Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-07-24
The Nude Woman Question.

with gasp OF taStonishment at the
effrontery which dared so much
Men actually grew pale 1t the bold
ness Of the thing a death-like silence
fell over the house, broken only by
the clapping of band of c{d9ue,srs
around the uotcr aisles but il pass
ed /; and, iii view of the fact that
these women were French ballet
|. dancers after all, they Were toiGrat-
ed.
BY slow and almost impeTceptible
degrees this shame has grown, until
to-day the indecency of that cxhibi-
ton is far surpassed. Those women
were ballet-dancers from France and
Italy, and they represented in their
nudity imps and demons. In silence
they Ighirled a6out the stage in
silence troope3 off. Sone faint o0or
OF ideaiity and poetry rested over
them.
The Nude Woman OF today repre-
scnts nothing bnt herself. She runs
upon the state gig2ling tTots down
to the foot-lights, winks AT the aud
ieuce, rattles OF from heF tongue
some stupid attempts al vat, some
twaddling illusions to Sorosia, or
General Grant or other subject prom
inent i'll the public eye, and is al
ways peculiarly and emphatically
herself-the woman, that is, whose
and who considers herself an object
OF admiration To the spectators.
The sort of ballet-dancer who fig
ured in the Black Crook Is paralleIed
on the stage Of every theatre in this
city, except one, at this time.
She no longer excites attention.
To create proper and profitable
sensation IN the breast Of man, she
no longer sufficeS. Something bold
er must be devised that
shall utterly eclipse and outstrip
her.
Hence, the Nude Woman ofto-day
who outstrips her in the broadest
sense. And, as if 1t were not enough
that she should be allowed to go un-
Kissed and unrotten-egged,s she must
be baptized with the hOnors of pro-
fession for which Shakespeare wrote.
Managers recognize her as an ac-
tress and pay her sums ranging from
fifty to a thousand dollars a week,
according to her value in their eyes.
Actresses, who love virtue better
than money. are driven into the
streets by her, and it becomes a grave
and solemn question with hundreds
of honorable women what they shall
do to earn g livelihood.
[ say it is nothing less than an in
suit to the members OF the dramatic
profession that these nude women
should be classed among actresses,
and hold possession of the majority
OF our theatres. Their place is in
the concert saloons or the circus
tents. Theatres are for artists.
a friend said TO Tae the other day
that it was inconsistent in me to
find indecency in women exposing
their persons, when men constantly
do the same-that, as an honest ex-
ponent Of Woman's Rights, | ought
10 see no more immodestv in We
man dancing q jig in fiesh-colored
leggings than man performing a
circus feat in the same costume.
/ reply that | think such shows
are indecent in both sexes. Yet,
nevertheless, in woman thousanI /
times more indecent than in. man, for
the simple reason that.the costame or
the sexes in everyday life is differ
ent.
To ignore this fact is TO just wilful-
ly shut ones eyes to a reasonable
argument.
Women in society conceal all the
lower part of their bodies with drap-
ery-and for good and sufficient rea-
sons, which no man, who has a wife
or mother, should stop TO question.
But set this aside. Circus men,
who strip to the waist in this fash
ion, don't claim TO be actors.
Now, | come back to the words /
said at the Woman Suffrage Con
ventiOn. They have been variously
reported by the newspapers. They
were exactly as follows;
II can advise no honorable, self
respecting woman 20 turn TO the
stage, with its demoraliZing influ-
| ences, which seem TO be growing
| stronger and stronger day by day ;
| where the greatest rewards are won
| by a set eff brazen-faced, cIog-danc-
| ing creatures, with dyed yellow hair
and padded limbs, who have come
Aere in droves from across the
| ocean,
| l have been astonished and painCd
| at the extent to which the meaning
/ of these words has been distorted.
/ The press and my anonymous letter
| critics seem To be agreed in taking
the view that / attack, in these
words, the profession in which ! was
reared, and all my family.
/ Some of the letters sent me are
/ from religious people, encouraging
/ me to go on: others are from actors
/ and actresses, seeking to dissuade
me-nOt always in gentle language.
The first letter on which ! lay my
/ hands-so gross in its language thai
/ | suspect it TO be from one of the
nude women themselves-say
! You We're, no doubt, satisfied
with the stage so long as it paid.
: / L
| carried you over
Perhaps this person, being new TO
! the country, thinks il is true. as a
newspaper once said, that was for
/ merly ballet-girl.
/ Hitherto l have only laughed at
1 this story, as on a par with that OF
/ the person who thought me a daugh-
7 ter of the negro preacher, LOguen ,
+ or that OF the ''dress REFORM scare
crow who believed me formerly a
F ballad songstress."
| laugh ~ il no longer. / answer
f in all gravity, that / never was a
ballet-girl, nor even a iig-dsuCsr.
Il i true that I was once a member
OF the theatrical profession - v ere
my father and nv mother - were
my five sisters bat I say with pride
that never TaS th-rr = .---.szs1E WHO
5ruy connection with the
stage save u lsg cara7itr Of a leEit-
z9uate player.
THa-a vCs-a 10 r,-fsEa won, NJ on the
stage in my fathers day. Such sx-
hlbluons as are now made on the
stage Of many leading theatres were,
in his day, confined I that branch
OF the show business known SIS Mod
sl Artists - another perversIon OF
words ; but most people nuow their