The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-11-09

! The rage Of this season IS for red, 50 sa'
the fashion writers. Red dresses. red skirts
red jackets, red cloaks, red in the bonnets
red ribbons 10 adorn the hair, and to com
down 10 the latest Partisan innovation
bright red hoped skirts and equally brigh
scarlet eorsets. what is she object Of scar
let corsets and scarlet hooped-skirts2" said
lady to the attendant in a siors where thes
gaudy articles were displayed. "Obiect.
| repeated the woman, cycling her interlocu
tor contemPtuously, "why, they are Ia
latest So yle."
This was sufficient. A garment may b
| opposed % every idea o. proprietY, goo,
sense and tastei IL may be ugly in itself, a
well as unbec0ming in the wearer, but If Il
is the "latest STYLE" that is endorsement
| enough; the most courageous woman woull
not after that dare TO question its claims t,
respect and admiration.
| TIE reign OF scarlet is not incompatible
with the reign q gold, which has been in
sugurated shout the same time, and divide.
the honOfs about equally in the world o.
fashion. But what shall be done with this
.rage ior scarirf Cad tbs age for gold which
has b'cken Gus lltf- tae smallpox or the
| erysipelas, and exhibits itself in giarine
blotches, in gilt bands and Grassy pendants
| suitable enough as an adornmens for win
! dow curtains but o our crude notion out o.
place on the delicate and graceful form ofa
| pretty woman. t
We say nothing ofthe scandal and impro
| priety OF blazing out IN the loose finerv Of
shameless Partisan iorettCs while the earth is
| yet fresh above the graves Of thousands OF
the noblest and braYest among Us, while
thousands Of homes are yet darkened by the
loss Of all that made life worth the living.
or wrested it from the grasp Of absolute
want and misery-because such considera-
tons, though well enough for the visitors of
a tract society, or as the ground Of appeal
Tor charitable assistance, afford no reason at
all why fashionable ladies should not follow
their tsncies and indulge their eaprices.
But unfortunately, our fashionable ladies
are also our wives, sisters, mothers, friends,
the guardians Of our households, the angels
Of the hsarthstoue, upon whom, under Prov
ldenee, the future destinies Of the republic
depend.
The King rules the people,
But t1ou rulsst tho King.
Men rule the nation, but women make
men. And what sort Of men shall these
women in scarlet, and gold, and gew-gaws,
make Alas! lot men honest, rot men
true, not men iucOrruptible but false men,
treaeherous men, scheming men. men viii
ling to cell themselves or their country for
that gold and mockery Of wealth, the love
OF which they drank in with their mothers
milk
Shall we have modest and true women for
our wives and daughters, or shall we have
purple and scarlet women, their shameless
ness scarcely disguised By a thin sembiance
ofrespsct for deeency and Writ e? At this
supreme moment, when the nation is strug-
CLING to regain the life and strength which
II spent IN the effort TO mainain its COM
pleteness and power, IL needs the co-Opera-
ton Of ell good and earnest people to heal,
purify, strengthen and consolidate the ele-
ments 90 lately disuEited, now under skill
ful manipulation, rapidly iusing themselves
together. And can W men do nothing to
aid in accomplishing this desirable work
Are they really the dolls which some men
consider them, or the something worse that
they are held 20 be by others, that thew arc
cast aside DUTY, deceucy, and every wo-
manly attribute, and, contentedlv, nav,
proudly, become the cOpyists Of those who
are excluded from the numblest Preside.
whose feet 90 down to destruction, whose
hands lay hold on death.
Such course Of action on the part Of
American women is bad enough as a present
evil, but it is worse ia it's futdre eousequen-
ces. We cannot touch pitch and not be de
filed. Already the results are seen in the
loose habits, the reckless expenditure, the
free nd-easy style Of conversation, The
adoption Of slang terms and phrases, and
the total neglect OF all formerly received
ideas as good taste and propriety among
the women-especially the young women-|
who constitute what is called tao best So
ciety.
"Mary Brandegea, !" a novel which pro
fesses to give an insight into upper New
York life, represents young ladies as totally
emancipated from all moral or social re-
straint, and worse still, as quite uncou
scious Of the evil, not TO say iniamy, which
attaches to the uubridled indulgence Of
loose and vicious habits and inclina ions.
Yet many people say Of this book. show
and arc willing TO forgive its
want Of conference and common sense on
account of its truth to nature.
We do not believe that the pure Young
girl-nature which all men love, and which
poets have paid homage to, is yet wholly
lost we have faith that it even yet remains
uDsullied in many young hearts, notwith-
standing the bad influences Of the days
upon which it has fallen. Il is true that
can be done is done 10 make
them fake, lying, deceitful, and selfish
they are early taught 10 desplse modesty |
and sincerity, as old fashioned virtues, and
that their business is 90 get themselves up, /
with all the arts and aids they can muster, |
for the market. They bury their freshness
beneath a vale load Of paint, powder, false |
hair, and dirty horse-hair, and lose their !
innocence ia the love Of display, and un-
attempts to attract and secure !
the attention they consider il their business
10 win. Fashions are followed without any /
% their mOdesty, any more than |
their beauty, and are exaggerated, let the !
be what they may.
A weli-kuOWu writer drew down upon |
herself vials Of wrath some time ago by her |
structures upon the revelations made BY |
the hooped skirts Of young lady visitors |
during the commencement festivities at |
Harvard college. At that time the small |
hoped skirt known ss She "Quaker'' was |
IN vogue. What would she say now to the |
'bell-shape,' that eXpanse of crinoline i
which extends its area at its base, and viii 4
not allow ladies to move, stOop, sit down,
)r enter a car, or leave an omnibus, without /
such. exposure as should crimson their /
,heeks with shame, bet which has become /
70 common that 1t rarely EFFORTS more /
han a laugh or a look Of indifference. /
over those immense hoops one thin skirt is
iften worn, and above this the dress is
irawn in such a way that the slightest dis
Of drapery reveals the "skele-
on" Ia ell its naked deflrmity. The bell
AaNtf III ll1 must tA ptunlNe lofus Is tuc
- le OF the new scarlet and "silYer" hoped |
Eirts which sre intended % add their show
md ittor 10 the splend.r Of the coming
winter evening toilets. Plainly, and, possi-
by, not uuwiLingiy, visible they will be IN
he swift moving redOWas and wild gaiiOp
ut we doubt it thu sight would add 70 the
5leasure with which any man would see
lis wife or bis sister engage in these fascin-
sang exercises.
The apoiogisb for modern morals and
manners charge upon our grandmotherH,
Yhsm we are WOst 20 consider mOaels q
iecorum, FIRE dom Of speech and acton
,rea. er even han that OF their descendants
Jut We must be excused for doubtlns uch =
act. Certainly when hooped skirts were
worn By our great grandmothers, they were
n many res lscts, much less o5jeetio nabls
han now; they were comparatively straight,
lot 50 widened out towsrd the bottom that
be least motion would leave me l0wer part
f the person exposed The dances then in
rogue we're also 81 q slOW grave, dig fled
haracier, entirely unlike the whisking,
yhirling. hoydcnish "iast" dances Of the
,resens day, which were never intended %
,e associated with the modern st. le Of hoops,
xceut in circles Of the demi monde, q sTie-