The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1865-11-28
IFrem the Round Table,
FEMALE EXTRAVAaANCE in ORES


extravaganza of women. Their reckless desire
for prodical display is both shameful and aston
ishing. They riot in wanton waste, seeming
without thought for either propriety or de-
cency. It is disgrace to the taste of the
country, dishonor to the men who have SO re-
Gently died on battle fields, and reproach to
every woman in the land who in any way coun,
tenances the wicked contagion. The vilest and
the purest appear side by side on the street, in
the social assemblage, and at public gatherings,
tiusled alike in guilt and garnish. There is no
mark to distinguish between the true aud the
false. There seems to be bat one idol at which
all bow down, and before which good sense and
good character are alike being sacrificed.
Among the looked for results Of the war, it
was hoped that the country would be purged Of
slavish obedience to the mandates of Partisan
monde, and its attendant extravaganza. Twice
every year the followers of so.caled fashion
were wont to attend at special displays of the
milliners and naodistes, and learn there shat
they we're to wear the ensuing season Many
Of the most refined in the land thought it DO
disgrace to seek instructions in the arcs of
French courtesans-who are in reality makers
of the fashions that are so lavishly adopted in
this country. With scarcely thought they
yielded subserviency to land wholly alien to
US in morals, religion, political and social life,
and not the least of all, in climate. But it did
not seem that SO much of imitation, reckless
waste and useless display could possibly servive
the sad discipline of great war. And when
our literature came out of the ordeal clothed
with the noble life and in sturdier form, it gave
cause for hope that the taste and habits of the
women of the land would also be of purer and
more provident character. How delusive was
the hope, the wild designations of the past sum-
mer, and the rush at the recent displays of the
fashion mongers, too we'll attest There is,
indeed, danger before us, and every interest
demands that it be fairly met before it shall be
too late.
AT the breaking up Of the war, in the spring,
it did not seem possible that the sorrow and des-
oation of four years Of coofiict could be so
tirely ignored to permit season'of unex-
ampled profigacy. What with a half million
men either dead or manned for life, and with
mourning at the inner OF outer door of every
house IN the land, there was a reason TO expect
that motives of propriety, if no other, would
stay for time the reyiVing of any useless
scenes of extravaganza. But while the process
sion Of death was yet filing past-with cripples
and bereaved home, and sights and sounds Of
pain on every hand-the servility Of borrowed
fashion, and the shamelessness of unaccount-
able riot began Their round anew. We look
back upon the season of pleasure now ended,
with shame aud regret; shame that the women
Of the country should manifest so little regard
for the lessons of the hour, and regret that they
did not set a nobler example of economy and
good taste.
The tide has turned toward the metropolis
again, with its fashion and thonghtlessness,
hangering, it would seem, for new carnival Of
yet wilder pleasure. There is no indication
! ,l,,o H. 1n-J l. Il
have just emerged. At the time OF the Eriuean
war the English government forbade the wear
ing of mourning, lest it should create feeling
of general gloom No such edict is needed
in our land, for already our streets are aglow
with the fnery and fummery of French extrav
asance 1t seems to matter little to the lovers
| of dress that the country is weighed with a vast
! debt, and that every motive calls for economy
and prudence In and out they 60, the women
that should bear faithful hand in bringing the
nation back to its former position, decked out
in jewels and silks and all the useless ornaments
that are copied from the Partisan densi monde.
Surely it is disgrace that these things are so,
and the organs Of public opinion should not fear
TO lift the veil and dscry the fictitious display
The time has long passed for servile trucking
to French fast lite, and for limitations of every
| kind. AS the war has shaken off subse rviency
|
men that French courtezahs are not worthy ex-
amplars in any respect. We have had enough
of this thing, and the time has fully come for
purer and more refined, a truer American taste
! Better Walt Whitmans in letters and Bloomer-
ism 10 dress; than wretched copying of foreign
thought and customs.
Do the women of this country understand
whittier these things lead-upon what rock
their foolish extravaganza will wreck them. 1t
can be nothing Short of hcairism and the break
ing up OF the laws Of social life. The bubbles
cannot fill too far without collapsing in shame
and sorrow. Marriage will be out of the ques-
ton, and French life will be upon US with all its
excess Women will be their own destroyers
if this thing continues Already really decent
and tasteful women are ashamed to appear with
any display, lest their character be misrepresen-
ted The fashions, as prescribed in France, are
caugh ut up by our own profigates, who watch
for the opening in spring and autumn most
faithfully. All along our streets the dissipated
and shameless appear side by side with the pure
and respectable. There is no sign to distin-
gush the one from the other, for both worship
the French Molooh. : If those who call them
selves decent would be insured from insult, they
must attire themselves in more modest garb,
and leave to the debased and extravagant the
taWdry fauntlngs of those servile individuals
who claim to have the latest Partisan styles.
But if they persist in their foppery, they must
not be surprised if the result be ruin and sor-.
row. Already the cities are nursing the terri
BILE plague of French life, until the good old
simplicity aud modesty of American woman
seem passing away If it is desirable that the
evil shall become general, the women of the
land have onlyrto continue their present foolish
system of expenditure and dress.