Buchanan County bulletin and guardian., 1869-02-26
SHALL FASHION ABLE WOMEN
VOTE.

| At a fashionable party. the other even
| ing, we saw fashionable won an-half a
hundred; nay, a hundred and half Of fash
| ionabe women. /! any man will prove to
US that what We saw is favorable to the opin-
| ion that fashionable wome should be endov.
ed with the right Of suHaage, we will thank
| him for his plans. We have learned, a. the
result Of inquiry in all quarters, that as
civilization advances, and as men and wo-
men become more perfectly acquainted with
the worth and dignity of humAa character,
and with the ends and aims OF human exist
ence, the barbarisms of dress give way to
| chaster ST yes, and the absurii,ies Of fashions
able and conventional life nre replaced by
more rational and becoming methods !;
hence we have come TO think that the civil
ization Of an assembly Of men and women
can be more correctly estimated by the tog>
gerry that the individuals thereof wear, than
by any words they speak or by tie forms
they observe. We need not 20 back into
'he past for proof Of the correctness Of the
rule by which we judge. A savage, Of all
men in the world is most foad of display;
and whether his adsrnments consist of hu,
| man bones. shells, feathers, copper coins,
spangles, lace of silver, or gold embroidery,
his advancement toward realization Of the
purposes Of life is marked by the continued
disuse of the gaudy and the astouoding in
the articles employed for personal crnaA
mentation. Ii he is a cannibal, be will
wear a neclace of ankle bones or incisor
teeth !; if he is only . slave holder in the
South, who prays to the God Of Man-Selling
and Woman Whipping, he will be content
with dirty feet, foul teeth, an abundance OF
unclean linen, black cloth, gold breas,pins,
diamond rings and snowy chains. The fash
ionahle woman, like the man of the Middle
Ages, is in the Intermediate position be,
tween the South Sea islander who eats his
enemy, and the niger driver who works bis
| bondman 70 death. We see her now-what
a sight she is I. Look at her head-what a
waste Of time, what prodigalty of money,
| what wealth Of mistaken ingenuity, what a
| concentration Of nastiness there is in It's ad-
ronmeu;. See TIE false hair cut off the scalp
OF sister, dead Of some malignant disease !;
see the bows, the gewgaws and gineracks,
the combs, the ribboas, the pufs, the crimp-
ings, the curlings, the tortnrings, the chains
the pins, the frizzings, and the miscellaneous
things-al nameless in the masculine vo-
cabulary-by which it is set off Who that
has brains can for a moment suppose that
| under all this nonsense for the disfgura,ion
OF one Of the chief beauties Of woman-her
FLOWING hair-there can be any power for
ss.s.sg competition, in the struggle for
|fhe prizes of life, with man? Look at her
ltace-patched where there are no pimples,
sulored red when there is no color, whitened
when it is sallow, studied in expression, un-
natural in form! Look at her body-see
what violation of the laws of decency in
itsexposure, and Of the laws of health in
thS foolish torture to which it is subject !!
LOk at her ears, and see how in those
rings, which are purely savage, as to wear
than presupposes lesion of the Resh, the
untitigated barbarian sticks out! Yet
hos she throws her head that they may
twiidle! Does any one ssppose that in
theexternal there is no indication Of the in
terml-let him institute comparison be
tween that Of jewels, ribbons, lace, silk,
fala>hair, chains and perfumery, who is
wrisgling and twisting as if in agony, on
the tarpet before him, with that plain man
who's by her side. His short>cropped hair
is a. guiltess Of oil as of TAR IA man of clean
" taste would as soon have the latter as the
tormer) full bearded; just from his bath,
Iyet barbarous enough to smell Of cigar, ard
possibly Of wine; with not personal orna~
nent in the shape OF q ring, pin, possibly
not even watch chain which is = thing Of
Of use clad in plain black and faultless
linen; with boots large enough but artistic
in shpe; without perfumery, unless sug-
gestion Of cologne in his handkerchief-he
has got strength and will in his glance, pow
er in his grasp, and determination in all his
bearing. Just as he is ahead of that poor
little, airy, foolish giddy butterfly. in all
that is correct in taste and necessary in utiI-
ity, is he her master in the art of governing
He is civilized; she is half savage, and as
long as this discrepancy exists between
them, be will be the master and she the
slave.
We draw apicture Of the women of "sup.
perior classes We know that il is iuap~
plicable to tens Of thousands of others, who,
with correct tastes, well stored minds, press
ing duties (all good women have these in
abundance !! and time well filed, are doing
their uttermost to shame the frirolity OF
their sex; we indicate the fatal fault of wo.
men Of our country generally in what we
say. And the question now recurs--will
the gift of suffrage have tendency to make
women nobler in their ambitious and higher
10 their aspirations Will the woman who
is entrusted, in part, with the duty Of govern.
ing State, aud in the formation of the flu.
ture Of society, be improved in her habits OF
thought, hence in her manners and dress, by
the responsible cares that are put upon her
We answer, Yes. We believe in the natural
equality Of the sexes. If they are not equal
10 creative power-ths male sex being the
superior-the enc is the complement OF the
other, and both may be safely free. For
that freedom We plead; and when granted,
as it will be, we shall fnd that the woman
whom we now dsspiss, because she is vain,
frivolous and ignorant, has depths of thought
and feeling, wealth Of mental resources, and
power Of abstract reasoning, the existence
Of which the world will be slow to believe.
We expect to see the day when he dress Of
woman emancipated will be as chaste as that
of the men, and when be who assumes that
she toy or play>thing, to be nsed to-day
aud thrown away tomorrow, will find that
be espoused fools part. That her deli>
cacy, her truth, her modesty, her long suf-
fering, her strong domestic instincts, and
her maturnal attachments will suffer by the
enlargement Of her sphere, We DO not believe.
just as her scope of action is amplified, all
these will be strengthened and perfected.
But it is as true rs fate, that as long as she
is the thing that she is now, her cose is ho>
pless. Struggle as she may, she is still a
slave Chicago Erening Post.
The work of widening the channel at
what is called Sycamore Chain has been
com Melted The following statement shows