Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-01-21

NithVut hhoNilg Wnal makes her so
! Less knowledge on their part would
I destroy the pleasure of dressing fol
theirappreciation--more would betray
, contemplate interest in trifles.
With regard TO the mere eccentrici.
ties,' or absurdities, if you will, ol
fashion, IL is unreasonable to carp at
! them on any account, because, being
mere matters OF caprice, they are not
amenable TO the judgment of reason.
or even taste. The most that can be
said for any fashion is, that is the
fashion, and against this decision.
Judgment, taste, reason, may contend
in vain. We Of the present dav have
no more right to sneer at the tower
ing head-gear of our ancestresses than
have modern old ladies TO make war
on our little bonnets, for it is more
than probable that, if we live long
enough, most Of us will wear struc.
lures similar to those on the heads of
Old portraits, and not only wear them,
but think them beautiful. Even ca
price is not inexhaustible and fashion
must often repeat itself Every mode
IS approved and admired in its day,
else 1t would not be the mode, and as
fashion is confessedly governed by
the most arbitrary caprice, there is no
reason for one generation TO suppose
that 1t can boast any superiority over
another in the aesthetics of dress. II
is natural, / suppose, that every
woman should feel a partiality for the
fashions of her youth, because as she
of course looked her best then, she will
readily be led TO conclude that the
style of dress then worn was more
taseful and becoming than any she
may have adopted since. For a like
reason, any style that we have been
accustomed TO see in fine old pictures,
will, if frevived in the dress of any pc
riod, naturally recommend itself TO
the taste of cultivated people. The
magic touch of art can beautify almost
anything, and the author of "Georgia
Scenes" ," after declaring that somebody
was Gas pretty as a lady in picture
thought farther praises superfuous.
But there is one point, besides i'm
modesty, at which toleration for the
eccentricities Of fashion ought to cease:
l mean when they trespass beyond
their legitimate sphere of dress, and
undertake to prescribe models of shape
or color TO the human face and form.
in defiance of One who has declared,
"Ihou canst not make one hair white
or black" God has made our bodies
as He would have them, and any at
tempt to alter His work will, sooner
or later, be punished with pain and |
disease. The manner of covering q
them has been left entirely to us, and /
we are at liberty TO exercise our taste. |
skill or caprice upon our clothes.
Fashion may punish rebels against |
her legitimate authority by causing
them 20 appear awkward and uncouth, |
but she has not the same means of
establishing the empire which she
sometimes attempts TO usurp. A
woman may appear odd, or even ride
ulous, for declining TO adopt any very
prevalent style Of dress, but she will |
never suffer, even that far, for refus.
ing to distort her body in Difference
TO some passing freak Of the day. In
the highest triumph of blondes, a well
dressed brunette will never seem odd
or out of fashion simply for having
black hair and eyes, nor during the
reign Of tight corsets will one be disa-
greeably conspicuous because she has
not the figure ofa wasp. do not pre-
tend 10 say that excessive corpulenoe
is not conspicuously ungraceful, as is
a long nose, big mouth, or any other
personal misfortune, but these things
are beyond the reach Of fashion, and
she has no remedy for them. Ii is
true, fashion runs often in the direc-
tion of the personal peeuliarities of its
leaders, but if those peculiarities hap
pen TO be deformities, they can never
become so much the mode that one
will look odd for not aping them 20
the utmost extreme. A leader of
fashion will Of course, introduce
styles to set OF her own es-
pecial graces, or 30 conceal her de-
iects, and of course such graces imme-
diately become particularly in vogue,
and even defects may become fashion
able by the means taken to conceal
them. Let the Empress of the French
show a slight tendency towards en-.
and obsequious Madame la {
Mode will set all womankind to infa- ,
ting themselves with bustles, pads and |
heaven only knows what, and then [
plump beauties and low dresses have ,
their day. An imperial tendency in |
The opposite direction will find fashion ]
Iaoing and squeezing her subjects into /
The smallest possible compass, and /
then corset-makers, undertakers, and /
can women have their day. Queen !
Victoria's thick ankles put all woman {
kind into long trailing skirts, while q
IN ominous widening Of the part in 8
Eugenie's hair made it necessary for
oyal subjects 10 build towers Of puffs,
lowers and false ourls on top of their
reads, as though they too had symp- '
oms Of badness TO conceal. The Z
'terner sex are not Independent of sim. |
lar caprices Of physique and fashion.
A bow-logged potontate may keep all
in full trowsers for half a 2
and the memory Of 3 I
iump-shouldercd king lived long after !
hin in the full curling wigs which ]
adorned the heads of mobiles and dan y
lies in the last century. A goodEtory
% the same moral occurs in an old
airy book. A certain king had often.
led wicked fairy, who, in revenge,
declared that his wife should bear a
ION with a nose as long as his fathers
DOT. The king died before his son
vas born so the yougster came into ,
he world reigning monarch. As :
ioon as the size Of the proboscis be- =
iamo known at court, fashionable
set 10 work at the noses Of {!
heir offspring, pulling and doctoring,
n the hope Of cnlarging them, until A
he Bdisedns and Rdchoilcs OF those n
lays invented the convenience Of gi- n
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