The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1870-06-11
Decency i'm Female Dress.
By HOWARD GLYNDON.

By HOWARD GLYNDON.
Young girls and ripper matrons need
not 60 about robed like rdigious fanat-
les but let those to whom a highnecked
and long sleeved party dress would be
a grievous affiiction content themselves
with showing a modest rim of shoulder
above their bodies. And let them not
forget that we'll turned white arms can
be seen and appreciated without of ne
cessity being exposed clear up to the
arm-pits. No fair young girl ever lost
anything in the estimation of men,
whose opinion is worth having, by ap-
pearing with neck, shoulders and arms
chastely yelled in delicate lace or mus
lin, instead of exposing them to the
prouiscuous gaze of a public assembly.
We hoard away the jewel that we
prize the most ); we draw curtain be-
fore the picture that we dote upon we
hide our most sacred feelings in our
hearts; we veil the shrine of the temple
we hedge the lily about lest its white
ness should be soiled we want to cover
up from other eyes the things that are
the fairest, the dearest, and the most
sacred to u.s.
Oh, woman the most sacred thing,
the fairest and dearest that man has in
this world, is yourself. And I hold
that mans instructive protest is the
best guide in this matter.
And the feeling of the father, the
brother, the lover and the husband,
when his nature is unperverted, is that
the arms that caress and enfold him, the
bosom, that is the dearest home his
head can have on earth, should be as ga
cred as was the holy of holies in the
days of old Jewish rites.
A woman's body is the temple of her
soul. and her souls outward symbol
What we want to keep pure, holy and
undefled, we do not expose to be COM
mon bait for all the eyes of all the
world, pure and impure, to gloat upon.
The way in which men, as body,
act and express themselves, when
brought face to face with this dress.
reform question, is inconsistent. unjust
and ungenerous to woman, and unwor-
thy of themselves as gentlemen they
think because a woman is not their sis
ter, or wife, or sweetheart, that it is no
concern of theirs how she 1emeans her.
self in this matter of dress. On the
contrary, they seem eager to help push
her into false position by hypocritical
and phrases of hollow ad-
which are as false and bitter
as Dead Sea fruit, if she will but stop
to analyze the feelings from which they
spring. the motives which prompt them
Too much familiarity breeds contempt.
No one knows this better than the
man who watches over the dress and de-
pertinent of bis wife or sister with the
stern jealousy IF an Oriental, while at
the same time he blindly encourages
the wives, and daughters, and sisters of
other men in every species of license.
Woman do not always >know-the
very young especially-thas a certain
dash and freedom in the style OF dress
encourages familiarity in the manners
of men toward them. They too often
follow blindly after the reigning mode,
without questioning its meaning, or the
effect it will have upon mems opinion Of
them. They feel strong because they
go in droves, and in droves they dare
to indulge in style Of dress for which
any one women would be ignominious-
ly hooted out of society, if she dared to
appear in it alone, and upon any occa-
sion for which it is not santioned by
fashion. .-..
If men would but give up their
abominable two-sided policy on this
question, and act toward every rspu-
table woman, whom they find mas
in disreputable attire, just
as they would under like circumstances,
toward their own wives, daughters or
sisters, as FAR as is consistent with sur
and circumstances, this mode
Of dress would soon be driven to its
rightful hone--the haunts of the profit
gate and the lost woman.
For my own dear countrywomen I
have one wish, which has moved me to
speak as I have spoken. Plain words
and hard words to say, but words that
must be spoken. nevertheless, and
which are better spoken sooner or later.
It is that they should be known all
over the world as the the most modest
ofwoman in dress and department, even as
they are now distinguished tor wit, ele.
gance, patriotism and innate purity of
character. Let the women of other ma
tions belle themselves if they will, by
mode Of attire which is in direct oppo-
sition to the dictates of theii natural
modesty, but let ours set bright ex-
ample in this respect to the world, and
then, indeed, the nations shall rise up
and proclaim the American woman
blessed IL Packard's Monthly.
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