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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



Oh ! that we could inoculate all such dwellers 

 in our great city — and all like them in other great 

 cities — with a love of nature ! that we could 

 entice them to rise betimes and walk into the 

 fields and hedge-rows, examining '* with their own 

 eyes " those myriads of " things having life," at 

 the sight of which they now shriek and faint 

 away ! This would be a triumph indeed over 

 prejudice ; and we think even Mr. John Gray, of 

 Glasgow, would not venture, in print, to find fault 

 with "strolling dabblers" such as these. 



All we wish is, that our elite would give him 

 " an opportunity " to write upon the subject. We 

 will be their champion gladly ; and defend them 

 nobly against the onslaught of the whole exclusive 

 clique. 



WOMAN AND HER MAKER. 



A WHISPER TO THE SEX CALLED " GENTLE." 



On She came, 

 Led by her Heavenly Maker. 



Milton. 



Accuse not Nature ; she hath done her part : 

 Do thou but thine. 



The Angel Raphael. 



Far be it from us, even in the mist of thought, 

 to wound the feelings of any one member of that 

 sex whom we profess to adore, and collectively do 

 worship ! With the name of Woman, we " natu- 

 rally" associate all that is lovely and amiable.* 

 Let this confession of ours absolve us from the 

 consequences of what we are now about to touch 

 upon, and that as lightly as may be — the innate 

 propensity of the fair sex to " deform " the 

 natural beauty of their elegant persons. 



No one will attempt to deny that our mother 

 Eve was of excellent form, exquisitely symme- 

 trical. Taking her, then, as the standard, let us 

 keep as near to our " original " as may be. 

 Nature herself pleads hard for this. Her daughters 

 strive morning, noon, and night, to destroy their 

 symmetry ; and yet with all their wilfulness, they 

 positively cannot altogether succeed ! Is not this 

 cause sufficient why their hearts should relent, 

 and listen for a moment to reason ? We think it 

 is. Such forbearance in dame Nature shows the 

 tender love she bears to her offspring. She can- 

 not forget that 



" The hand which formed them is divine j" 



and this quite accounts for her long-suffering. 

 Let her ladyship prevail, gentle readers, even at 

 the eleventh hour. But to the point. 



We spoke in our last of the use and abuse of 

 Stays ; and proved that Fashion would never 

 consent to abandon them. This, no doubt, is a 



* We quite agree with Lord Byron who, whilst 

 speaking of the fair sex, remarks: — "There is 

 something to me very softening in the presence 

 of Woman ; some strange influence, even if one is 

 not in love with them. I always feel in better 

 humor with myself, and everything else, if there 

 be a woman within ken." — Well said, Lord Byron ! 

 There is a delightful spell cast over us when we 

 are so favored. It is our " privilege," and we 

 will enjoy it. — Ed. K. J. 



fact. But as we do not write for the fashionables, 

 let us try and reason with the " select few ; " 

 leaving " the many " to kill themselves, and 

 deform their posterity to the last generation. They 

 ever have done — ever will do it. 



We are told by the mothers of families, that 

 young persons can very well indeed dispense with 

 stays ; and that none but married women have 

 any necessity for them. We believe it, because 

 it is a reasonable belief. Yet will not these young 

 people believe it. No! an idea prevails that 

 the female figure cannot be preserved, or shown to 

 advantage, without some ligature around the 

 person. Hence the many fatal cases of con- 

 sumption to which we have before alluded. 



A few days since, the collected opinions of our 

 most eminent medical practitioners on this subject, 

 in the form of a very readable pamphlet, came 

 into our possession. What shall we say about it ? 

 What can we say — excepting that the general use of 

 stays, as hitherto worn, is therein proved to be 

 siiicidal; dealing out destruction, in a host of cases, 

 both to mother and child ! " How then shall 

 the female figure be preserved in its natural 

 purity of form ? " ask our fair readers. Listen ! 



Others, beside the faculty, have studied this 

 matter, and have provided against the evil ; so that 

 " shape preservers " may still be worn, and no sad 

 consequences result therefrom. An invention is 

 now before the public that is exciting quite a sen- 

 sation. We allude to the "Resilient Bodice" of 

 the Mesdames Maitland, 54, Connaught Terrace. 

 We were induced to pay a visit to their establish- 

 ment, in consequence of an advertisement they sent 

 for insertion in our Journal. The nature of the 

 announcement made a forcible impression upon us ; 

 so forcible, that it caused us to hold a long con- 

 versation with Mrs. Maitland, who received us 

 very kindly — entering into our humor, and giving 

 us a very satisfactory solution of every difficulty 

 we raised. 



We came away, convinced, not only that the 

 invention is a valuable one, but that it is incum- 

 bent upon all who would enjoy health whilst pre- 

 serving the beauty of their person, to adopt this 

 bodice. It is firm, but perfectly elastic, and fits 

 close to the body ; moreover it quite prevents any 

 undue pressure on the ribs and liver. The prin- 

 ciple of the invention, illustrated by wood en- 

 gravings, being fully detailed in our advertisement 

 columns, we need here merely direct attention to 

 it. The use of stays, or the necessity for their 

 use, is now quite superseded. 



It redounds greatly to the credit of the medical 

 profession, that they have been unanimous in 

 their recommendation of the " Resilient Bodice." 

 Whilst its adoption saves the life of many a patient, 

 it will at the same time deprive them of many a 

 fee. " Honor to whom honor, praise to whom praise 

 is due ! " 



PURE LOVE. 



Love one human being purely and warmly, and 

 you will, in degree, love all. The heart in this 

 Heaven, like the wandering sun, sees nothing, from 

 the dewdrop to the ocean, but a mirror which it 

 warms and fills. — Jean Paul. 



