Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-10-19


gaze. Men are very apt to be hard up
on women who err, to pass severe
judgments upon them, and to allow no
locus penitentide. But if they are SO
foolish as to encourage them in immod
est dressing. they should be the last
to quarrel with them for following
out their precepts to their natural con-
clusion.
IL we were called upon to say what
is the distinctive characteristic of the
age in which we live, we should be III
clined to designate il as an age OF
shams. Unhealthy creeps into every
thing, The gravest matters are tainted
with 1T. Even in religion, where I'M
realities should find no place, there is
contention about externals which are
devoid of any real meaning. Bishops
and clergy contend for pastoral staffs
and yestments, when they no longer
have the things they symbolic. Ian
guage Is made to conceal the truth, and
exaggeration distorts it. Professions
OF friendship are hollow, and treachery
undermines the closest ties. In the
political world, we hear it forever stated
that parties are betrayed by their
chiefs, and that principle is at a dis
count. And, in the smaller details of
life, we find that, instead of the instincts
of nature rebelling against anything
that is unreal, there is an appetite for
it; that shams are in favor, and that
everyone is attracted by them rather
than otherwise.
In the matter now before us we find
this to be especially the case. False
hair, false color, false stomachs, false
ears, are used without conjunction
where they are considered to be needed.
The consequence is that woman has
become an imposture, and men have
learned to fear that what they most adj
mire may be but a successful art. Old
women have long since done all in their
power to repair the ravages of time.
Wigs and fronts, teeth, paint and
rouge, have always been made use of
by those who know not how to grow
old. But they have not been able to
deceive the world, which takes them at
their real value, and can see behind the
screen of unTealities to which they
have fled for refuge from the print of
years. We cannot resist quoting n
passage from a well known writer on
this subject, in which she has described
the appearance of an old woman who
is not ashamed OF and has no wish to
hide her age. ''See the plated border
or the full ruche of the cap, white as
snow, circiing close round the face, as
If jealous to preserve the oval that age
has lost; the hair peeping from be-
meath, finer and more silken that ever,
but white as that border, or
gray rs the shadow thrown
by it; the complexion withered and
faded, yet. being relieved, as nature
has appointed it to be, by the still
more faded tints of the hair, in a GER
tain degree delicate and fresh; the eyes
with most of their former fire extin-
guished, still surrounded only with the
chastened hues of age, brighter than
ANYTHING else in the face; the face
itself, lined with deep wrinkles, but
not one that the painter would spare;
the full handkerchief, or rich bustling
laces scrupulously covering neck and
throat, reminding us that the modesty
of her youth has survived, though not
its charms; some deep sober shawl or
scarf which the French rightly call le
drdpedu die UeiiLe femme, carefully con-
ceaIing the outline of the figure,
though not its general femenine pro-
portions all brilliant contrasts, as all
violent passions banished from the
picture, and replaced by a harmony
which is worth them all. :"
The same writer, who has so admira.
bly, depicted an old woman whom
every one must venerate and love, goes
on to speak of the moral influence that
such an one must have over the society
in which she lives. Having gone
through all the progressive periods of
life" having passed through it's sum
shine and its shade, she "nOw casts
them all aside," and asserts her claim
TO our respect in the simple fact of her
age. She knows that ''to all who have
eyes to see and hearts to feel, her sill
yer locks are more precious than the
most golden tresses money could pur-
chase her pale cheek more interest
ing than the finest bloom art could
simulate-her modest coverings more
attractive than the most wonderfully
preserved remains of beauty she could
exhibit-her whole venerable aspect of
age more lovely than the very best i'm
itatiOn of youth she cOuld possibly get
up; who not only makes old age re-
spectacle and honorable, but even
enviable, in the eyes of those who
are still tOiling in the heat and
burden of the day." In quoting this
passage almost at length, en- PEASANT,
the best tribute We could pay to the
right feeling and eloquent description
of one who has written so truth fully
and well on the art of dress. We wish,
with all our hearts, that her words
would sink deep into the minds of the
young and old of our time. The old
would teach a lesson to the young
which they have great need to learn,
and the young would know that the
unspeakable charm of the picture which
has been so admirably drawn lies in
the fact that not even In the palmiest
days of her youth and admiration did
this old lady ever lay aside, or even
lightly tamper with that modesty and
refinement which are In every sense
the browning graces of womanhood
How different must be the influence
of that meFetricious style of dress of
which the distinctive feature is unfe-
ality and imposture, and its chief merit
successful stimulation How truly does
the Saturday say that it has a democrat
izing effect How can il be otherwise
when women consent to indignities aud
to a system of impOsture that they
may, as they are assured and hope will
be the case, make themselves more cap
tivating? No one disfgures herself
because it is designation. No one
adopts a costume because it is ugly
and may take away her charms. How
ever unbecoming a fashion may be, it