The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1869-08-27
TnE FoLLIRs OF FASHION.
Severe Structure on High : HeeIeS
Boots, Hair Dyes, Naked Necks, sc.

severe Structure on High : HeeIed
Boots, Hair Dyes, Naked Necxs, sc.
From the Broadway Magazine.
Another hurtful and ridiculous fashion is
in the h~igh-heeled boots, which have again
worked oundfr from our greot-grandmothers
A slight heel Is an advantage in walking,
but those high heels, with the excessively
small SUFFICE and The sharply-beveled sides,
make walking q service of pain end diff
Guilty. Besides, they destroy the shape Of
the leg, which is something to be consider
cd. They throw the weight forward end
the strain on the shin. and consequently
they diminish Che back muscle, the cali,
and convert the fore part into nm ugly bow.
The shape Of our shoes and boots is in itself
an outrage AGAINST common sense; but we
women ore not alone in this a%bsurdity, nor
are we TO blame, so that rs the papers deal
with our own follies specially, we may be
let OF without any personal and peculiar
Z proof therefor.
But what can we say ofthe fashion which
dyes the hair, paints the checks, blnckens
the eyelids with anthony to make tho or
bit look larger and Che lashes longer, or
that expands the pupils with belladonnn,
no matter Mt what cost OF complexion OF
future eyesight? What, too, can we say Of
the fashion which uncovers the arms and
neck in tho evening, otter having clothed
them during the day in flannel or velvet,
or i'm wafm wadded stnns2 Women threat
ened with bronchitis or rheumatism sit oil
day in q warni room mufled up TO the throat
in thick material atnight they Uncover be-
low their shoulders, aud 60 out in the cold
winter ali with Just an opera cloak thrown
over thoii shiyering skins. But this is fash
ion, and none of us dare disobey IL; none
- - - =. Nl.a g4TU,fgV sufNlt 1unHu-
ca made after the pattern Of our morning
ones, or wear in the morning low bodices
and short sleeves, TO ut least equalize the
risk and mure us to the evening attire with
out damage,
There Is no intrinsic reason why we
should not be sitting in low bodices and
short sleeves OF this very moment, though.
we will make It ten o'clock; but IL we were,
we should he thought mad or bad, or both,
and not even our staunchest friends would
| stand by us. But wholly II thing or the
other would be q wiser system than the
present, and would be productive of fewer
catnrrhs, bronchial affections and consump.
tious. Ali IL IN n spl thought which
springs mp from that last word If we
could only sec, rs those removed from our
own sphere would see, he criminal folly
Of sacrificing beautiful and valuable lives
to the fashion which imposed naked necks
as q rule for evening costumes | Many a
sweet young creature, who would have liy-
ed into happy old age as q beloved wife
and happy mother, has gone to an early
grave because of that ball or party otwhich
She caught cold from exposure. But fash
ion so Billod il; and neither mother nor
daughter had strength to resist her impal-
puble but absolute decree.
~. - - ..A. 81 WNI aNNmA
those who should keep their beauties sa-
crod, and those who have none TO show
| the delicate who have to be kept alive by
art and care-the lean who are too ugly for
any one 10 find pleasure in the contompla-
ton of their ankles the wrinkled aud the
gross we all parade ourselves in evening
society without more disguise than q bit OF
pauzo or lace can give, and only o very few
OF rs that, even when well on into tho NJ
tics, consider it quite superiuous for any
thing 10 be gained by concealment. As TO
the extent to which wo cut down our bod
iccs, that IL q matter too patent and too
painful TO be discussed. IL isaraco among
ms who shall wear the dress lowest and
show the largest oxpnnseof shoulders. And
yet we mean no harm we mean only TO be
fashionable. That is the worst of il.
The incest women among us-pure, high
minced women, who would rather die than
DO guilty OF impropriety, il appeared like
an impropriety to them, and whose very in
nocence makes them unsuspicious of evil,
yet become accustomed, as every one must,
more on less, to an Objectionable fashion,
and follow 1t IN puro simplicity of nature,
a. q thing without meaning or effect D.
Also, the incest women among MS are Just
those who always follow-who have not
Sufficient holiness of mind or manner tC
mnkoa public protest against anything in.
dorsed by tho majority-women who IA,
not touched by tho evil Of abaleful custom,
and 10y whose own purity IL eliminated
the poison Of n mischieyous fashion. They
follow, aud their moral support holsters
up the bad habit, and gives countennncC
10 the bad followers thereof But what
can we say when originality is still cen.
sured as unwomanly, and n public protest
be it oven against evil, is set down ~
'strong minded and unfemininey'