Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1866-04-14
From the Erie Dispatch
The Shamelessnes Of Fashion.


From the Erie Dispatch
The Shamelessnes Of Fashion.
One might a. well rail against the laws
Of gravilatio ion as against the laws of fashion
So long as fashions do not directly affect
morals, and thereby tend to the corrup.
tion OF society, the writer against its die
tates undertakes au ungreal efui and super.
1uous task; but v hen its exactions trench
upon the bounds of good morals it is time
for every journal, and every public teacher
in the pulpit, at the desk, or through the
journalistic columns TO protest against it.
There was a time wb.n ''lewduess" in
dress was cons S;dered a bf dge either of vul.
gar ignorance or Of BIubting immortality,
yet We remember well when fashion die
tated style of dress which left the female
bust exposed, covered only by gauzj film
of Transparent lace, and Indies with great
pretensloUs to character and respect ability
followed it, II Que had charged Them
with mmodesty they would have iudig-
naDly repeed the charge. The reign of
'buslles is fresh in the minds of oil. A
mere alusion 10 that fashion is sufficient.
1t was worse than immodest, it was shame
less.
A new fushion is now the rage 1t is
one of the many repeated attempts, made
by woman, to determine how nearly they
eau trench upon the statute against inde-
cent exposure of lie person without being
compelled TO answer for an infractoR of
he law. The object of these impudic ex
hibitions cannot be mistaken. 1t is simply
for .he qualification of the pru i,pt tastes
of "leWd fellows Of the baser sor ;" and
for nothing else. The fashion we refer to
is that Of The new style of hoop skirts, de.
| signed to expose the person of the wesrer
to an extent that is Scandalous. Is it Eot
about time that religious teachers devoted
a portion cf their energies 10 The eradca.
tion OF this outrageous evil, which is fast
sapping the very foundations of society
this impudent, brazen exhibition of devo.
tic n TO the fashions of shameless lorettes
and Cyprian,2 It. seems that religious
teachings ought TO reach the personal
habits and public customs, as well as TO
aim at the belief and sentiment of the in.
dvidual. Ii is certain that so long as The
laws OF fashion are considered more i'm
pera,ive than the rules of common
modesty and the precepts of the Bible, no
amount of religious revival, no extent of
e,igious teaching, will prevent the structure
of society from becoming 10 en- 10 the core.
We are glad some journals have had the
Independence to speak out and speak
plainly on this subject. The New York
Commercial says:
The hoop skirts now worn by fashionable
females are burning shame to society,
and the wearcrs ought TO he indicted by
the civil authorities for wilfully and
knoaingly exposing their persons. There
is an extreme in everything, but Of oil the
extremes the hoop kirt surpasses. and is
one that has its penalty, which the iudul-
gers " II have to pay sooner or later
How any female, with any kind of pre-
tention to modesty, can indulge in the
scandalous exhibition. we do not see, and,
what is sill more wicked, many young
girls Of twelve or fosrteep years Of age
are initiating, 10 their destruction, tho e
followers of the fashion.
The Freemau's Journal also, of the same
city, is not afraid to speak out We
commend these extracts 10 the fathers of
|
the attention Of our ministers and earnest
Christians TO this matter. The Journal
says:
On last Sunday, walking home from
church through several fashionable streets,
we noticed women walking with tilting
skirts from where they had been pretending
to say their prayers; and, on all the cor.
ners, and hotel fronts, we saw rows Of
well dressed backguards standing, observ.
ing and laughing, and commenting 90
what these women were exhibiting.
OF on this indecency that would dis.
grace honest Pagansl Let every modest
woman who has been tricked into getting
these traps of the harlot as the latest
''fashiou. pull them of, aud burn them !
lie; every parent see to il that bis
guileless daughteris is not disgraced by follow
lug this fashion," Let masters Of house
holds do the charity to a servant maid that
has kept up wi b the fashion," to provide
her with such as are modest, and forbid
her, while in his house. to play the airs Of
the waAtont
Why, even 10 Pagan times, when the
men abandoned themselves to the most vile
practices, they tried to keep their women
uucortupt. What are we coming to? II
Is not here question Of Republicanism or
Imperialism. 1t is not a question OF free
. government or despolism. IL is question
of the existence OF families and socieiy.-
BY the memories of our virtuous mothers,
by our love for our wives aud daughte
let us stop these public outrages. and pu
under the surveillance Of the police impwdi
soOmeql