Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-23
IROS,

1908, ..
PHILADELPHIA sixty Years AEO-Wha
n WesterneF Thought Of the Fash
ns-DueIIng-Betting ON Elections
In the Eye, periodical publica
ton, edited by Obadiah Optic
issued in Philadelphia in 1908, let
tiers written by "Robert Rustic, .
from Philadelphia to a friend e. Jer
emiah Listless,") in the West, ap
pear. The following extracts will
be read with interest
Alter passing over mountains,
through towns and dangerous viii
-after''disastrou chances
many accidents and hair breadth es-
eapes-I have arrived at the far
famed and thrice renowned city OF
Philadelphia. / can, by no means,
refrain from giving you an account
of the civilized and enlightened peo.
pie with whom ! now live.
Now, from the articles of dress Of
the ladies here, we may deduce
whole pages of argument for and
against them. So various is their
dress, that one part contradicts an
other. which being the case, we
might take it collectively and decide
they have an Inconsistent taste.
But / think it most proper to give
fair description of their dress, that
thereby you may judge for yourself,
and believe me, my dear friend, this
is no easy task. Iconsider it is as
difficult as the most complicated
piece of architecture. In architec-
ture, we have the Corinthian, Doric,
and Gothic, and other orders to de-
scribe, but in the dress here l see
no order at all, and, in fact, the or
der which nature was pleased to give
the ladies is distorted, squeezed and
pressed out of all order. You mayA
however, form a tolerable idea of
the nondescript, Heterogeneous ar
chitecture of dress of these ladies
comparing to your near neighbors,
the Indians; like them they appear
to have a partially for red, inso-
much that some not only wear red
slippers and dresses, but daub their
faces after the manner of those saw
ages; their ears, like those Of the
Indians, are hung with profusion
of curiously-formed rings, and their
necks with beads. Like the Indians,
they load their heads with vast va
riety of fantastical, undefnable or
naments; and lastly, like them, they
are indifferent with respect to con-
cealing certain parts, as their arms,
bosoms, etc. l cannot say if, from
The similarity of dress, we may de-
duce that the natures of the Indians
and the Philadelphia ladies resemble
each other, but have discovered 4
very bloody minded, savage dispo-
sition among some of the gentle
men here. Would you believe, my
friend, even in this civilized part of
the world, they fight one another, in
cold blood, with pistols! They call
shooting a fellow man down at their
feet, taking honorable satisfaction
they call robbing a child ofits father,
and wife of her husband, acting in
behalf Of their honor! Oh, worse
than Indian!
But the Indian ladies differ from
the ladies Of Philadelphia, in that
the former are remarkably mute and
exceedingly modest, and you never
hear more than one of them speak at
a time, but the latter (and | am told
it is the same in every polite part of
the world) are inGefatigably loqua
cious. ] have often heard a dozen
at the same time indulging them
selves in most vehement verbose elo-
cution, TO the great annoyance of
my ear. This they call tea-pary
chit, chat. If they are admitted to
debate on the more important affairs
of State what an uproar would there
be in Congress Hall; one might as
well, in my opinion, he in Vulcan ;
thunderbolt mandatory as among
them. They also differ in other re-
spects from your neighbors. The
male sex among the Indians main
tain their dignity by holding in alb
solute subsection the females, but
here in many instances the females
decidedly rule the roost."
When we take n superficial or ont
ward view Of their heads, we see
what they call bOnnets, of indefina-
bic and variable figures, many of
which are three feet or more in cir
conference, hung with ribbons, etc,
A correct description of the shape
of some Ofthem is absolutely impos-
sible, but you form to yourself an
idea of the figure all the figures of
Euclid jumbled together would
make, then you have as good an idea
of them as myself. This massive
bonnet gives great weight, dignity,
and magnitude to the head; and
when / see a lady tripping along the
street with one on, it puts me in
mind of a new Matched partridge
running about the field with an egg
shell sticking to its head larger than
its body. Their combs, judge
from the measure of one / took with
my thumb as | staggered under il
from tea party, must be from six
to ten inches wide, and proportion
ately long. Their ears are stretched
to dangerous length by earrings
of an enormous size, the hair friE
zled and curled in every shape
Their bodies they squeeze out of all
shape except the fashionable shape
bv elastic corsets and bandages.
In another letter from Philadel-
phiathe same writer says:
In a part Of the world SO refined
and so famous for religion and pie
" as Philadelphia, / supposed tina
every species of gambling would b.
effectually suppressed, but no sue
thing: there are one hundred biI
lizard tables within the knowledge o
Billy Flash, and g5doubt there ar
three times as Aany. 1t appears {
me, when / reflect on the horribl
practices styled amusements herr
the more deprayed they become.
The lotteries here are q source {