and may be worn over the divided petticoat as described. Fig. 6, suitable for a girl from three to eight years old, may be made of blue serge trimmed with white, or of white trimmed with blue, or of Jersey material. Fig. 5 is suitable for a girl from eight to thirteen, the skirt being lengthened in proportion to the age.
Bonnet or hat and stockings may be made to match the material of the dress, which is as pretty as it is healthy. Dressed in this way girls can romp about or go in for gymnastic exercises with the utmost freedom and comfort.
If the skirt is made to fasten at the side, like buttoned drawers, it is a suitable and modest garment for girls who romp with their brothers, or go in for climbing and gymnastics, as nearly all girls ought to do. This sort of dress can be made very easily and cheaply if one has a pattern, or bought at quite a moderate price, and if it were only generally adopted by the little girls of to-day a vast difference would be found between the health of the young ladies of ten years to come and those of the present time. Moreover, girls who in childhood had been clothed in this way would never submit when grown up to the unhealthy and uncomfortable forms of dress which are generally dictated by fashion.
As I recommend that the little ones should always be clad in woollen materials, and preferably in white, it is necessary that care should be taken to protect their dresses when at meals or at play. For this purpose an overall pina-
