Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-06-23
NOT FOR TIE LADIES.
A chapter for Greybesrds, ON the
Extravaganza OF Dress.

Colonel John p. Pryor, the gifted and
versatile editor of the Water Valley
Eagle, writes the following racy article
on the " Extravagance of Dress which
may or may not be acceptable to all our
readers. He says:
This is a subject upon which we can
hardly trust ourselves to speak with pa
thence. 1t is really astonishing in these
poverty-stricken days to note how mag
nifcently many people = especially
among our young ladies-dress, whose
families are barely able to exc out mis-
cradle allowance Of meat and bread. Our
women, as a general rule, dress as expen-
sively now, when they and their families
are without incomes, as they did before
the war when their incomes were counted
by surplus thousands. Many of our
young men, just growing up, are equally
exravagant; many of them spend APP
parently their entire salaries, after de-
Quoting board and lodging, on dress.
Among the better classes of old Eng
land, and Germany, too, this extravaganza
in dress is never seen. By better
classes we mean the rich, the gentle,
the we'll born, the best educated, the truly
aristocratic. They never attempt to APP
pear to be richer than they really are. 1t
is only the abandoned, the half educated,
the ungentle. the wanton, who dress
themselves like peaoocks, " fit to kill,
and haunt along the streets in profu-
sion Of the costliest furbelows and
hounces.
1t has been remarked by great many
travellers and tourists that the ladies Of
Memphis make greater display in their
everyday dress on the streets, at home,
and at gay assemblies, than those of al.
most any other city in the United States,
or, perhaps, in the world and it is very
probable it is their example that has vi
tiated the taste of our country and vii.
lage bellies.
The remarks we make on this delicate
subject have been suggested to us by
some of our leading citizens-some OF
the most solemn greybeards in the land
with from one to three or four daughters
each. These patres .familias, in their
complaints on the subject, groan heavily
over the immense sums Comparative of
course) they are compelled annually, by
memorable fashion and the custom of the
country, to spend on the wardrobes of
their "desr, delightful" but extrsva-
CANT daughters. They say that their
daughters seem to think they have as
much money to spend on dress now as
they had before the war-before the great
national con6scation (by proclamation"
and vi ct armis) took place. They see
the necessity OF retrenohment in every.
thing else; but .Jine dressing is too in
dispenssble, too sacred, 10 be interfered
with. Flora MacFimsey must have her
CITY, nF ope hgndred, or FIVE hundred
dresses, though the heavens fall.
And, wherever two, three or four or
more ladies are gathered together, no
gentlemen being present, there the sub
jsct of dress, dress, dress, prevails over
all others. The latest fashions, stimu-
lated by countless fashion books, plates
and periodicals, etc, what this, that or
the other lady has in her wardrobe, the
costly dresses worn last Sunday at church
or at the last Chickasaw ball, the fabu-
lous number of dresses in the wardrobe
of the Empress Of the French, whose
husband employs million bayonets to
keep her better dressed than any other
woman in the world-these and hun
dred other subjects, ali pivoting on the
grand central idea of dress are what,
nowadays and everywhere, we are author
i!atively told, form the staple of female
conversation to the exclusion Of almost
everything else of useful or improving
character,
Nevertheless, we are quite sure that
this cannot be said of all, or even ma
jority, of the ladies in the region around
Memphis, in North Mississippi and West
Tennessee. 1t is plain to the most casual
observer, that aside from dress, they are
more economical, more industrious, more
selfsacrGcing than ever. And then,
after all ia qsd that can he said about
dress, it is equally plain that they are
still very long way in advance of the
"sterner sex in every virtue that en-
mobiles humanity, and saves this genera.
ton from the stigma of total depravity."
The truth is, we take it, just this 1--WE
speak "under the correction" of the |
com planning old "Greybeards +" afore
said); Dress-eytraYagsncs in dress--is |
about the only thing that can be brought |
against our women, and that only against |
q portion of them-how large a portion
we leave to those better posted than our.
selves TO DECIDE,