The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-11-04

FashIonaBIe society. ,i3
.l'ii'; EtOa The N. Y Roaid Iia5Le. ~
Tho rage this season Is for red, SO say
the fashion writers. Red dresses, red
skirts, red Jackets, red cloaks, red in
the ponnets, red ribbons to adorn the
hair, and, to come down to the latest
Partisan innovation, bright red hooped
skirts and equally bright scarlet cor
sets. what Is the object of scarlet
corsets and scarlet hooped skirts Pn said
a lady TO the attendant in q store where
these gnudy articles We're DISPLAYED.
.''Objeetp' repeated the woman, eyeing
her fnterlocutor contemptuosly, ''wlly,
they. are the latest style.b This
was sufficient. A garment may be on
posed to every idea of proprieEy, good
sense, and taste; Il may be ugly in it
lself, as we'll tas nnte coming TO the wear
er; but If it is the latest STYLE" that Is
Endorsement enough; the most cour-
ngeous woman would not after that
dare TO question its claims to respect
and admiration. !5lEH 81
The reign of scarlet is not incompatf-
BILE with the reign of gold, which has
been inaugurated about the same time.
and divides the hOnors about equally
in the world of fashion. But what
shall be done with this rage for scarlet
and this rage for gold which has broken
out ike the small-poX or the erysipelas,
and exhibits itself in gIaripg blotches,
in gilt bands and grassy pendants,
suitable enough as nn adornment for
window curtains, but to our crude no.
ton out of place on the delicate and
graceful form of a pretty woman.
We say nothing oftthe scandal and
impropriety of blazing out in the loose
hnery of shameless Partisan loretteS
while the earth is yet fresh above the
graves of thousands of the noblest and
braveSt among us, while thousands of
homes are yet darkened by the loss of
allsthat made life worth the living, or
wEested It nom the grasp of absolute
want and miserY-beQRus such consid-
erations, though well enough for the
visitors of a tract society, or us the
ground of appeal for charitable assis4
tance, afford no reason at all why fash-
tonable ladies should not follow their
taneies nd Indulge tteirlcaprices.
But unfortunately, our fashionable
mothers, friends, the guardians of our
households, the angels ofl2the hearth-
stoneS upon-whom, under Providence,
the future destfnies of the republic de-
pend.
gry "The king rules the people,
u But thourulest 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? Alasl not men
honest, nOtn1en true, not men incor-
rupible, but false men, treacherops
men, .scheming men,. men willing TO
sell themselves or their country for that
gold md 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 ShamelesSnesS scarcely disguised
by a thin semblahce OF respect for de-
cencys and virtue? At this supreme mo-
ment, when the nation is struggling to
regain the life and, strength Which it
spent In the effort to maintain its COM
pleteness and power, it needs. the CO.
operation of augood and earnest people
toheal, purify, strengthen, and CONSOLE
date the elements SO lntely disunited,
now. under skilful manipulation,
rapidly tusing themselves to-
gether. And can women do nothing to
aid in accomplishing this desirable
some men consider them, or the some
thing worse that they are held to be by
others, that they cast aside duty, de-
cency, and every womanly attribute,
and, ,contentedly nay, proudly, become
the copytsts of those who are excluded
from the hnmblest tire-side, whose feet
80, down to destruction, whose hands
lay hold or, death. lFft o
Such course of action on the part of
american women is bad enough aSia!
present evil, but it isworse inits future
consequences. We cannot touch pitch
and ot bee defiled. Already the results
araseen in tho loose habits, the reclS less
expenditure, the free-and-easy style Of
conversation tho adoption of slang
terms and phrases, and The total!neglect
OF all formerly received ideaS oi good
tIlste and proprtety among the women,
especially the young women, who con-
stltute what is called the best society.
Mary Brandagee,n z e noyel which
New York Lie, represents young ladies
as total " emancipated fromial1 moral
or social restraint, and, worse still, as
quite UNCONSCIOUS of the evil, not to saw
intamy, which attaches to the unbridIed
indulgence ofnlooae and vicious habits
anu anu lnMelinations. ~ 2 Yet many people
say OF this book, aHow naturtilp' and
are willing to forgive, its want of CO.
herence and common sense on, account
of its truth to nature: s ~.
We do not believe that the pure
young 91rl-nature which all men love,
and which poets have, paid homage to,
ms yet '%lhlolly lost /; we have taith that II
even Yet remains unshllieds in many
young hearts, notwithsta ling the bad
Influences OF the days upon which it has
fallen. II Is true TINT whatever can be
done IS done to malSetthem false, living,
deceitful, and selfish they tare early
taught to despise modesty and sim
cerity, as Old-fashioned virtues,
and that their business is to get
themselves up, with all the arts and
aids theylcan muster, for the market.
They bury their freshness beneath n
vile load of paint, powder, false hair,
md dirty horse hair, and lose their in
noeense IN their love of display, and
unma1denly attempts tO.attracti and Sc
cure the att ntion they consider It their
business TO win. Fashions afe followed
w1thontiany reference to their modesty,
any more than their beauty. and ave
exaggerated, let the conseduences be
what they may q
A well -knbWpwrit drew down upon
herself walls of wrath some time nUo
by her structures upon the revelations
made by the hooped skirts OF the young
lady visitors during the conimencement
festivities at Harvard College. AT
that time the small ihOoped skirt known
as the quaker was in vogue. What
would she say now to the 81 bel l-shnpe,', ,,
that eSpanse of crino line " hieh extends
its area at Its base, and viii not allow
ladies to oImove; stoop, sit down, enter a
car or leave an omnibus, without such
Eexpbsnre should crimson their cheeks
with shame, but which has become so
common that itrarely EFFORTS more than
aalRughior q look OF indifference. Over
thts 1minense hoops one thin skirt Is
6ften worn, and above this the dress Is
drawn in such q way that tha slightest
tlisarrangemento of drapery reveals the
,ttslSeletonu In all Its naked def0rnnity.
The bel ll7shape, In It's most expansive
form, Is the style Of the new scarlet and
sesilxer'i= =hooped skirts which are In
tended to add their show and glitter TO
the dSE ef tie coming winter even