dancing-pump and Queen Anne shoe, with the crinolette and padded shoulders and hips. ”

“ We merely say that they are the fashion, and, in point of fact, we grow so accustomed to the forms which Fashion has inflicted upon us, that when we see what is natural, it appears quite strange. Deformity has through long custom become to us beauty. If those ladies who deform their own and their children's waists by squeezing, only knew what was inside them, I venture to believe the very thought of tight-lacing would appear horrible and unbearable to them.
For instance the fashionable shape of the waist is entirely different from that given by Nature. ”

“ It is therefore impossible too strongly to condemn this custom of exposing children's arms, legs, and necks; for every inch of their bodies which is so exposed is a means of abstracting heat, and a loophole for health to escape by. I have not the slightest doubt that if only the amount of trouble spent by mothers on personal adornment, and on ornamenting their children's clothes, was devoted to preventing the exposure of children to cold, the mortality from the diseases I have mentioned, and the cruel mischief done by them, would be reduced to almost nothing. ”

“ Health is not only the source of beauty, but without it happiness is impossible, so that vanity and self-love alike urge us to preserve it; but there is a still loftier motive which should join with these to induce us to take care of ourselves, and that is that, if we allow our own constitutions to be undermined by neglect or carelessness, we make it impossible for us to be able to care for others, and instead of being a help to those we love, we become a burthen to them. ”

“ Care was taken that these children should be out of harm's way; but they were always allowed perfect freedom of movement, and not constantly watched and restrained, The result has been all that could possibly be desired; they have grown up perfectly developed in every limb, strong both in body and mind, and completely devoid of fear. There is such a thing as watching and guarding children too closely, and so making them from the first too dependent on others. It must not be forgotten that education, in the true sense of the word, begins from the very first moment of life. ”

“ He would maintain, not the minimum of vitality, but the maximum; he would have, not inert resignation to painful conditions, but that joy and glory in living which comes with the possession of perfect health, when the performance of every function is a pleasure. The old monastic idea of the mortification of the spirit through the flesh must die out, and be replaced by a more modern philosophy, which shall teach us to make life happy, and not to regard it as a trial to be got through somehow or other in a dull, pleasureless, if not absolutely painful way. ”

“ Can any one wonder at the terribly high rate of infant mortality, if reputedly educated women thus lose their quality of reason so far as to take pride in their ignorance of matters which concern the well-being, and even the life, of their children?
This class of mother, and unfortunately the class is a very large one, thinks she is doing her duty nobly if she turns her little one into a sort of animated block on which to display costly and handsome clothes, never for a moment considering whether those clothes are healthy and comfortable. ”

“ I say to myself, ten chances to one that child died, as thousands die every year, wholly from neglect of laws of health, which it is the bounden duty of every mother and nurse to know and obey, and of which 999 out of a thousand are absolutely ignorant. Often, when women are priding themselves on being the best of mothers, they are, in utter ignorance, actually murdering their children! ”

“ This is a short way of saying that growth is supplied by digested food, but only by the surplus of digested food which is left after replacing the worn-out tissues that are constantly being used up in the body, and the heat which is constantly passing away from it. Thus the more heat that is lost from the body, the more nutriment has to be confiscated for heat-giving purposes, and the less can be devoted to building up the body. Hence cold is an enemy to growth alike in the animal and vegetable world. ”

“ Dancing is so delightful and healthy an amusement, that it is unjust for people to blame it as the cause of evils for which improper dress or imprudence in regard to draughts are really accountable. A motive which for some girls would be much more powerful than any consideration in regard to health is that, if they catch cold at one ball, the probability is they will not be able to go to the next, or that if they do go to it, they will labour under the disadvantages of a red nose, watery eyes, and the liability to interrupt the sweet nothings whispered by their partners with a violent sneeze. ”

“ Who is he that values health at the rate it is worth? Not he that hath it; he reckons it among the common ordinary enjoyments, and takes as little notice of it, or less regards it than his long-worn clothes—perhaps more careful of his garments, remembering their price; but thinks his health costs him nothing, and coming to him at so easy a rate, values it accordingly, and hath little regard to keep it; is never truly sensible of what he enjoyed until he finds the want of it by sickness; then health above all things is earnestly desired and wished for. ”

“ In manners, customs, and dress, however, the so-called civilized nations of Europe are in the matter of "apishness" no further advanced than the most uncultured savage. Imitation is the great principle which governs Fashion, and Reason in these matters plays but a very minor part. No fashion has ever been so inconvenient, uncomfortable, and injurious as to prevent its being adopted if initiated by high authority. Reason may influence the leader of fashion, but imitation does the rest. ”

“ To put the matter simply, we must begin at the beginning, instead of at the end, as the so-called reformers have tried to do.
If we compare the mortality of the young of the lower animals with that of children, we find that there is no animal which loses its young in so large a proportion as women do. Is this not a disgrace to civilization? Reason is justly considered to be a higher phase of mind than instinct, yet we find the instincts of the beast a better protection to her young than the reason of the woman. ”

“ It was again in a strain of old-fashioned intolerance that, writing on the Rational Dress question in 1883, the same journal remarked, "That monstrosity of fashion the divided skirt is an outrage not to be countenanced—an unnatural costume which must be productive of unwomanly ways which are to be deprecated. Moreover, as it approaches the trouser in form and in use, it must engender an increase in the heat of the body which is most undesirable." It is a pity that so excellent and high an authority as the Lancet should have stooped to express such hasty and evidently ill-considered opinions. ”

“ The swaddled baby is as incapable of moving a limb as if it were in reality the mummy it resembles in appearance, and the only apparent advantage of the practice is that a mother, when going out, could conveniently hang up her swaddled baby to a nail out of harm's way, in the comfortable assurance that by no possibility could it wriggle itself into mischief during her absence. The custom of swaddling arose from a belief that Nature was unable to perform her duties towards the growing child without aid from Art. ”

“ Knowing nothing of their own bodily constitution, the "untutored savage" and the equally ignorant votary of fashion in civilized life, do their best to improve upon perfection, they "paint the lily," and so impair the noble work of Nature. The savage we can pity; he is at a lower stage of evolution than ourselves, and he is unable to appreciate the truths which centuries of development and education have made patent to us. ”

“ They have all endeavoured to make changes in the dress of the adult, forgetting that the customs and habits of adults are formed, and that the human adult mind entertains the strongest prejudice against change of any sort, even if it be for the better. There is nothing more difficult to alter than a habit once formed, while to prevent a bad habit from being formed is quite easy. The grown-up woman of to-day has been broken in from childhood to wear the ordinary garments and submit to the fashion of the time. ”

“ Thus human travellers in Arctic regions case themselves in fur, as, without such a non-conductor to retain it, the heat of their bodies would be conducted away into the freezing air quicker than it could be replaced, and the coldness of death would inevitably follow.
Probably every one is aware that clothes are worn to keep us warm, but not all seem to know that they do not communicate warmth to us, but effect their purpose simply by preventing the excessive loss of that heat which is manufactured in our own bodies. Hence, we are warm in proportion as our clothes are non-conductors of heat. ”

“ We should use our reason to discriminate between what was evil and what was good in the customs of bygone ages, and never forget that the cause which blinded the men and women of those times to evils which are patent to us, is still as active as ever, and prevents us, in our turn, from perceiving evils which will be patent to our successors when we shall be looked back to as ignorant old fogies. ”

“ The end of clothes, so far as we are concerned, is in warm weather to cover people without overheating them, and in cold weather to keep them sufficiently warm. Hence, as clothes to be beautiful must be perfectly adapted to this end, we must have no garments fitting so tightly as to impede the vital processes, none so heavy as to weary the wearer, none cut in such a way as to cramp her movements, and none dyed with poisonous substances.
What we want is reform, not revolution. We want in dress to obtain the maximum of health with the maximum of beauty. ”

“ It is a beautiful example of the adaptability of Nature to adverse circumstances that the cuticle becomes thickened when the true skin is subject to continued dangers. Thus the cuticle is thickest on the soles of the feet, which are always subject to pressure from the ground, similarly the cuticle of the hands of mechanics, and those who in their trades are obliged to handle rough, hot, or poisonous substances becomes thickened, and being itself insensitive and bloodless, protects the true skin, and enables it to continue its important functions unharmed. ”

“ Heat is a force which is found everywhere, and exists in every body, whether animate or inanimate. It may even be obtained from two pieces of ice by friction, which we know melts them. Cold is simply a relative term, which has no meaning in itself, but is used to signify low degrees of heat; thus, if we say, "Ice is very cold," we imply, "Ice has very little heat."
That every object must possess a certain degree of heat is evident if we regard heat as a mode of motion among particles, for everything in nature is composed of groups of particles. ”

“ The sufferings of children from cold are terribly increased by the barbarous way in which they are generally dressed.
From all that I have said, it ought to be very clear that children should be better protected from the cold—more warmly clad—than grown people. But what do we find when we look around us? Herbert Spencer said years ago, "What father, full grown though he is, losing heat less rapidly as he does, and having no physiological necessity but to supply the waste of each day—what father, we ask, would think it salutary to go about with bare legs, bare arms, and bare neck?" ”

“ In point of fact, this is a good reason why average men and women cannot understand the object of the contention of dress reformers—they like that to which they have grown accustomed. Of course sensible people of all ages can and do make modifications in their dress, which render it both comfortable and healthy, and this is done quietly and without attracting any public attention. But if dress reform is to effect any material good for the community, it must be radical. It is no good to oppose the iron rule of custom ”

“ This misapprehension is probably owing to the fact that certain ladies, calling themselves the apostles of rational dress, go about in costumes so utterly hideous and, to some people's tastes, immodest, that they bring ridicule upon the principles which they profess to advocate, instead of gaining converts to them. The principles are perfectly correct, but these ladies, having got a smattering of them, tack on to them their own particular fads. Those who are truly concerned in the welfare of their fellow-beings, for the most part, work unseen and unknown by the public. ”