Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-01-29

The one folly of the age is pretension. It is
the one madness and wiekedness as well, for
through ii thousands are made bankrupt, hum
dreds of thousands become dishonest, and mil
lions, to supply TO others food for its its inssti-
ate demands, are ground down to starvation,
or drive to worse than observation-disclosures.
e In no way does tile folly manifest itself more
glariugly than in ex:rayagance OF dress. 10
our shame be it said that of, all nations, we
AmericaBs-espeeially American ladies-bear
off the palm in osteltatious overdress. The
most costly fabrics that the most cunning looms
and skillful worknen can devise, are worn by
our ladies 20 trail through the mad and muck
of our unswept thoroughfares. Tie same ele-
CANT dresses are worn by the nobility or royal
~ of other countries only in the drawing
room or the carriage-tbese same titled ladies'
of wealth contentipg themselves when they
90 abroad into the streets for a walk, with
plain, unconspicuous gown and thick comtoT~
table shoes
Meet a French lady in the street or in her
own home, aud you will invariably lind her
dressed in good taste and always panty, rs
the occasion demands. Her full tOitettes she
reserves for the ballroom or carriage. With
the English it is the same The wife and
daughters of duke take their daily PRONE
UAUc pldlu biuu EOh IIc biu luiSh cOS otiOSHi
deemiug any more ostentstious dress decidedly
vulgar
Our untitled nobility never considers itself
presentable unless in full dress At home, in
| the street, in the early morning, late at night,
in rain. snow or sunshine, our fair mothers
and daughters Of wealth are to be seen loaded
down with costly laces, costly jewelry, and
costly silks, giving one the idea OF their sleep
ing in the same. However, where all this
guady overdress, at all times, in all places, is
the only mark which distinguishes the wife or
daughters of our merchant princes from plain
Mrs. or Miss SO and SO, who have no wealth,
it is perhaps psrdonable
The most striking commentary upon this
vulgar display of sweeping ustrons silks and
other ostentatiOus Paraphernalia Of the tlashy
street toilettes INDUCED in by our wealthy
danes, is the observation and surprise of Lord
Morpeth (now Earl of Carlisie,) the brother OF
the Duchess of Sutherland, when visiting this
country five or six years ago. His first prone
made through Broadway, with friend, elcit~
I'd the following Where are your respecta-
Tie LADIES' DOlhey not walk also? see only
crowds of your ladies Of pleasure" The surs
prise OF the noble gentleman was great when
lie was told that the fashionable crowds" lie
saw were our respectable ladies'. Accustomed
to his own sensbly dressed c0untrywomen at
home, he judged that such uncomfortable
loads of dlshy inery could be worn only by
the poor abandoned ones who depend upon
such alIurements for their very bread
All this must be changed before our country
is much older, or we will not have any cOun-
try lett the ladies will have wasted It's resOur-
ces upon their backs, and it will be cot up in
parcels separately, mCrtgaged to India, Turkey,
France, &c. to supply our would-be's of Sno-
bocracy, with five hundred dollar shawls, hun
dred dollar pocket haadkerchets, one thousand
dollar silks for street besoms, and cobweb lace
to protect their charms from the keen bl sts
of January.
Why cannot our ladies of wealth acquire
that true element Of ladyhood which sees and
appreciates the fitness OF tliug-2 Then would
fewer hearthstones be made desoae Then
would be seen fewer careworn wrinkled men,
old before their time, sinking into their graves
in their prime, ia their unnatural struggle to
gain the means fer this wre ohed display Then
would fewer pale and wasted faces, worn and
overwOrked fingers and wan skeleton forms
the ''getters up of all this tinery-be found
starving in fireless, cherries garrets
Surely dress reform" needed, though not
exactly such one contemplated by the
"strorg minded sisterhood; but one that shall
prove thorough and radical; that shall pervade
all classes, substituting common sense for all
this wretched pretension, which so sadly n-
terleres with everything ike domestic lie and
rational epioyment-N y DiSDatch