The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-11-16
TILrINe IIooP sK1nrs.

TLLTING HOOP SKIRTS.
of Discussion, Attention and Admit
ration EltclIed by Their Appear
ance ON the Streets.
From The Ne,O York Round Table.
Most men like them; 1t is mere affec-
tation to deny 1t. Else why do they
attract such universal attention and
engross such absorbed admiration? f?
MOraltsts may say that such emotions
are confined to the triSte gamblers who
throng Broadway corners with their
palhd faces and precise costumes, and
who have no employment of a morning
for their bloodshot eyes except to feast
them upon such scraps of loVeliness as
fortune sends within their rapacious
Ken. They may say they are confined
TO dapper gymnastS of counters, to
grocers apprentices to spruce Wall
street clerks-in general to the mex
perienced, the thoughtless, or the pru-
rient, who have not learned to restrain
their lush tmagtnations, or who luxu-
riously give way to and revel in their
erottc tancies. But such an explains
ton, satisfactory as it may be to the
purest of optimism, will not hold water.
1t is unfounded in fact. The myriad
eyes which are riveted on pa1sine
vehicles, unloading their bevies of fair
ones, the longing regards which are
fastened on the playhouse stairs, the
intense curiosity which focalizes
near the pavement on a windy day, do
not belong exclusively to the calioW,
the vicious and the underbred. By no
manner OF means. Let us have the
truth above all things and about ali
things, though the heavens fall. These
sel!-nppointed inspectors of symmetry
and connoisseurs Of beauty, are quite as
often of higher grade and1ess question:
hIn hFnRFNtFRdE
elude gentlemen of mature age and
professional pursuits: Among them
may be observed lawyers of judicial
note, brokers of auriferous fame, rner-
chants of green-backed solidity, gem
tlemen ofleisure and yet of unimpeach-
since the truth must be written, gentle
men with Whom the white craVat is an
insignia of their cloth. Whoever pass.
es through our principal streets any
fine day, say at four in the after
noon, can see, II he uses his eyes, proofs
strong as holy writ of the Justice
of our assertions. He will the see
generous opportunities afforded by
fashion, aided by puffs from kindly
EBoreas, by muddy pavements, and by
mountainous steps of omnibuses, are
enjoyed with avidity by the educated
as well as the Ignorant, by the old boys
as well as the. young ones, by learned
doctors as we'll as lRymen, by great
majority of the lordly sex; in fact,
without noticeable distinction of class
or condition. A thing of beauty,
lQ' Keats is indeed joy forever,
the darling women 50 bountifully
afford us the delicious chance to gaze,
why should we not gaze our fill to be
happy? Jesting apart, there Is no
doubt but that plenty of fastidious as
well as coarse. minded men have
thoughtlessly fallen into the habit of
| enjoying In strangers what, were it the
case of their own wives, daughters or
sisters, and it were brought before their
own-observation, they would certainly
shrink from, mortified and offended.
1t must be admitted that it is distaste-
full to pen such reflection; but we
write of things not as we would have
them, but as they are.
IL And is all this. entirely. shocking and
ldemoralfzingf Perhaps it is when too
Iconcretely considered; but abstractedly
i there.fs no reason why it should be SO
at all That there exists an immense
/ attraction about ladies' ankles is Ger
tainly no proof of a, want of manliness
where it is observable. If a Roman's
delicacy is shocked by the idea OF too
free an exhibition, 80 far as her own
case is concerned, eshe has IL under en-
tire control, and there is no loss of hor-
I'rid example to illustrate the enormity
\ of the practice and to suggest infallibie
methods for It's CORRECTION. On the
Il other hand, pretty foot and shapely
j ankle are 'indubitRbly strong atfrac-
Il tionS in a-woman5 aud If she, chooses to
4 show them, she Will never lack admit
rers to appreciate the privilege
J There is nothing intrinsically more
immodest in showing the lower
limbs than in showing the'upper ones,
and as the lRtternar usually revealed
without covering and the former are
not, the distinction, If any, Is on the
1 ga Ee side. Deoidedly, there is less sug-
fgestion of fndeIicacy even in q reyels-
1 ton extending to the knee than in the
oyer-liberal exposure of the bosom, too
4 often seen in society, and which fashion
still appears to sanction. A nice foot
and ankle, we'll booted, and a rounded
Il continuation we'll 9hosed, however at
II tractiYe, as we have seen them to be, do
4 not convey, save to very morbid and
unmanly imaginings, such significant
associations as does the brazen reVeal-
ment of those parts of the figure which
decent women, even in bafbarous ma
tions, have ever jealOusly Yeiled as the
II sacred symbols of maternity. iGNoI
i such devel0pement to a healthy mind
4 are not entirely shocking and ldemoral-
izing. There is only danger that, like
I all pleasant piquants or slightly equiv
oeal things, they may be carried too
4 far-or, to be more exact, that The skirts
=
4 Excess in all fashions instantly inn
plies Vulgarity.t In this one the re-
mark is pointedly applicable. The
mode ut present justifies destcharms
(which five years ago would have been
:. voted quite outrageous. But they
a should be cautious TO avoid being con-
founded with those whom they blush to
& hear named, but with whom they are
of a surety very. sure TO be confounded,
when they bow to Dame. Fashion too
low and lift their petticoats too high.
II A ctfnoline waS introduced in London
last year, called, II in our masculine
blunder we mistake not, q patent adj
Unstable jupon, which was Intended to
afford the usual advantages OF extern
sion9and convenient support OF skirts,
while, by superior haxtbilfty and ocs
lcult Ingenuity 1t Game Inn to the figure
lon emergency, 30 as to prevent the al
11rfng displays to which gentlemen
9 seem SO partial But It did not appear
to BECOME popular there, and probably
would prove 20 be no more so here-the
Slladies can best tell why. Perhaps the
! betier way TO bride too lavish an aban-
, f1nnmanf To an entfCfnpy fashion Will