430
Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
obliged to perform more or less out-of-door labor. With this style of
dress, one light skirt, or two at most, is all that is necessary, and this
should be buttoned on to a waist, or suspended by straps. The hips
were not formed to bear heavy weights. The heavy skirts worn by
some, and allowed to drag down upon the hips, have been the cause of
various diseases which are not easily cured. The sufferers seem to be
ignorant of the cause of their sufferings, and continue to violate the
laws of their being by girding their waists and wearing heavy skirts,
until they are made lifelong invalids. When told of their mistake,
many will immediately exclaim, ‘Why, such a style of dress would
be old-fashioned!’ What if it is? I wish we could be old-fashioned
in many respects. If we could have the old-fashioned strength that
characterized the old-fashioned women of past generations, it would
be very desirable. I do not speak unadvisedly when I say that the way
in which women clothe themselves, together with their indulgence of
appetite, is the greatest cause of their present feeble, diseased condition.
There is but one woman in a thousand who clothes her limbs as she
should. Whatever may be the length of the dress, their limbs should be
clothed as thoroughly as are the men’s. This may be done by wearing
lined pants, gathered into a band and fastened about the ankle, or
made full and tapering at the bottom; and these should come down
long enough to meet the shoe. The limbs and ankles thus clothed
are protected against a current of air. If the feet and limbs are kept
comfortable with warm clothing, the circulation will be equalized,
and the blood will remain pure and healthy because it is not chilled or
hindered in its natural passage through the system.”
[462]
The principal difficulty in the minds of many is in regard to the
length of the dress. Some insist that “the top of the boot,” has reference
to the top of such boots as are usually worn by men, which reach nearly
to the knee. If it were the custom of women to wear such boots, then
these persons should not be blamed for professing to understand the
matter as they have; but as women generally do not wear such boots,
these persons have no right to understand me as they have pretended.
In order to show what I did mean, and that there is a harmony in
my testimonies on this subject, I will here give an extract from my
manuscripts written about two years ago:
“Since the article on dress appeared in How to Live, there has been
with some a misunderstanding of the idea I wished to convey. They