Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-11-04
Mr.. Cushing on Crinoline and Hard Timess

i In Faneuil Hall, on the 14th ult., ex-Attor.
ney General Cushing delivered an address be-
fore the Massachusetts, Charitable Mechanics
Association, in reference TO the SENTIMENT
| "Our Country-Glorious for its science, glorious
for its arts and still more glorious for its public
men," In the course of his speech, Mr.. Gushing
said:
! doubt at any rate in the breadth OF its or
dinary statement, the truth 0fthe current doc
trine OF assumed profusion of living as the evil
of the times, or contracted retreDchment as its
remedy. think both the evil itself, and its
remedy lie deeper in other causes and acts,
which it would be out of place to attemptto un.
fold here at the festive board.
| For example, it is quite common to assail the
ladies', and ridicule and reproach their taste of
dress, personal ornament, and custom of life, as
one of the responsible causes ofthe present COM
mercial crisis. utterly deny this. / would
like to break lance with any gentleman in that
quarrel. l will 90 further, and run the risk of
paradox, in saying that in my judgment the pre-
yailing costume is not only graceful, but, rela-
lively to other fashions which have preceded 1t,
convenient, and therefore justified by consider
ations of utility as well as beauty. Apart from
that, confess / have heen amused to observe
how much of undue Importance, in the great
been attributed to the extra tiounces and furbe-
lows Of the ladies. 1t is in truth matter which
enters for mere bagatelle into the complex
question of imports and exports, and that is all.
Did the silks worn by the ladies produce the
failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company p
Did their superfuous laces and musliDs break
down the Illinois Central Railroads Did the
voluminous skirts stop the wheels of the Erie
Railroad2 Was it fancy of theirs for cakes
and sweetmeats, which raised up, or pulled
down, the speculative prices of sugar and -four
in the United States2 Was it their kid gloves
and lilliputian bonnets and slippers, which oc-
casioned the embarrassment of the great dry
goods commission houses of Boston, and the sus-
pension of the banks of Philadelphia and New
York; Absurd
confess it shsmes me, as man, to hear so
much said Of the profuseness Of the ladies, in
view of our own way of life. Most assuredly
Mr.. Fritz Frivol, with his champagne, his cigars,
bis fast horses, his yachts and his other fancy
pastimes, has no right to complain of the fine
robes, the broidered kerchiefs and the 6ijouterie
of Miss Flora McFlimsey; she will discover that
she is in want of nothing to wear quite as soon
as he will find anything useful to do; for even
she has warm woman's heart beneath all the !
point lace and moire antique in whose mysteri-
did but know how to reach that heart, be would
see her as prompt to please by frugality as by
luxury, and proud to make any sacrifice of fash
ion at the voice of duty and of love. 81
But all the foles of all the Fitz Friyols and
Flora McFlimseys in the land are as nothing, in
effect, on the financial condition of the United
States, compared, will not say with war In
the Crimea or India-for that we do not and
cannot have-but as compared with few cents
per pound of rise or fall in the price of the cot
ton of Carolina, the corn and wheat of Illinois,
or the freights and manufactures of Massachu-
setts; and their follies have had no appreciable
influence in producing the actual breakdown of
the credit system of the United States.
At such time as this, at any rate, when so
many thousands of industrious men and women
in Massachusetts are deprived of occupation and
of means of support by the curtailment or sus-
pension of workin the great manufactures OF
the State, although for them retrenchment is
necessity as we'll as duty, yet it is not for
those who, with wealth, possess assured means
OF subsistence. Why should they retrench,
when every article they consume is of diminish
ed price It would be especially unwise tor
them to do so, at time when every item Of
personal expenditure which they may cut off
will but serve to aggravate the evils, by con-
trbutng to impede the circulation of money, by
increasing the superabundance of unemployed
labor and by multiplying the causes OF poverty
and crime, and in the long run subject them to-
larger expenditures Of almsgiving and tsxation.r
at time like this, in France, for instance,
there would be succor to labor by great public
works of the Government, such as the addition
OF q new quadrangle to the Louvre or the Tuil-
cries. We cannot in this way combat the eff
fects of structure, as it is called, in the money
market. But we can, so far as we possess the
means, continue our accustomed train of life;
persevere in well devised and well directed en-
terprises; keep, so far as possible, our ships and
our looms in action; preserve, unmoved, the
great landmarks of our industrial prosperity;
and stand ready to start anew, when the proper
time comes, as come it soon must, oil the great
movements of production and OF commerce
throughout the Commonwealth.