Roxey Ann Caplin

“ We have no puritanical crusade to preach against display and elegance; but when health is sacrificed to fashion, and the grace and beauty of nature marred by a barbarous practice, which has come down to us from a time when physiology was unknown; and the true conditions of human well-being not understood, we may perhaps merit the gratitude of some who are suffering ill-health or deformity, by pointing out the true principles upon which dress should be constructed, and all the evils attendant upon badly-formed clothing avoided. ”

“ We should like, above all things, to possess a museum of old stays, beginning with the first rude effort of the savage to support the body, and passing on from the bodices of the middle ages down to those of our own time—the good, bad, and indifferent of all ages. ”

“ That which amidst these ruins still survives for a long time, is the entireness of the hair, the placidity or firmness of the look, the air of sentiment, the amiable expression of countenance, and in women of refined mind and great accomplishments, pleasing manners and charm­ing graces, which almost make us forget youth and beauty. ”

“ We love and venerate those who have battled nobly with the storms of life, and as they draw near to the "land of promise" the exhaustion of earth seems only to ripen them for the skies, and although we are in the course of our vocation obliged to look closely upon the skin, and even beneath it to the shrunk and contracted muscles and shrivelled vessels, we never forget that that failing body is the temple of a noble soul, and requires to be treated kindly, almost reverently. ”

“ But when you see a lively, active child becoming dull and slow, abandoning his favourite games, losing his activity and appetite, looking serious and pensive, without being able to assign any reason for it; when days pass over in the same condition without his complaining of any pains, but getting more sullen and morose, looking pale and languid, anxiety appearing on his face, seeking for rest, leaning on the objects around him, taking all sorts of awkward positions, and seeming to crawl rather than to walk, you have the forerunners of deformity. ”

“ The next thing to complain of in Ladies' Schools is the length of time allotted at one period to study. The heaviness of the atmosphere just spoken of, and the rigid silence maintained, broken only by the voice of the teacher, or the apathetic drone of some lazily-repeated and imper­fectly-known lesson, create a lassitude which induces the children to place themselves in all kinds of awkward positions, for the purpose of resting the muscles which keep the neck and spine erect. ”

“ The Business of a child is play, and this is proved by its anxiety to relieve the monotony of study by a hearty laugh, or a healthy scamper through the fields. Believe me, that children should not be compelled to study, until the equilibrium between the body and mind has been perfectly established; and the instances in which an infant prodigy has in maturer years fulfilled the promise of its youth are few indeed. ”

“ No matter that the mother may be a strong healthy woman, and her offspring weak and delicate—the same stuff must be used for the dress of one as for that of the other, and nearly the same number of widths be put in the skirt. The same mode of tying the petticoats round the waist is employed, in utter contempt of the fact, that the strong muscles of the mother will enable her to carry a weight with comparative impunity which would crush the tender frame of the child. ”

“ And to what purpose are the resources of our art, if they are not to supply the deficiencies imposed on Nature in consequence of our artificial state of living? Perfection of every kind is ideal, or rarely met with, and what the artist in dress has to do is to soften the natural excrescences, and give grace and beauty to the homely or imperfect, that they may approximate nearer to that which they ought to be. In a few rare instances this may be done without corsets, but in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred the well-adapted corset is indispensable. ”

“ Madame Caplin has studied carefully, for many years, the anatomy of the body. This enables her to know precisely how to adapt her Corsets and Bodices to the human figure. She makes nothing at random; but adapts, in every case, what is worn on the body to the person who is to wear it. This knowledge of anatomy places her at the very top of her profession, for she can give ease and elegance united. ”

“ Now, in our conception, there should be a science rather than an art of dressing, and that, too, founded upon certain principles of adaptation by which the external clothing shall display the full beauty of the naturally well-formed figure; and, in cases where nature has not bestowed a perfect form, the defect should be atoned for by supporting the weak organs, and restoring the figure according to our ideal of what it was intended that that particular body should be. Everyone, we suppose, will admit that there is a natural standard of beauty ”

“ And, of all the customs that we have alluded to, there is none perhaps more injurious than that of compressing the chest and waist; and yet, from the absurd idea that fashion is displayed, or beauty augmented, this unnatural course is persisted in, and corsets are still worn that have as little relation to the human form as the stiff, boned, boarded, and leather stays which were worn three centuries ago. ”

“ Life is carried on by certain great functions, which we call Respiration, Digestion, Circulation, and Secretion, all of which proceed under the impulse of the involuntary nerves; all of them are, however, dependent upon the voluntary nerves and muscles for their proper opera­tion. Breathing requires exercise, change of air and position; diges­tion demands the procuring and preparing of the food; circulation can only be brisk when the body is in motion: and all these motions are necessary to a proper and healthy secretion of the fluids and solids taken into the stomach. ”

“ Middle age is that period which dates from the completion of the whole organic structure, and continues until the decline of the innate force, and hence may be called the autumn of life. The change, how­ever, takes place so gradually that it is scarcely perceived, and when protracted, as it may be by proper care and favourable circumstances, the middle life of woman is never without its charms, and the freedom and polish of maternity are often more admirable than the evanescent glory of an earlier period. ”

“ We, on the other hand, have studied Nature—taken the human frame as our standard, and in all our labours have attempted to perfect that accord­ing to our ideal of its particular type of beauty: hence, instead of displaying fashion we display the human figure, and by giving freedom to every organ and support where it is needed, are enabled to impart all the advantages which can result from the addition of another muscular envelope to the figure. ”

“ Whitfield and other medical men, who contend that stays and corsets are bad things, and in the course of this chapter show that, properly constructed, corsets are, as articles of dress, the most useful and in every sense the most beneficial that can be constructed—that is, of course, when they are properly adapted to the body; for if, either through ignorance or a mistaken idea of fashion, the construction be faulty, and a compression of the chest ensue, why, then, undoubtedly it is far better to be without corsets altogether. ”

“ It is a matter of little consequence for us to inquire here why the female figure needs support more than that of the male. In a purely natural, or rather savage state, perhaps it does not; but in all times when beauty and comfort are studied, corsets will undoubtedly be worn, and there are many reasons why they should be. The delicacy of the intercostal muscles, the falling of the breasts, the spreading of the frame at a certain period of life, all call for support, and call for it too in a manner that must be attended to. ”

“ There is always something harsh and painful in the manner in which the anatomist and physiologist has to develope the characteristics of old age. The rude rending of all the drapery, the removing of the veil from the fading brow and bringing out with microscopic precision every furrow that time has made there, seems unkind and almost cruel. ”

“ Although we have only spoken of the above, let no one suppose that this comprehends the whole that we have done to improve the corset, or that it in any way represents the special adaptations which we have made for the ever-varying wants that are presented to us. Let any one look upon the first hundred ladies that may be met with, and take notice of the different figures, from the most sylph-like form down to the absolutely deformed, and just think for a moment that we have to meet the wants of everyone of them; to sustain the grace and elegance of one, and repair the deficiencies of another ”

“ It is a sad reflection that this tendency to a contracted chest is more common amongst the middle and higher classes, in whose children we ought to witness the most perfect physical organizations, than it is amongst the poor. Children who are allowed to jump, play, and skip, or roll on the floor or flags, are much more likely to have robust bodily health, than those who are always "taken care of." The enemy of the poor child is neglect, that of the rich inactivity. ”

“ We may therefore say that life is dependent upon voluntary as well as involuntary motion for its existence, and above all it may be affirmed, that a healthy and sound body is never seen, unless there has been proper daily exercise. For, as every function that we have named must be maintained in order that there may be a state of perfect health, so also the whole congeries of organs must be exercised together, in order that there may be nothing superfluous, and nothing wanting, in the entire fabric. ”

“ Now exercise, proper daily ablutions, friction, plenty of pure air, and the constant motion of the muscles, are all necessary for the purpose of keeping the skin in a perfectly healthy condition.
It will be perceived from these remarks, that we fix a very high standard for the development of the body. Ignorance and idleness are the sole causes of so much deformity and disease as it is our fate to witness; and hence it only requires the proper adaptation of the means to ensure a healthy, vigorous, and beautiful physical organization. ”

“ What else shall repay us for the daily toil and nightly study, for going with the anatomist through the body, and, by calculating all its mechanical adaptations, discovering to a hair's-breadth the proper point of support? What, but the conviction that we have rendered a service to womankind for which thousands shall daily bless us. ”

“ No organ is created, but all are brought under the dominion of mind.
Amongst the causes, however, which produce spinal deviations in young ladies there is none that is more general than improper clothing. Fashion has superseded utility to such an extent amongst the rich, that the limbs of the young are contracted by their dress; and amongst the poor a want of skill in the adaptation of the materials to the form of the body is so common that it is a rare thing indeed to see anyone who can be said to be properly clothed. ”

“ This plumpness, though juvenile lightness and freshness be wanting, sustains the form and sometimes confers a majestic air, which in women otherwise favourably organised still interests for a number of years.
The shape is no longer so elegant; the articulations have less elasticity; the muscles are more feeble; the movements are less light; and in plump women we observe those broken motions, and in others that stiffness which mark the walk or the dance at that age. ”