, 1866-07-06
Woman. and What She Wear..

| "onuus anu W nat bne wears
We have several times Of late given selections
| from our Eastern contemporaries regarding the
doings OF that hckle goddess-Fashion-and the
customs of her votaries. At first, SO absurd did
their statements appear, men were led to i'm.
agine them simply burlesqhe, They could not
conceive thst woman, mans helpmate and
companion, the fairest, brightest and best of ali
the handiwork of the Great Creator, had 20 far
lowered, debased and forgotten herself az Al
adopt the outrageous costumes introduced b1
avaricious mIllners and dressmakers; and when
! IN the course of time it was found that those
! statements were literally true, they believed. or
at least they hoped, that the customs spoken of
had been adopted by only courteEsus. ,TheT
dared not think, for one moment, their wives,
,nelF sisters and their daughters should fall 30
low. = So = a=s-asH- o. -
Ihey are now, unhappily, fully aware of the
correctness of the statements. The unpardoua.
0le innovations are no longer confined to New
York. They are here in the West, and to the
everlasting shame and disgrace of our women.
be 1t said they have adopted them without auT
/ apparent qualms of conscience or the slightest
display Of modesty. Our women have become
such blind followers of fashion, have, Ri1er
! themselves up so entirely to dress aud display,
that they have left but a very small remnant in
/ deed Of that noble modesty which is every wo-
man 5 best and most lovely ornament. Some Of
the customs now. prevailing in this country
lmDfODeF
| IA mlder expression would be out of place),
that even courtezans would not have adopted
them few years ago. Just think of women
who pretend to be virtuous, padding their calves,
and then wearing hoops made to tilt up at
nearly every step and display the limbs even to
above the knees Just think of it, we say, and
then ask yourself have our women lost all their
womanhood2 Has their modesty entirely de-
parted? -
\ couple Of days ago we had the opportunity
OF inspecting place called ''ladies' furnish.
ing establishment" of which there are many in
our city. We must confess that, though we had
prepared ourselves for a SURPRISE our prepara-
uons were not nearly sufficient. We had e1-
/ pected to be astonished, and we were Such
little things as waterfalls "''rats /" and "mice'.
and other head fxngs we were prepared for.
/ We were eTen ready TO see false busts, for we
had heard of such things and we did see themJ
and more too. We would like to describe ali
these things, but we cannot-not that we are
afraid of shocking the feelings of our lady readJ
ers, but those of the gentlemen. We might
speak Of false calves, of tilting hoops of false
busts, etc, asthey were8displayed 10 us in all
their detOrnity, but we will not We wifi sihfS
ply refer to them, and assure our male readers
that there are such things, and that they may
be detected on our women on the streets every
day in the week, for they are worn by nearly all
women from the highest to the lowest. The la
street. alike appear in them, and the modesty
Of the latter is, in this particular quite great
as that in the former
The waterfall, birds nest, and other gear
which the women have been disigurine their
heads with of late, were bad enough. The sight
OF them was all unpleasant, because they were
unnatural and ugly, and the feelings against
them were increased with the thought that in
all probability the hair which conposed them
was shorn from the head of smallpox patient,
or Iunatic, or corpse. These things we did not
care much about. The wearers were satisfied
and pleased, and we had no reason to complain.
Neither did we care great deal when they took
to dlshguring the 'human form divine with
such things as gave the upper portion of their
bodies a YoluptuOus appearance. Outrageous
as this was it was modest proceeding in COM
parsOn with what is row being done.,. False
calves, Of course, would be of no use unless they
could be displayed to the gaze of men, and
therefore, following the Introduction of this in
famous fashion, we have hoop skirts made for
the express purpose of showing them off to the
best advantage. How any female, with the
slightest pretensiOn to modesty, can indulge III
these scandalOus exhibitions it is impossible to
conceive. Yet il one of them was charged with
immodesty her Indignation would no bounds.
As eastern paper suggests, every one of them
should be indicted by the authorities for will
fully and knowingly exposing her person, and
punished in accordance with the laws bearing
upon that offense. We see them on the street,.
we see them in the theater; we see them sancti-
moniOusly sailing up the aisles of our churchesi
intact we them in every place. With un-
blushng faces their wearers tilt them in
very faces wherever we go, and with all the airs
of the wanton turn to see the effect produced
upon the men who are gazing after them II,
they knew the remarks thatere made, the sneers,
the inuendoes, the jeers that are passed by fash
.ionably dressed blIckguards who congregate
here and there on the streets for the purpose Of
seeing them display their legs, they would fly to,
their homes their cheeks burning with shame,
and would never be seen in public again until
they had forgotten their disgrace. Well may it
be asked-'What are we coming tor Have
our women lost every sense of decency7 Havei
they forgotten that they are women2 Have
they forgotten that their common mother sought
to cover her nakedness when she new that she
was SO &? Do they know that they, by following
these scandalous fashions, are doing what no
pagan woman ever yet discovered would dol
Shame on you, ye women of America. Do not
your cheeks tingle with an honest blush as you
think of this2 Go back to your homes--hide
yourselves in your chambers, and let not the
world look upon you again until you have re-
covered your modesty and your honor.-Chiedgo
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