The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-05

tive duties which may cluster upon COM
mttee charged with the investigation
of the misdemeanors of O carpet-bag
Congressman. There need, however, be
no hesitation in denying the statement
that cleanliness is a characteristic of saint
hood On the contrary dirt and saintliness
have too frequently been inseparable. The
saints of the Orient and the Indies are mira
cles of mud and monuments of verminous
though voluntary martyrdom; and the early
saints of the Christian Church. who chained
themselves to the summit of pillars, and in
dulged in various other eccentric though
pious games of a like ascetic character, were
certainly not eminent for cleanliness, how
ever indisputable may have been their claim
to saintliness. 1t is to be hoped that tue
Latter-day Saints have recognized the dispen-
sation of soap and water as well as the gospel
of Joseph Smith. and that the claim to clean
liress made in their behalf by the ''Fir5t
Young Ladies Department" etc, is we'll
founded. If so, it.constitutes an innovation
upon the traditional customs of the medieval
saints, and deserves notice as a novelty. The
Gentle world cannot permit the statement
that cleanliness is a characteristic of saint
to pass without protest against its historical
inaccuracy.
In view of the advantages of cleanliness,
the ''First Young Ladies' have resolved that
they ''shall discard the dragging skirts, and,
for decency's sake, those disgustingly short
ones extending no lower than the boot-tops.
Now. in discarding the dragging skirts, the
''First Young Ladies will have the sympathy
of all cleanly persons. whether they be saints
OF sinners. The masculine world will, how
ever. draw from this organized opposition to
short skirts conclusions not at all to the credit
of the average ankle of a 'First Young
Lady 1t is singular fact-as unaccounta-
bic as the frequency with which a large ruin
is found in the neighborhood Of great city
that ladies with undesirable ankles warmly
disapprove of short skirts. The ''First Young
Ladies'" may be faultless in point of ankle and
perfect in respect to calf, but their opposition
to skirts which reach only to the boot-tops is
calculated to create suspicious in the Mormon
and masculine mind. Not so their denuncia-
ton of 'paniers and whatever approximates
in appearance towards the Grecian bend, as
constituting a 'burlesque on the natural
beauty and dignity of the human female
FORM" The panier has no friends among the
men, however strong may be the admiration
felt for it by slightly built women. The
''human female form may gain in the num-
Der of IFS curved lines by wearing the panier
and by curving in the Grecian bend, but the
lines thus gained are not displayed in a posi-
! tion where one cares to feast his eyes upon
their swelling curves, and are therefore not
to be included among the lines of beauty.
The ''human female" saints of Utah will do
well if they can Danish the panier from their
midst. In this effort the First Young Ladies'
Department has our earnest sympathy; and,
! in consideration of the stand which its men,
bers have taken against the abomination of
long skirts as well as the folly of paniers, we
are willing to check the suspicious which
naturally attach to their opposition to the
coquettish short skirt, and to believe that
this opposition is due to the influence of that
selfish monopolizer of female beauty, Brig
ham Young, rather than to a consciousness OF
shortcomings in respect to calves and offenses
in respect to ankles.