26 KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 

SUMMER ;—MORE OF ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
THE FASHIONS. 

So spake the grisly terror; and in SHAPE, 
So speaking, and so threatening, grew tenfold 
More horrid and DEFORM’D. 
MiLTon. 

THERE ARE MANY THINGS going forward in this 
world of ours, that people get “‘used”’ to by often 
seeing them; and whilst bustling about in the 
giddy throng, intent upon matters of business, time 
hardly permits one to ‘‘reflect”’ much upon what is 
really passing before the eye. 
Itis wisely ordered, however, that as the seasons 
roll over, we should seek a little temporary refuge 
from.excessive care and anxiety. Summer heat 
comes upon us, and brings lassitude with it. We 
are weary of “work,” and the mind needs rest. 
Then it is that we look about us, and as we wander 
abroad, ponder upon the animated picture of human 
life that, in one continuous flood, pours itself forth 
to see and be seen. 
Just now, in particular, the “ perpetual motion ” 
seems likely to be discovered. Everything having 
four legs, seems remorselessly pressed into the ser- 
vice of those who have but two ; whilst steam and 
electricity unite in the completion of the circle, 
which, when formed, knows no rest in its onward 
course, 
Now is it that women study hard,—the theme, 
how best they can remove all traces of that 
sweet symmetry which we call beautiful ; present- 
ing to the eye an alarming mis-shapen mass of 
rustling drapery. The contempt of these perfumed 
butterflies for each other, as they sail past us like 
the revolving, wings of a windmill, is, we admit, 
perfect of its kind.* Yet do we not recognise the 
severe correctness of their ideas as tothe “ line of 
beauty.” Female loveliness must not be sought 
forin summer. Oh—no! Women’s summer-value 
must,—sad to say it!—be estimated by their 
dress. 
Then the “ fashionable bonnets ” of the present 
day! Are they not hideous monstrosities, perfectly 
unendurable ? To see a pretty figure-head,—or, 
to make a joke, allowable in hot weather, a pretty 
pre-face—standing out like a sign-post on a high 
road; is it not flagitious? How can we “love” 
such a face, so inhumanly fitted up,—or rather, so 
cruelly punished (for the tyrant Fashion nearly 
strangles its pretty victims) ? We repeat, it,—it is 
too bad. Oh! that we were in Parliament but 
for one short week! Woman’s claim to the right 
of deformity should no longer be recognised by the 
law of the land. We would restore her to her 
original” shape, and then—die happy. 
We do lay some claim to the thanks of the fair 
sex, for having won them by the flourish of our 
* The “immensity of space” occupied by the 
drapery of our modern fashionable ladies, has been 
most amusingly described by our Cambridge corres- 
pondent ‘‘ Walter’’(see vol. 3, p. 254). It really is 
surprising to observe how very much can be made 
out of so very little! We must confess, that the 
Noli-me-tangere air of these panting victims liketh 
us not. It is really difficult to get “ comfortably 
near” to them. And when you do perchance suc- 
ceed, you are sure to do mischief! 

pen (far less dangerous than the flourish of their 
parasols, of which we spoke in our last to some 
purpose) to adopt the humanising Bodice of 
Mesdames Marion and Maitland. We observe that 
women now sit their horses with less bodily pain, 
and move about the streets less like automata than 
they formerly did. Their liver too has more fair 
play, and their ribs are not so cruelly crushed as 
of yore. And is their “shape” at all injured by 
wearing this elastic, this comfortable life preserver ? 
So far from it, that ease and elegance become 
naturally associated.* _Woman,—dear woman ! 
(pardon our enthusiasm)—do—we beseech you, be 
natural ! 
This paper must not be tediously long. We 
will therefore only enter our protest, en passant, 
against the received custom of habiting our young 
ladies like mountebanks, tricking them out with 
every meretricious ornament that bad taste can 
invent. Surely, legs feathered to the instep by 
ungainly loose pants, speak little for the 
‘‘modesty’’ of the wearers ; whose brazen frontis- 
pieces, covered by gigantic Victoria Regia flapping 
straw hats, with ribboned pennons, are a national 
blot. These fly-away deformities of incipient 
woman, haunt our steps wherever we turn. ‘The 
ages of the victims vary from eight to seventeen. 
No “sweet seventeen” have we here. Ohno! 
Then, as regards the et infras—the little duo- 
decimos whom we want to love, but cannot; how 
hideously are they arrayed! Why they are a 
little army of dwarfs, just fit for exhibition at 
Bartlemy, or Tiddi-dol fairs. Lavish are their 
“fond” parents in their unceasing endeavors to 
extinguish all traces of humanity in their off 
spring! They try hard at it, and are but too 
successful in their efforts. 
We see our mortal aversion, the ‘‘ Shrouds,” or 
“ Uclies,” are outagain! Death-like female phan- 
toms are everywhere gliding along the streets and 
highways, with this ‘ infernal machine” attached 
to their bonnets. We repeat it—London is not 
the place for the exhibition of these very disgust- 
ing inventions. Why will husbands, fathers, 
guardians, permit such atrocities to be perpe- 
trated? They tell us, “they cannot help it.” 
* It is impossible for any feeling heart to see 
unmoved, the cruel, the inhuman tortures inflicted 
upon some of our West-End young ladies,—deli- 
cate blossoms, who ride out on horseback with 
their papas. We very frequently pass them in 
Portland Place, and stand aghast when we note 
the unnaturally-reduced proportions of their waists 
and bodies. The pain they suffer from this very 
wicked outrage upon nature, is but too observable ; 
but ‘ Fashion” laughs at pain! We speak not of 
the brazen, belted, Amazonian damsels, who with 
such effrontery tear up and down Rotten Row. 
We regard them, with their Brigand hats, and in- 
terminable dresses (bad ‘‘ habits! ”’), as irreclaim- 
able. They are very disgusting, —masculine 
depravities. There is nothing feminine in their 
look or manner. No; those for whom we plead 
are the gentler spirits, — promising rose-buds 
which we daily see perishing, as it were, from 
blight. Let these fair creatures take our advice, 
and equip themselves with a Resilient Bodice. 
They will then look both natural and beautiful. 
Sy a 

