The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-30
THE WOMEN.

Severe Structures Upon HiRh-hceicd Boots,
Hair Dycs, and Naked NrcSs. j Ii
Another hurtful and ridiculous fashion is
In the high-heeled boots which have again
worked round from our -grdndmotherS
slight heel is an advantage i'll walking, but
these high heels, with the excessively sm III
surface and the sharply beveed sides, make
walking service of pain and difficulty. Be-
sides, they destroy the shape Of the leg,
which is something TO be considered They
throw the weight forward, and they strain on
the shin; and. consequently they diminish
the back muscle, the calf of the forepart into
an ugly bow The shape of our shoes and
boots is in itself an outrage against common
sense; but we women are not alone in this
absurdity. nor are we to blame; so that, as the
papers deal with our own follies specially, we
may be let off any personal and peculiar re-
proof therefor.
But what can we say of the fashion which
dyes the hair, paints the cheeks, backens the
eyelids with antimony to make the orbit look
larger and the lashes longer, or that expands
the pupils with beladonna, no matter at what
cost of complexion or future eyesight What,
too, can we say of the fashion which uncovers
the arms and neck in the evening, after hay-
ing clothed them through the day in flannel
or velvet, or in warm wadded stuifs Women
threatened with bronchitis or rheumatism sit
all day long in a warm room muttled up to the
throat in thick material; at night they un-
cover below their shoulders and go out in the
cold winter air with Just an opera-cloak
thrown over their shivering skins. But this
is fashion, and none of us dare dsobey it;
none of us dare go out in the evening with
dresses made after the pattern Of our morn
ing ones, or wear in the morning low bodices
and short sleeves to at least equalize the risk
and inure us to the evening attire without
damage
There is no intrinsic reason why we should
not all be sitting in low bodices and short
sleeves at this very moment, though we will
make it 10 o'clock; but if we were, we should
be thought mad or bad, or both, and not even
our staunchest friends would stand byus. But
wholly one thing or the other would be a
wiser system than the present, and would be
productive of fewer catarrhs, bronchial affec-
tions, and consumptions. All it is a sad
thought which springs up from that last word
If we could only see, as those removed from
our sphere would see the criminal folly of
sacrificing beautiful and valuable lives to the
fashion which imposed naked necks as a rule
for evening costumes Many a sweet young
creature who would have lived into happy old
age as a beloved wife and honored mother has
gone to an early grave because of that ball or
that party at which she caught cold from ex-
posure. But fashion so willed it; and neither
mother nor daughter had strength to resist
We all obey her. young and old alike; those
who should keep their beauties sacred, and
those who have none to show, the delicate
who have to be kept alive by art and show
the lean who are too ugly forany one find plea
sure in the contemplation of their shoulders,
the wrinkled and the gross; we all parade our
selves in evening society without more dis
guise than bit of gauZe or lace can give,
and only very few of us use that, which, even
when well on into the fifties, we consider quite
superfiuous for anything to be gained by con-
cealment. AS to the extent to which we cut
down our bodices, that is a matter too patent
and too painful to be discussed 1t is a race
among us who shall wear the dress lowest
and show the largest expanse of shoulder
And yet we mean no harm; we mean only to
be fashionable. That is the worst of it.
The incest women among us-pure, high
minded women, who would die rather than
be guilty of impropriety, if it appeared like
an impropriety to them, and whose very inno-
cence makes them unsuspicious of evil yet
accustomed as every one must be more or
less, to an Objectionable fashion, follow it in
pure simplicity of nature, as thing without
meaning or effect. Also, the incest women
among us are Just those who always follow
who have not sufficient boldness of mind OF
manner to make public protest against any
thing endorsed by the maj jority-women who
are not touched by the evil of baleful Gus
tom, and by whose own purity is eliminated
the poison of q mischievouS fashion. They
follow, and their moral support holsters uE
the bad habit, and gives countenance to the
bad followers thereof. But what can we say
when originality is still censured as un
womanly, and a public protest, be it ever
against evil, is set down as ''strong- minded
and unfeminine ?"-BroadaCay Mdgd@5ne.