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A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health - Contents
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    Length of the American Costume

    On page 140 Ellen White is accused of stating that Dr. Harriet Austin wore her skirts about six inches above the knee. There is no Ellen White source for such a statement. This assertion is based on an allegation by H. E. Carver, one of the dissident Adventists in Iowa who, according to Ellen White, spent their time “gathering testimonies of falsehood from rebels and traitors” (The Review and Herald, February 20, 1866, 27:89).CBPH 68.3

    Just how long was the “dress” of the American Costume? The issue cannot be decided on the basis of the picture on p. 133 of Prophetess of Health since the picture is not a photograph but an artist’s engraving. In Ellen White’s 1864 letter to the Lockwoods, quoted above, she reported that they had “all styles of dress” at Dansville, and that some were “very becoming, if not so short.” Three years later she described the typical American Costume as “reaching about halfway from the hip to the knee”CBPH 68.4

    (Testimonies for the Church 1:465). In 1871 James White stated that the American Costume “reaches hardly to the bend of the knee.” (The Health Reformer, May 1871, 5:253).CBPH 68.5

    The variation in length is illustrated in the question asked in July, 1863, of Dr. Austin in which she was called upon to harmonize “the Reformed Dress (especially when the ladies’ skirts are shorter than the men’s [coats]) with the fifth verse of the twenty-second chapter of Deuteronomy” (Laws of Life, 6:104, July, 1863).CBPH 68.6

    This citation tends to support Mrs. White’s 1864 statement that the American Costume was worn in all styles at Dansville and that some were quite short. It should be made clear that the only description of Dr. Austin’s personal dress in any Ellen White source is found in her letter to the Lockwoods, where she wrote, “We shall never imitate Miss Doctor Austin or Mrs. Doctor York. They dress very much like men” (Letter 6, 1864).CBPH 68.7

    On page 141 James White compares the Adventist reform dress with the American Costume. This statement, which appeared in his Health Reformer editorial of May, 1871, is the seventh in a series of articles on the rise and progress of health reform among Seventh-day Adventists. White is writing largely for a non-Adventist readership. He deals with the general arguments which called for change in the attire of women and then moves into the question of length, contrasting the two in appearance. He does not, however, touch the question of the mannishness of the American Costume, which was opposed so strongly by Ellen White, and which he himself had alluded to in his first mention of the subject. His initial report on the topic of dress reform was made soon after he and his wife had visited Dr. Jackson’s “Home” at Dansville, where the American Costume was being promoted. At that time Elder White stated: “We recognize the principles from which arise avowed objections to the present fashionable style of women’s dress, and look for a remedy that will save to the world her appearance as a woman.” (How to Live, No. 1, p. 17).CBPH 68.8

    We would gather from this statement, as well as the Ellen White descriptions cited above, that the typical American Costume had a certain mannistiness about it. However, it also is evident that the American Costume was made in a variety of shapes and styles.CBPH 68.9

    Dr. Jackson declared:CBPH 68.10

    Modifications of it have been made by ladies who have worn it since its original adoption by Miss Austin, and those modifications will continue to be made until a style shall have been inaugurated which will seem to meet in a great measure the needs of those who seek to wear a dress, which while it is convenient shall also be tasteful and in accordance with the laws of health.—Laws of Life 6:77, May, 1863.CBPH 68.11

    A month later at the National Convention of the Dress Reform Association, a Rochester newspaper reported that: “The streets were lively half an hour before the meeting with the female reformers, who were dressed a la Bloomer, each having her own peculiar style in dress and pattern.” (Union and Adv. June 24. Quoted in The Laws of Life 6:125, August, 1863).CBPH 68.12

    If the American Costume was worn in so many different styles “in dress and pattern” it may be assumed that some of them were more similar to the Adventist reform dress than others. James White’s comparison of the two dresses in his Health Reformer editorial appears to have been a rather loose generalization. since he was writing, not for an Adventist audience, but for the general public.CBPH 68.13

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