the spring be far advanced: it is far better to be on the safe side,
and to allow the winter clothes to be worn until the end of May. The
old adage is very good, and should be borne in mind:--

"Button to chin
Till May be in;
Ne'er cast a clout
Till May be out."

134. _Have you any general remarks to make on the present fashion of
dressing children_?

The present fashion is absurd. Children are frequently dressed like
mountebanks, with feathers and furbelows and finery; the boys go
bare-legged; the little girls are dressed like women, with their
stuck-out petticoats, crinolines, and low dresses! Their poor little
waists are drawn in tight, so that they can scarcely breathe; their
dresses are very low and short, the consequence is, that a great part
of the chest is exposed to our variable climate; their legs are bare
down to their thin socks, or if they be clothed, they are only covered
with gossamer drawers; while their feet are encased in tight shoes of
paper thickness! Dress! dress! dress! is made with them, at a tender
age, and when first impressions are the strongest, a most important
consideration. They are thus rendered vain and frivolous, and are
taught to consider dress "as the one thing needful" And if they live
to be women--which the present fashion is likely frequently to
prevent--what are they? Silly, simpering, delicate, lack-a-daisical
nonentities; dress being their amusement, their occupation, their
conversation, their everything, their thoughts by day and their dreams
by night! Truly they are melancholy objects to behold! Let children be