From a paper on the poem “Nothing to Wear”:

Cora Hatch’s public appearance had elements of both Harper’s New Monthly “true woman” and Flora M’Flimsey. In her initial divorce petition, she complained that B. F. Hatch refused to buy her flannel petticoats even though he freely paid large sums for her gowns and, especially, frilly and fashionable undergarments. The point of such garments was to be seen wearing them. The view that hoop skirts were designed to hide a woman’s legs is exactly wrong. They were to show them off.

In the first cartoon, Clara is consulting with her friend Julia. She has rigged up an “imitation set of front door steps. “What is the effect now, Julia dear?” Julia replies: “Charming, love, you might even flirt just a little more with safety.” In the second, a voyeur is shocked to discover that the young woman’s calf is padded. It is titled “The Padded Calf — Veal A La Mode.” The cartoon warns the young woman (rather than chastises the man): “Don’t stuff your calves with bran, lest you should re-veal the real state of your understanding.” The “Patent Padded Calf” was a real product. Women did pad their calves, if they were insufficiently plump, because their dresses rose in the back whenever they bent over or ascended stairs and in the front whenever they sat down.