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The stricture against hoops was a practical matter, since hospital aisles were narrow. Jane Grey Swisshelm watched over a young man, who had burst an artery. After halting the flow of blood, the surgeon-in-charge insisted that the soldier be kept in absolute stillness. Two women, however, entered the room and one caught her hoops on the iron cot of the soldier. The tug opened the wound and "the young, strong life ebbed steadily away in a crimson current which spread over tile floor." Still, Swisshelm wrote, "Not one in a hundred of the women who succeeded in getting into hospitals would dress so is not to be an object of terror."
Mary Gardner Holland gave her hoops to the cause, so to speak. She wrote,
It was fashionable at that time to wear immense hoops. I had worn one for some time, and really felt it a sacrifice to leave it off. Other requirements were agreeable but I felt I could not go without a hoop. I said, 'If I can't walk without it, I will crawl; for I must go, and will do the best I can." |
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