Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1870-07-16
THE TR1Bu1AT1oNs OF BRIGHAM,
Dsnnets, Breethes and D! Coods...Th, Prophets Fam
ly Ve1atisns.-Evil Results Of Fashionable Exam
pk.-Domestic Scenes.

y" way y, Oh the opening OF the SEMI
annual Conference, which is reported in
full in the Desert Neus Of May 28, by of.
hciel authority and with the speakers re.
vision. The occasion being important
...''' 49," solemn. 6rave and important topic
aro.. .,.J e,,; Wn have.
studied the Mormon Presidents reported
addresses closely for several years, and
have been forced to the conclusion that
the thorn considered as moral, or immor-
al agent, but as peg to hang dry-goods
on. On all other subjects President
Young is absolute monarch, but in matters
hold. With sorrow he semi-annually, or
even more frequently, confcsses in open
congregation that his wives Individually
and collectively snap their fingers defantly
under his nose when he attempts to lay
down the law regarding bonnets and pet
ticoats, and his multtudinous children
rise up and call him an old foo-foo when
he proposes untrimmed straw hats and
homespun frocks.
THE BONNET QUESTION.
In his recent address Brigham Young
went over the whole surface of woman, be-
be, and ending where there was too much
or too little of the other extremity ex-
hibitcd Prcluding with the statement
that the women before him in the cOngrc-
CATION did not wear bonncts that will Sc
cure their faces from the sun or shelter
their heads from the rain, because it is not
fashionable, but arc topped off with Just
such as the wicked women wear" he gives
his views as to what Il head covering
should be:
What do you say? 'Shall VIC intro
ducc Il fashion of our own and what shall
it be" DO you want us to answer and
tell You how to make your bonnets? Let
me say to you that, in the works of God,
You see an eternal variety, consequently
We do not ask the people to become Qua
kcrs, aud all the men wear wide .brimmcd
hats. and the ladies wear drab or cream.
colorcd bonnct> projecting in the front,
perhaps six or seven inches, rounding on
the corners, with cape behind. This is
Quakcrism that is, SO far as hcad-dresscs
are concerned for ladic, and gentlemen.
But while we do not ask this, We do ask
the sisters to make their bonncts SO rs to
shelter themselves from the storm and
from the rays Of the sun. | have heard
saying that three siraws and II ribbon
would make hcad-drcss for fashionable
lady,, This was year Or two ago"
Descending at Il single bound from the
head to the other extremity of woman,
Brigham Young announced his entire dis
satisfaction with the past aud present style
of dress skirts:
"a few years ago it took about sixteen
yards of common width cloth to make
dress for lady, for she wanted two or
three yards to drag in the streets, to be
smeared by every nuisance she walked
over. Now, suppose they make their
dresses out Of five yards and half and
then have abundance left for an apron.
They put me now strongly in mind Of the
ladies I used to see in Canada some years
ago, who made their dresses out of two
breadths of tow and linen, and when they
were in meeting they were all the time
busy pullin. them down, for they would
draw up. The young ladies look now as
if they needed somebody to walk after
them to keep pulling down their dresses"
Brigham thought it contrary to the gos-
pei they have embraced for young women
to wear dresses in need of constant twitch-
ing at the hem to keep them from puckcr-
ing up, or tilting up, and he blushcd rosy
red at the idea that the process of shorten
ing may go on until three. quarters of a
yard will be considered enough for full
dress pattern. He besought the ladies,
especially the younger and more buxom
sisters, to pause before proceeding to such
unconcealed defiance of his views.
TRIMMING-A DOMESTIC SCENE.
There is another feminine weakness
which he had become cognizant of to his
cost, and on which it seems he ventured
to expostulate with his wives in private by
way of experimenting before beratins all
female Mormondom collectively. lie
said {:
"Wheu you buy yourselves dresses. do
not purchase one for six or eight dollars,
aud then want twenty more for trimmings.
'What is the use of iii? 1 asked some of
my wives, the other evening, What is
the use of all this velvet-ribhon-perhaps,
ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty yards, on a
liusey dress?' Said I, what is the use of
it? Does it do any good?' l was asked,
very spiritedly and promptly, in return,
What good does those buttons do on the
back of your coat?' Said /, How many
have gotr and turning round l showed
that there were none there"
That's where he had them. The scene
affords good material for picture of the
Norman Presidents life in the bosom Of
his family. A score or two OF his wives
seated around the room, their laps and
work-tablcs hcaped with dresses in an in-