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CHAP. VII.]
Children's Dresses.
97

is very good, and then only the petticoat, which should be cut to a good length and made of warm all-wool material, need be fastened to the bodice. Socks should not be tolerated: they expose the legs and wriggle down into the shoes or boots, causing much discomfort to the wearer; but woollen stockings should be pulled up an inch or so over the ends of the drawers, and fastened with suspenders to the bodice. Garters compress the leg injuriously, interfering with the circulation. They increase the liability to chilblains, and have even been known, if worn very tight, to give rise to varicose veins.

The dress should be made high in the neck, with long sleeves, and to reach nearly to the ankles.

Charming little dresses for small children can be knitted or crocheted out of thick Berlin wool, and outdoor jackets made in the same way are very nice. They, like all children's dresses, should be made to reach throat, wrists, and ankles, not according to the absurd fashion of making dresses low where they ought to be high, and high where they ought to be low.

What is called the carter's-smock dress is very pretty. This is not lined, and is gathered into a yoke or shoulder-piece, so constructed that it stretches as the child grows. The hem is made wide, and tucks are put in the sleeves as further provision for that event. This costume is beautiful made in white serge and embroidered in washing silks. The infant's robes, of which I have spoken, may also be ornamented to an almost unlimited