The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1870-01-27
Fashion,

great and powerful charm in life spent in
great city. The idler who wanders up and
down Broadway and gazes in every shop
window and is pleased with everything he
sees which Yankee device has manufactured
to charm the eye and draw from the pocket
the almighty dollar" the laborer, of an hum
bier class, goes home from hard days work,
and, in his turn, is lured in by the deceptive
light of Gas, and his heart yearns after new
dress for his wife, as he remembers her rag
ged calico; the Doctor just from some lonely
death bed, is enveigheled away by the charm
of new book on Surgery and spends his last
fee which was to buy bread in the morning
for house full of hungry children-and the
wealthy New York wording, forgetting the
suferings of neighbor lavshes his money
for something which neither can be useful cor !
ornamental, but for moment grati6es the
palate. Nor is the Printer excepted from
this class. 1t is customary to do these things
it is the fashion, and we are all more or
less slaves to this vice-and it is fashion which
will make us poor and not the actual need of
money. Miss A. wont go to church next
Sunday morning because her "old basque
is not the style new! She wont 60 down the
street because Miss B. (whom she is sure to
meet) has a handsome new arab and she
hasn't one! Mr.. G. D can't 60 and see his
friend Miss B. because he's afraid she will
laugh at the hole in his hat which is an old
one and the back of his coat is pretty sleek
at the shoulders Miss E. hates to go to
Miss Fs party next Friday because her "white
Alpaca" is not the rage now and besides it Is
a trailing dress and short dresses are worn
moso.' and then, too, the new buckles on the
Marie Antonette Slippers of other girls
arc so pretty and hers are old and rusty and
Miss K. don't want to 80 shopping with Miss
S. because down at Pipers new store, there
are so many new fashioned " things and Miss
F. is going to buy some, and Miss K. can't,
because she hasn't got dollars enough, but has
as many more cents as Miss S. has dollars
Miss K. had better keep those cents and buy
the Valley Viryinian because that amt in
the fashion We have notions about some
things which have very often been laughed at
by our lady friends, and called strange and
odd, but we contend that they are neither.
But word more. In making the selec-
ton we have this morning we wish it distinct
ly understood that men are as guilty Of the
vice as women and perhaps in many cases to
greater extent, but men keep these things
hid, whereas woman is not so fortunate as
to be ableit to keep out from the eyes Of the
world those points which are attacked by the
popular tongue, such at least has been our
observation and is our opinion. If one of
our Staunton ladies were to visit the big city
Of New York, we doubt not that in many in
stances her style would be laughed at by some;
but young man you would, perhaps, share a
worse fate. New Workers in these days are
unable to appreciate the worth of Virginia
woman's heart, and they forget that they are
angels clad even as they may be in the attire
Of Southern poverty which they helped to
Il bring upon them. Some of our journals have
been most bitter in their denunciation of wo-
men who are slaves to fashion but have spared
the men as we intimated above. Indeed the
cynic when he has nothing else to snarl at,
and the wit when he is at loss for a laugh
turns to the foibles of women as never fail
ing source of qualification. They there feast
their vanity as authors, and there spleen as
men. Their triumph, however is often slen-
der and unsubstantial; full of "sound and
fury and signifying nothing! They cannot
preserve even their own independence from
the enemy they effect to despise.. You may
see the hero, who valliantly wrote down the
whole female world in the morning, Bringing
with the most ridiculous awe and awkward
ness, in the evening, by the side of spright.
ly, flirting girl, 1--WE could name) who attracts
or represses, repells, or raises, or depresses
him, makes him vain Or makes him sad, Just
as her caprice dictates. We confess it gives
us Infinite pleasure to see one Of these crab
bed, moralising, censuring teachers of the
fair made the very sport Of merriment, not of
the most amiabe and sensible of the sex, but
as more frequently happens, of some light
and lively girl, who has no other knowledge
than how best to display and use the charms
nature has bestowed upon her. We assert
this to be fact, and feel almost certain our
lady readers will to great extent corroborate
the statement? But of all the slaves of fash
ion, male or female, learned or simple, none
can pretend to equal our. Learned Physicians.
We do not pretend to set ourselves up as pat
terms, but acknowledge that both the Com
positors and Journalists are more or less in.
fuenced by the vice.
Some historians have at different times cut
the pattern of sound Philosophy, Just as a
modlsh Tailor does that Of a coat, or Mrs. U.
sets the shape of hat; and all the millinery
tribe follow implicitly. One season Miss G.
is the fashionable miliner, and everything is
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