The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-06-23
Fashionable Misery.

A few years ago one OF the American
magazines published pleasant paper,
detailing the advantages OF not belong>
ing to the respectable classes. "The
writer meant thereby, not that 1t was
disreputable, but that he was not "fash-
ionable." He had no assumed dignity
to support. Nobody knew him, and II
he chose to stop on the street to listen TO
a hand. organ, or watch the antics OF
monkey, or to buy peanuts and eat
them as he walked along, he did not
compromise his dignity. He was not
annoyed by troublesome restrictions on
his personal liberty. 1t was no matter
whether the polish was on his boots or
whether his hat was brushed. On Oc-
casion, on hot day, he could take his
coat over his arm, or on cold day, wrap
himself up in horse blanket.
While, perhaps, the "largest liberty"
is not desirable, and people on prone.
made with ladies must consult the pro-
prietes, there is freedom truly enjoy
able from fashions foolish and unreas-
enable constraint. Many occupations
Dul Iull uTbS5 anu OuO VA sho
question and they are occupations, too,
among the most useful and respectable.
There is one advantage which the pos
SCISSORS do not fully appreciate, and
which the votaries of fashion might
we'll envy. The man attired according
to his business is at ease and independ-
ent. The fashionable individual-or
person who would be so considerable
not at ease, and dare not do as he pleases.
He is dressed to please others. Not only
Is the matter of dress to male and female
fashionables thing of rigor, but in
other respects they are exposed to hard"
ships which would call for the forma-
ton of new society for their relief,
if they were only poor folk.
A London journal, the "PaN Mall Ga
zette," is eloquent dpon the suflerings
caused by Drawing. room" at Buck
ingham Palace. Hundreds of ladies sat
in low evening dresses in their carriages
for over an hour, waiting admission in
their turn. The afternoon was bitterly
cold, and the coachmen apd footmen,
without great coats, in knee breeches
and silk stockings, shivered even more
than the ladies. Admitted to the palace.
the victims of fashion waited Sin pens"
for another half hour, then paraded be-
fore Majesty, and waited another hour
before they could get away. we can
hardly wonder that some individuals
among the "nobility and gentry" hav-
ing had previous experience in these
= receptions, regretted and staid away.
This is an extreme case, and cannot
/. be repeated here, because not even the
|. ingenuity of our importers of foreign
If follies can find the opportunity to intro
n duce it. But there other and similar
~ cruelties which "fashion" does impose
,e upon those who are willing to submit
Ie There are plenty of customs, demanded
,e by the caprice of the day, the following
!. of which entails discomfort if not absO
Lutte suffering. There is no need to par
ticularze, since everybody's observa
tion can supply instances. The exper
10 ience of most people includes the doing
a of things which they would much rather
uOt uO, anu lllC OlulsSlOu Vi wv J
" would like, simply because "fashion'
in demands, or fashion dsapproves. Pos
1t tive discomfort, unnecessary expense
in absurd costumes, irrational hours, ant
n. personal subserviency, all these, ant
r, "many more distressibles" affiict ou
er fashionable republicans. They are th'
d, same in kind as the inconvenience
t. which the Pail Mall Gazette laments
id in the hard case of the ladies received
h at buckingham Palace. Sensible peop
at make short work of such disagreeabes
and dare to be themselves whatever tn
e, "fashion" may be, or they so modif.
er the "mode" in their own case as to allie
a viate its weight, and dispense with it
re eXtravagance.-Ledger.