St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-05-20
sf(istllanp.
Gallant Defense Of Ladies.

At the recent Tricnnial Festival Of
the Charitable Mechanics Association
held in Fanueil Hall, Boston, the late
United States Attorney General, Mr.
Cushing, thus alluded to the subject
of female extravaganza in hard times
ct is quite common to assail the
ladies', and to ridicule and reproach
their taste of dress, personal ornament,
and custom Of life, as one of the re.
sponsiblc causes Of the present com
mcrcial crisis. utterly deny this. |
would like to break lance with any
gentleman in that quarrel. | will go
further, and run the risk Of paradox
in saying that, in my Judgment, the
prevailing female costume is not only
graceful, but, relatively to othci
fashions which prcccdcdit, convenient,
and therefore justified by considcra-
tons Of utility as we'll as beauty.
Apart from that, ] confess lhave been
amused to observe how much Of undue
importance, in the great sum Of orr
wealth, industry, and commerce, has
been attributed to the extra founccs
and furhclows Of The ladies. 1t is, in
truth, q matter which enters fora mere
bawatclc into the complex question of
imports and exports, and that is all.
Did the silks worn Ivy the ladies pro-
ducc the failure Of the Ohio Life and
Trust Company? Did the supcri!uous
laccs and muslins break down the
Illinois Central Railroad ? Did their
skirts stop the wheels Of the Eric Rail
road? Was ii fancy Of theirs for
cakes and swcctmcats which raised
up or pulled down the speculative
prices of sugar and flour in the United
States? Was it their kid gloves and
lilliputian bomncts and slippers which
occasioncd the embarrassment of the
great dry goods commission houses of
Boston, and the suspension of the
banks Of Philadelphia and New York !?
Absurd.
~ confess it shamcs me as q man,
to hear so much said of the profuse-
ness of the ladies, in view of our own
way of life. Most assuredly, Mr.. Fitz
Frivol, with his champagne, his cigars
Ills fast horses, yachts, and other fancy
psstimes, has no right to complain Of
the fine robes, the broidered kerchiefs,
and the Ljouierie Of Miss Flora Nc
Flimsey. She viii discover that she
is in want of nothing to wear quite as
soon as he will find anything useful to
do e.; for even she has warm womans
heart beneath all the point lace and
moirc antique in whose mysterious
volume her fair form is draped and if
he did but know how to reach that
heart, he would see her as prompt TO
please by frugality as by luxury, and
proud to make any sacrifice of fashion
at the voice Of duty and of love.
"But all the follics of all the Fitz
Frivols and Flora McFlimseys i'll the
land are nothing, in effect, on the fl
naucial condition Of the United States,
compared, will not say, with a war
in the Crimea or in lndia--for that we
do not and cannot havc-but as com
pared with few cents per pound or
yard of rise and fall in the price of the
cotton Of Carolina, and the corn and
wheat Of Illinois, or the freights and
manufactures Of Massachusetts, and
their folics have had no appreciable
influence in producing the actual break
down of the credit system of the
United States"