at the Healtheries, which hardly differed in appearance from an ordinary dress.
Many people are curious to know what the divided skirt is really like, and, as a matter of curiosity, I am pleased to be able to publish the above illustration, which has been kindly lent me by the Rational Dress Society, and which represented the divided dress as advocated by the Society.
The young ladies in this picture do not, as far as I can see, look in the least unwomanly in spite of the Lancet's dictum on that point. Dresses made in this way are doubtless very healthy, but there is an objection to them in the fact that the lower part of the skirt wears out very rapidly owing to the friction between the legs in walking.
With the system of under-clothing I have described, however, there is no great objection to the dress being made in the ordinary way, provided it is not too heavy. It should not weigh more than four pounds for any growing girl, and for little girls it should weigh very much less than that, being just as light as possible. The trimming then must not be heavy. Beaded trimmings must be avoided, but embroidery and lace do not add much to the weight of dresses, and greatly increase their elegance. It is not necessary, however, that growing girls should be elaborately dressed; and indeed the more simply they are clothed the better, both from the point of view of health and of good taste, They should not be dressed in velvets or velveteens,
