Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-12-09

A clergyman's wife in Engla and, according to
r amy Fern, has lately set on foot a refor m
English reformers, she aims chiefly to elevate the
morals and manners Of the lower classes without
much reference to her own social equals. She
proposes thaf mo servant, under pain Of dis
bue klesor clasps earrings, ckets, neck-ribbOns,
velvets, kid gloves parasOls, sashes, jackets, or
trimming of any kind ON dresses, and above all,
no crinoiDe No pads TO be worn, or friZettes,
or chignons or hair-ribbOns The dress Is to be
gored and made just to touch the ground, and
the hair to be drawn closely I'd the head. under q
round white cap, without trimming of any kind.
The same system of dress Is recommended for
sunday school girls, school mistresses. church
singers. and the lower orders generally" The
remark Is obvious, that in this country such n
course of discipline would involve the mistress,
not the maid, in the "paIn Of dismissal The
American clergyman and clergyman's wife who
should even recommend such a costume to a
schOolmistTess. church singer or Sunday school
girl-to say nothing of the rest of the slower
orders"-would soon find themselves without
teachers, without pupils, without a choir, and
probably without a parish. Ii is comfort to
think that even III older countries there is less
and less OF this impairment interference; the
costume Of different ranks is being more and
more assimilated; and the incidental episode Of
a few liveres in our cities is not enough Ia in
terfere with the general current. Never yet, to
my knowledge, have l seen livery worn by a
white American, and to restrain the Sunday
bonncts of her handmai,lens what lady has at
tempted? This is as il should be. The Sunday
bonnet OF the Irish uamSei is only the SYMBOL or
very proper effort TO obtain her share of all
social advantages. Long may those ribbons
wave! Meanwhile, 1 think the fact that it is
easier for the gentleman of the house to control
the dress of his groom than for the lady to die
tate that of her waiting maid,-thi must count
against the theory that it is women who are the
natural arstOcrats.
Women are no doubt more sensitive than men
upon matters of taste and breeding. This is
partly from greater average fneness of natural
perception, and partly because their more Sc
eluded lives give them less of miscellaneous con-
tact with the world. If Maud Muller and her
husband had gone to board at the same board
ing-house with the judge and his wife, that lady
might have held aloof from the rustic bride,
simply from inexperience in life, and not know
ing Just how to approach her. But the Judge,
who might have been talking politics or real
estate with the young farmer on the dOOrsteps
that morning, would certainly find it easier to
deal with him as a man and brother at the
dinner table. From these different causes wo-
Ilen get the credit or dscredit of being more
sristOcratic than men are, so that In England
the tory supporters of female suffrage base 1t
on the ground that these new voters at least will
be conservative. But on the other hand, it is
women, even more than men, who are at
tracted by those strong qualities Of personal
character which are always the antidote to aris-
tocracy. No bold revOlutOnst ever defied the
established cOnventiOnalisms of his times with
out drawing his strongest support from women.
Poets and novelists love TO depict the princess as
won by the outlaw, the gypsy, the peasant.
Women have a way of turning from the insPid-
tiles and proprieties Of lite to the wOoer who has
the stronger hand; from the sikcn Darnley to
the rude Boutwell,. This impulse is the natural
corrective to the aristOcratic Instincts of woman
hood; and though men feel itless, it is still even
among them, one of the supports of republican
Institutions. We need to keep always balanced
between the two influences OF refined culture
and of native force. The patrician class, where
ever there is one, is pretty sure to be the more
refined the plebeian class the more energetic.
That woman is able to appreciate both elements
Is proof that she is quite capable OF doing her
nd r.nli hi L. ,,l.
clergyman's wife, who deyotes her soul to the
trimmings and gored skirts OF the lower orders,
IL no more entitled to represent her sex than are
those ladies who devote their whole souls to the
"nOvel and intricate bonnets" advertised this
season on Broadway.-Co,H igginsoa IN Woman
Journal,