Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-10-05

women of the country should manifest
so little regard for the lessons of the
hour, and regret that they did not set q
nobler example Of economy and good
taste.
The tide has turned towards the me-
tropolis again, with its fashion and
thoughtlessness, hungering, it would
seem, FOR a carnival of yet wilder pleas
ure. There Is no indication anywhere
of the dreadful scenes from which we
have Just emerged At the time OF the
Crimean war the English government
forbade the wearing OF mourning, lest it
should create feeling Of general gloom
No such edict is needed in our land, for
already the streets are aglow with the
tinery and tummery of French CXtraya,
gance, IL seems to matter little to the
lovers of dress that the country is
weighed down with a vast debt, and
that every motive calls for economy and
prudence. In and out they 90, the wO-
men that should bear faithful hand in
bringing the nation back to its former
position, decked cut in jewels and silks
and all the useless ornaments that are
copied from the Partisan demi monde.
Surely ii is disgrace that these things
are so and the organs of public opin-
ion should not fear to lift the veil, and
decry the fictitious display. The time
has long passed for servile trucking to
French fast life, and for limitations
of every kind. As the war has
shaken OFF subserviency to English
thought, so should it teach our women
that French CourteZans are not worthy
eXemplarS 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
Wh;tmans in letters and Bloomerism in
dress than wrctChed copying of foreign
thought and customs.
Do the Women of the country under
stand whittier these things lcad-upon
what rock their foolish extravaganza
will wreck them? 1t can be nothing
short of hetairism and the breaking up
of the laws Of social life. The bubble
cannot fill too far without collapsing in
shame and sorrow. Marriage will be
out of the question, and French life will
be upon us with all its excuses. 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
misinterpreted. The fashions, as pre-
scribed in France, are caught up by our
own profigates, who watch for the open
ings in the 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 distinguish the one
from the other, for both worship at the
French Moloch. If those who call them
selves decent would be insured against
insult, they must attire themselves in
more modest garb, and leave to the de-
based and eXtravagant the tawdry
tlauntings of those servile individuals
who claim to have the latest Partisan
styles. But, if they persist in their fop-
perry, they must not be surprised if the
result be ruin and sorrow. Already the
cities are nursing the terrible plague of
French life until the good old simplicity
and mOdesty Of American women seem
passing away. If it is desirable that
the evil shall become general, the women
of the land have only to contiue their
present foolish system of expenditure
and dress.
We have no desire to speak of any
particular styles or fashions that may be
in vogue at the present time. If wo-
man prefers mountain of false hair to
n modest display Of that which nature
has given her, she is at perfect liberty to
build to the skies with the artificial
twistings. If young miss thinks it
delectable to appear bedizened with gilt
trappingS, and Ornamented with all the
paraphernalia Of q woman Of the town,
she is quite her own disposer in such
matters. But pray is there no modesty
left ? Shall the decent and the indecent
adopt alike the wretched fashions of
libertine France? Is it reputable for
American women to live, so many Of
them, beyond their means? Are our
women willing to become classified
among the abandoned and prodigal
Would it not be to their good name and
honor, in view of the vast debt of the
country, and the call for economy on
every hand, if they should renounce the
milliners who tlaunt French limitations
and adopt more modest and tasteful
habits Of dress? We cannot but believe
that the mass of American women are
within the reach Of an appeal to good
repute and good taste, and here we are
content to rest the matter for the present.