American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-06-07
From the Now York Tribune Of yerter,.,

(. rrom inc NOW 1Orh tribune Yesterday
Mrs. L. CAKES Smiths LECTURE ON rpr
NEW DREss.-Hope Chapel was early filed last
evening by select audience, drawn thither by
the announcement of Mrs. Il. Cakes Smiths
Lecture on Dress, and its relations. aesthetic
hygenic, and social. The lecturer read her re-
marks, seated, in clear but not loud voice
and with admirable information, and was fire.
quently interrupted with tokens of appreciation.
The present dress was deemed inconvenient and
unbecoming, from its minuteness of detail and
the time and expense bestowed uponit; and more
than all, from its effects in engendering disease
Not only comfort but health, and consequently
beauty, the lecturer deemed demanded an i'm
mediate reform; for, where can there be beauty
without health, and who ever heard Of a sickly
Venus, or consumptiye Juno?
Woman is at present a creature of the sun
shine: she must consult the fashion, and allure
comfort for outward adornments. As school
girl, the sound Of the north wind, the rain. and
the sunshine, and the glad face of nature, filed
her soul with exultation, and her toll was re.
warded with health and oceans of life and fresh
ness. Why must she be compelled to recede
from the elasticity and hopefuness of the ear
lier days? Why may not the rain and sunshine
OF her early years be also the rain and sunshine
OF her maturer life? A woman should not fear
the air or water; she grows fresh and beauti-
full from both. 1t becomes, then, philosophi
cal consideration, in her choice Of dress, that
she should adopt the best substitute for the
purposes Of locomotion in all kinds of weather
1t matters little what shall be her indoor gar
ments; she needs costume for the street.
which must be alike convenient and unexpen-
slvc. Do this, CONTINUED the lecturer for
the sake of health, comfort, and beauty. In
a country like ours, if anywhere, woman should
ha heel inAn in tl,a
dering of her dress. If her habiliments please
those of her household, what matters it if her
course be approved or disapproved by press
or two, or if it encounter the sneers of super
fetal foreign traveller. She should spurn the
subordinate and ape-like submission to foreign
usage, and that style be adopted which BELTS
the manners of a republic. 1t is idle to talk of
equal rights on the one hand and then ask,
upon the other, what we shall put on. Mrs.
Smith continued: | have said that health, COM
fort and beauty demand this reform. We will
see what constitutes that reform. Woman does
not, though she is charged with it, covet the
coat and pantaloons Of the other sex. God for
bid No, gentlemen she pities you quite as
much as herself, for your unbecoming costume.
She can do better In the first place, she is in
most costumes shorter than man, possesses n
more rounded bust--a more delicate organize
ton. A woman likes to be known as a woman,
and the occasional adoption of male costume
apractice punishable by law, Though the lectu-
rer did not believe that either man or woman was
made better by the enactment, was but an ex-
ception to this rule. The lecturer considereda
new declaration of human rights to be greatly
needed. She rebuked the tyranny of fashions
whims, and made moving appeal in behalf Of the
toiling and degraded classes, whose incessant
labors furnished the rich trappings and finical
adornments of luxury. She knew no high and
no low; no upper ten nor lower ten. The time
has come when genius can command the only
patent of nobility. The change she advocated
was not for the wealthy only, but for the poor
and the laboring thousands. She believed it
would enhance their comforts, improve their
vigor and healthfulness, and produce substan-
tial benefit.
Mrs. Smith advocates, accordingly, the adop-
ton of the Turkish trousers with q tunic and
an outer garment fitting closely to the bust,
with long sleeves buttoning at the wrists, and
furnished with deep pockets, leaving the arms
free and the frame unencumbered. The new
style was commended in q very graceful and
winning manner, and the sufferngs of the sex
were very feelingly depicted by the fair lectu-
rer.