The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1856-05-17

IA
alter the lapse Of q century and half that
hoops have come back to deform our ladies.
In the reign of Queen Anne hoops were the
rare a. at the present time Addison, in No.
l21 Of the Spectator" dealt them the follow
ing blow, which resulted in their Punishment.
II Il too much to expect similar result at the
present timer
THURSDAY, July %, I'LL.
Quantum est In rebus inane! PERs. Sat. l. !.
How much Of emptiness we find In things!
It Is our custom at Sir Rogers, upon the
coming in of the post, to sit about pot OF
coffee and hear the old knight read Dyers
Letter, which he does with his spcctacles upon
his nose, and in an audible voice, smiling. very
often at those little strokes Of satire which are
50 often in the writings Of that author. Of
tervard communicate to the knight such pack
cts as receive nnder the quality Of Spectator.
The following letter CHANGING to please him
more than ordinary, shall publish it ut his
request:
Mr. SPECTATOR You have diverted the
town almost whole month at the expense OF
the country it is now high time that you
should give the country their revenge. Since
your Withdrawing from this place, the fair sex
are run into great extravagances. Their petit
coats which began to heave and swell before
you left u.s. are now blown up to a most cnor-
nous concavc, and has every day more and
more In short, sir, since our women know
themselves to be out of the eye of the Specta-
tor, they will be kept whiting no compass.
You praised them little too soon for the mod
esty Of their hair-dresses for, as the humor
of q sick person is often driven out OF one limb
into another. their superAuity of ornaments,
Instead of being entirely banished, seems only
fallen from their heads upon their lower parts.
What they have lost in height they make up
in breadth, and, contrary to all rules of archi-
lecture, widen the foundation at the same time
that they shorten the superstructure. Were
they, like Spanish jcnnets, to impregnate by
the wind, they could not have thought Of a
more proper invention. But, as we do not
hear Of any particular use in this petticoat, or
that It contains anything more than what was
supposed to be in those Of scantier make, we
are wonderfully at loss about it.
"The women give out, in defence OF wide
bottoms, that they are airy and very proper
for the season but this u look upon as pre-
tence and piece Of art, for it is well known
we have not had q more moderate summer
these many years so that it is certain the heat
they complain Of cannot be in the weather.
Besides would f,lin ask these tender constltu.
toned ladies', why they should require more
cooling than their mothers before them!
II find several speculative persons are Of
opinion that our sex has, Of late years, beer
very saucy, and that the hoop petticoat is made
use of to keep us at distance. 1t is mos
certain that o womans honor cannot be better
intermitted than in this manner, in circle will
circle, amidst such variety of outworks ant
lines of decentralization. A female who il
thus invested in whalebone, is evidently secur
cd against the approaches of an ill-bred fellow
who might as well think Of Sir George Eth
erege's way Of making Love in Tub" as ii
the midst Of so many hoops.
Among these various conjectures there ar
men of superstitious tempers, who look upo'
the hoop petticoat as kind of prodigy. Som
will have it that it portends the downfall Q
the French King, and observe that the far
thingale appeared in England little befor
the Spanish monarchy; Others are of opnio
that il foretells battle and boodshed, and be
lieve it of the same representation as the tai
of blazing star. For my part, am apt t
think it is sign that multitudes are COMM
into the world rather than coming out of it.
"The first time saw lady dressed in on
Of these petticoats could not forbear bamin
her in my own thoughts for walking abro'
when she was so near her time; but soon r
covered myself ont Of my error, when -four
oil the modish Of the sex as far gone as he
self. It is really thought that some crafty "
men have thus betrayed their companions in
hoops, that they might make them accesso
to their own concealments, and by that mea
escape the ccnsure Of the world, as wary &c
erals have sometimes dressed two or three dc
en- of their friends in their own habit that tn
might not draw upon themselves any partil
hr attacks from the enemy. The strutti
petticoat smooths all distinctions, levels I
mother with the daughter, and sets maids a
matrons, wives and widows upon the sal
bottom. In the meanwhile, cannot but
troubled to see so many well-shaped, innoce
virgins SO bloated up, and waddling up
down like big-bellied women
"Should this fashion get among the ordina
people, our public ways would be so crowd
that we should want street room, Seve
congregations of The best fashion find the
selves already very much Strengthened and
the mode increase, wish it may not dr