In fact, Nature herself has provided an excellent covering for us in our skin. The idea that the body looks unseemly in undress is absurd, for the very best pictures are those that display the naked body. When we cover up the most ordinary parts of our body, it is as though we felt ashamed of them in their natural condition, and as though we found fault with Nature’s own arrangement. We think it a duty to go on multiplying the trappings and ornaments for our body, as we grow richer and richer. We ‘adorn’ our body in all sorts of hideous ways, and pride ourselves on our handsomeness! If our eyes were not blinded by foolish habit, we should see that the body looks most handsome only in its nakedness, as it enjoys its best health only in that condition. Dress, indeed, detracts from the natural beauty of the body. But, not content with dress alone, man began to wear jewels also. This is mere madness, [Pg 67] for it is hard to understand how these jewels can add an iota to the body’s natural beauty. But women have gone beyond all bounds of sense or decency in this matter. They are not ashamed to wear anklets which are so heavy that they can hardly lift their feet, or to pierce their nose and ears hideously for putting on rings, or to stud their wrists and fingers with rings and bracelets of several kinds. These ornaments only serve to help the accumulation of dirt in the body; there is indeed no limit to the dirt on the nose and ears. We mistake this filthiness for beauty, and throw money away to secure it; and we do not even shrink from putting our lives at the mercy of thieves. There is no limit to the pains we take to satisfy the silly notions of vanity that we have so sedulously cultivated. Women, indeed, have become so infatuated that they are not prepared to remove the ear-ring even if the ears are diseased; even if the hand is swollen and suffering from frightful pain, they would not remove the bracelets; and they are unwilling to remove the ring from a swollen finger, since they imagine that their beauty would suffer by so doing! A thorough reform in dress is by no means an easy matter, but it is surely possible for all of us to renounce our jewels and all superfluous clothing. We may keep some few things for the sake of [Pg 68] convention, and throw off all the rest. Those who are free from the superstition that dress is an ornament can surely effect many changes in their dress, and keep themselves in good health.