The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-07-03
Dress and MOraIs.--TheIr Relation 10
Each Other
From the London Saturday Revfep.

DeeH euuedNOTluR 10 reau lis clients
moral lesson. The missionary work
was begun after the most approved
style, by the insertion of letter invest.
ed with all the hOnors of large type,
| Placing himself in imagination at the
door of II London ballroom, the writer
| proceeds tO mOraliZe on the disclosure
| of person" which is accorded to the
highly favored mortal" who occupies
that position. He is troubled, he frank.
~ admits, by the fact that the prevail.
ing lowneSs of dress is not confined tC
those who, ''i if the object of the custom
be to establish claim to shape, car
best afford to comply" with il. Per.
hups, if the fashion extended only tC
young ladies with good figures, Cory
don's indignation might have slum.
| bered for AN indefinite period. 1t is the
display of "the too generous develop.
ments of maternal Juno and the severe
figure of Diana "PuSSe" that has irri.
tated his moral sense. And he has
seemingly been so upset by one or two
such appuritiOns, that his eyeno longer
serves him to discriminate between one
dress and another. He damages his
own case by the assumption that all are
alike open TO the charge of decency.
The leading article which followed
the letter on the next day fell into the
very same mistake, and assumes with
equal confidence that ull women dress
| exactly alike. Indeed, it evens finds
an excuse for their so doing in sup.
posed tyranny of custom. No one but
the systematic writer has ever faith Om-
ed the sutferings to which many Il
young lady would be exposed who de-
clined to have her gown cut lower than
she thought consistent with decency
''She would be accused of the pride
which apes humility, and her ASPECT
would have to be tried i'll the hottest
furnace of jealous eyes and backbiting
| tongues before she could escape the
charge of 'dowdiness,' condemnation
whose terrOrs one must be woman tC
feel" Certainly this is n heart-rend-
ing picture, and we can only say that
if it be also a true one, the courage of a
| great many of the weaker sex is posi-
lively heroic.
Probably, if the spring weather had
been more genial, the subject might
have been dropped here. But the pre-,
vailing east wind seems to have sug.
gested to our contemporary conscience
the prOpriety OF making another and
bOlder effort to stem the tide of iTnpro-
prlety. There was some encouragement
III the reflection that, though we had
reached the fourth week in May, "thG
season when lightnesS and loOsenesS Oi
| apparel may be supposed more par.
dOnable than at other times" was
still coming, and not come; and uc-
cOrdingly, the pen of some astute
chnperOne seems to have been retained
before the hot weather should make all
hopeless, 1.-The feelings with which Il
portion of mankind view laXity OF cor
set and low cut dresses" The morality
of the lesson thus conveyed is not flat
tering to the class for whose benefit il
is designed. 1t is assumed all through
that the only way of making impropri-
ETY. distasteful to young ladies is to con
vince them that it does not pay. This
''lavISh exhibition to their personal
| charms" will not really bring them
lone whit nearer matriInony."
If they could but listen to the talk ol
the club smoking-rOom, they would al
once Seetheir mistake, unu be taught
that "a man is not the more likely tC
endenvOr to secure as his own the
charming creature with whom he has
been wultZing, when he hears charms
which follows the triumphant evening" ,
| To be discussed like race-hOrse'
does not really raise wOman's value
in the market. And then as one of the
depths of IL lifelong experience this Ell.
derly mentor proceeds TO define the eX
act stage i'll acquuintanceship at which
that private view, which he defines
| as 1.-The privilege of the eiuitiated-Of The
exclusives" may be Prudently vouch-
| sailed. 1t is to be reserved, it seems
as the last weapon with which to bring
man to proposal. He, we are told
"who thinks that he knows most of the
divinity, and that his knowledge is ex
elusive, is much nearer committing
himself to the grand step in life than he
who finds that his friend has been as
highly favored as himself" AS long
therefore, as IL mans intentions are
wholly uncertain, young ladies ShoulC
| endeavOr "tO inspire respectful homage
aud TO attract by coyness." 1t is onlS
when they have good reason to believe
he is near Committing himself" thai
Il too low dress can he worn with safe
ty, and even, then it must be so man
| aged that he shall be the only male
spectator. Except at this critical mo
ment it cannot be too much impressed
| on them that IAN open exhibition o
personal charms is not the way to ut
lract the best man." and that all they
VAL get from it is 1.-THE modification o.
having exposed themselves to no pur
| pose"
We trust that we shall not be thought
| indifferent to public morality when we
own ourselves utterly uninterested il
the success or failure of this particular
effort to mend the manners of the fash
ionable world. If women can only bt
kept modest by being shown that il
pays matrimOnially, we had just as
soon they were immodest. Indelicacy
| OF costume is chiefly objectionable il
proportion, as it implies u correspond.
ing lndelicacy of mind; and such q
method of handling the subject as thai
we have been criticising, lubOrs under
the fatal defect ofaddressing itself only
to the external evil. SuppOsing n younu
lady to be prepared to dress indeCently
| II she thinks that to do so will improve
her matrimonial chances, in what way
! does society gain by convincing heI
That she calculates falsely? The way
in which her gown is made will have
no influence upon her character; fol
her propriety and improPriety will be
| dictated by the same motive, and will
be open to the same condemnation.
Indeed, fashion such as that which
seems TO be now becoming common has
| certain advantage of its own, in thai
it affords an index to II wOmun'S esLi
mate of herself. Ii her sole object il
| life Is to secure the eligibles of the
day." we cannot see that 1t makes the
| least difference to any body in wha
way she sets about it. The end is in
| itself objectionable, and it will com
municate its own complexion to what
ever means may be employed to affair
1t. A writer who aims ut affecting {
merely external reformation may shel
ter himself, it is true, under the re
| spectacle authority of Mrs. Hunnat
Moore, who somewhere says that IL rea
| knowledge of her own interests woulC
make the most abandoned woman
careful TO shrOud her beauties from the
eye OF man, in the assured conviction
that modesty would prove the mos
potent means of attracting him. Blu
there has always seemed to us an ire
sistHble force in the criticism will
which this argument was met, that il
that case u really modest women woulC
be driven to leave OFT clothes altogeth
er. IT, therefore, our cOtemporurS
should find his labor thrown away, we
shall not be distressed by the result.
After all, prOpriety of dress is only
valuable because it is the offspring o
Propriety of mind, and if it is to be die