The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-06-13
Tho Age OF KafHos.

lineage OF Kafaaes.
l.. Time was when eight to ten yards OF
calico or other stuff would make a woman a
comfortable dress. Now it takes from
twenty to forty yards, and the making costs
double the material. In the good old days
q few sswidths" served every purpose But
then women were modest, "slow," and took
short steps. Nowadays such strides OF
progress are made that anaverage strong
minded oma would split an old fashioned
frock from hem to waist at the first crossing.
1t is emphatically the age OF rufaes, Oh ex-
| cessive, unnecessary, foolish, furious orna-
mentation in female dress. Twenty-Five
million dollars a year would be a low esti-
mate for the money needlessly ~squandared in
over.dressing. Ye gods! Whe would be a
modern washerwomun! What with rufhes,
ruches, frills, quilts. founces, furbeloWs'
pipings and other frippery, jlggery n
general crumpling OF female attire, tie
life OF q clear stsrcher must be miserable
beyond expression. Good heavens! Thick
oil. the labor OF ironing!
1t has been ably argued that the destruc-
ton Of beautiful outlines by piling on super
auous ornament is 30 lnartistic that it only
requires allttle more knowledge on the part
ofwomen oftbe rules OF art to make them thor
oughly ashamed OF it. Moreover, ifthey are
yet SO welded to ruf1es that they cannot get
away from them, let them at least make a
distinction between the practical, ordinary,
simple dress OF the street and every day and
the robe OF the salon-the toilet OF cere-
mony-which, as far as possible, should al
ways possess grace and distinction. 1t is
true that society dress almost excludes
brains from society (; for even a man cannot
give his mind to scientific research il ne
| gives it to his necktie but still, there should
he, in our social attire, an exhibition OF care
and taste expressed in color, in fneness aud
softness OF fabric, or in the amount OF deco
ration, according to individual preference
and here frills and founces could donfish
without let or hindrance.
All this is very sensible but to hope to
get back per .salbam to stem yards OF calico,
"a. pretty collar, q black silk apron, and q
.'brooch," or to expect the dear-that word
might be ltalicised-creatures to follow the
absurdBld custom Of !'tgetting a waist pat
stern and keeping it for a dress-maker to
..scoma by the day and cut others by" is
simply: preposterous. As we'll hope to get
back to the hg leaf. True, it is hard on
fathers and husbands to foot the bills OF the
mantuamakers, and not easy, we should
think, on the fair beings to follow the inces-
ssnt changes OF the electromagnetic
cut, rip, buy more material, or a dress out
right, to save time and trouble. It must be
hard, we say +; but evidently they don't think
60 I; and il they don't think 30, what'sthe use
OF talking?
No, we make no quarrel with the prevail
ing style. On the contrary, we sometimes
think that this style makes the most OF every
woman, and helps the homely ones anaz-
ipgly. We quarrel not. Argument, ihvec-
tive, satire, are alike wasted in this bust
ness. Only We humbly thank our lucky
stars that our living is not made by manipu-
latisg soap suds and fat irons.
On second thoughts, We do quarrel, and
quarrel savagely. Why should the women
have al the good things to themselves' We
men have submitted too long to meek SIM
plicity in dress. Our tempers are ruf1ed
often enough. Why should not our breeches
be so also? A pair Of white pants, with
blue rufles up to the knees, would be quite
neat and summary. A green swallow-tail
coat, hounced with yellow up to the small Of
the back, would be very sweet. A cross.
barred red and black waistcoat, with narrow
white satin pipings around the pockets, and
a cheese. colored shirt, with ruf1ed collar
and cuffs, would be quite stylish and tasty.
With rosettes in our shoes, and frizzled hair,
we would be in keeping with our wives and
sweethearts. Lets do It. Let's rufde. Let
us all frill, dounce, friz, quill, ruche, pipe,
gimp, gump and oversklrt unanimously.
The ladies will no longer be ashamed of us,
and the effect of o street thronged with
rafHed men and women will be enhancing.
1t will pay double then to stand as hour or
two on Sunday to see the churches break up
and the congregations come founcing and
frilling out Of the front doors. The air will
be agitated a good deal, and hot weather
will be more endurable.
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Light Literature.