228 PLAIN FACTS FOE OLD AND YOUNG 



ities by passing license laws or regulating ordinances. 

 Have not Christian women a duty here? Some years 

 ugo, a few ladies made a slight move in the right 

 direction, as is indicated in the following paragraph; 

 but we have not heard that their example has been 

 followed : 



^^The lady members of the First Baptist Church, 



of , have agreed that they will dispense with 



all finery on Sunday, wearing no jewels but consist- 

 ency, and hereafter appear at church in plain calico 

 dresses," 



A more radical reform would have been an exten- 

 sion of the salutary measure to all other days of the 

 week, as well as Sunday ; though we see no reason for 

 restricting the material of clothing to calico, which 

 might, indeed, be rather insufficient for some seasons 

 of the year. 



Fashion and Vice. —Let us glance at another way 

 in which dress lends its influence to vice, by obstruct- 

 ing the normal functions of the body. (1) Fashion re- 

 quires a woman to compress her waist with bands or 

 corsets. In consequence, the circulation of the blood 

 toward the heart is obstructed. The venous blood is 

 crowded back into the delicate organs of generation. 

 Congestion ensues, and with it through reflex action, the 

 unnatural excitement of the animal propensities. (2) 

 The manner of wearing the clothing, suspending several 

 heavy garments from the hips, increases the same diffi- 

 culty by bringing too large a share of clothing where it 

 is least needed, thus generating unnatural local heat. 

 (3) The custom of clothing the feet and limbs so thinly 

 that they are exposed to constant chilling, by still 

 further unbalancing the circulatiori adds another ele- 

 ment to increase the local mischiefs 



