Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1872-08-29
Dancing in. "FuH Dress"

not because Terpsichore dances, TO!
dancing in itself may be as innocep
as a birds flying; not because sh'
loves beautiful attire, for exquisite
dress is a feminine fine art as meet
for woman as the flowers tint Of
the binds pIumage. I sigh at the
sight. Of my pretty Terpsichore be-
cause the first bloom of her exquisite
youth is being exhaled' and lost for
ever in fevegsh, false atmosphere o:
being: Something OF delicate sensi-
bility, something of unconscious in.
nocence. something Of freshness and
feeling, # purity of soul, is wasted
with the freshigoupg bloom of hel
fcheek,i I'm the midnight revel length
eneJ into morning; wasted in the
heated dance, in the indigestible feast
in the wild, unhealthy excitement
through which she whirls night after
night. Terpsichore, in her tattered
tarlatan dress, creeping to bed in the
gray Of the. morning, after having
danced all night, is sad sight to see
to any one who can see her as she is.
-Terpsichores mother would be.,a
sadder sight still, if she were not a
vexatious one. She brought back
from Europe the notion, which so
many of our courtry-women think it
SO fine to bring, that "full dress" is
necessarily next to no dress. SlLa
tells you in a supreme tone that ad-
mirs no denial that you would not be
admitted to the drawing-room Of a
court in Europe unless in full dress
viz: not semi-nakedness. She would
be nothing if not European in style.
Thus night after night, this mother
of grown-up daughters and sons ap-
pears in crowded assemblies in attire
that would beft in outline. a child OF
eight years of age. :"
Thus in republican Washington, in
glaring drawing-rooms.. weare treated
10 ays5aaisof female anatomy asFnich
is appalling. Don't tjump to the con-
clusion that l want every lady to 60
to a party in q stuff dress, drawn Up
to her ears; nor that I am soprudish
j. as to think no dress can be. modestly
as well as immodestly low. No mat
ter how it be cut, the way in whieha
! dress is worn is more impressive than
tire dress itself. l have seen young
girls shoulders rise from her muslin
irock as unccnsciously and as limo
Gently as the lilies IN the garden; and
l have come upon a wife and in a
public assembly SO dressed Br pro
miscuous gaze that l have inyolunta-
rily shut my eyes with shame.
I never saw Lydia Thompson; but
from. what I have heard of h her. have
come 10 the conclusion THAT her attire
is Just as modest as that of many Ia
dies whom I meet at fashionable par
ties. They cast up their eye in hor-
ror at the name Of poor Lydia Thomp.
son 1Aey go'to see Lydia Thomp.
son No, indeed How could theil
eyes endure the sight of that dread
full woman? No less they themselves
offer gratis to a promiscuous company
every. evening a sight morally quite
as dreadful. The men who pay theiI
money to Lydia Thompson and hel
troupe know that their dress and
their buflesque, however qnestiona.
Bile, make at once their business and
their Livelihood. They cannot max
the ssme excuse for their own wives
their sisters and their sweet t-ieSrts, /
they see them scarcely less modestl!
attired in some fashionable ball room
Remember this: if you ever find yoar
sell il such a place, the best men II
that room at heart, are not delighted
with SUCH displays. Being men, thel
will look at whatever is presented t
their gaze; more. many wjll'comph
ment and Aatter the very women
whose vanity at heart they pity O.
despise; but it will always be with ;
mental reservation, My wife shoulc
never dress like that
"I don't want to see my sister dan
cling round dances for hours in the
arms Of man whom even | cannot
think OF without horror; and if.-
dances with HIN again II not. 60 tc
another German, said'a young MAI
to his mother this,very winter. Thi:
is perpetually the faot, and it is tht
dagger and the shame of toe rount
dances. Young girls, guarded from
baby from sll contact with vice
from all knowledge OF men as they
exist in their own world OF clubs anc
dissipation. suddenly "come out, tc
whirl night alter night, and week af
ter week, in the arms of men who's,
lis!.test touchis PROCLAMATION. Itwoult
be long before 1t would dawn upor
the giri 10 dream OF the evil IN tha
man $ heart; far longer to learn tht
evil If his life; yet no less to her, in
nocent. and young, in the very asso
citation and contact th ere is uncop
scious pollution. There is a sacred
ness IN The very thought of the bod,
which God created to be the human
home Of an immortal soul. Its very
beauty should be the seal of its no
Illness. Everywhere in scripture it
sacredness is recognized and enforced
Therein we are told that the bodle
are the temples Of God. We ar
commanded to make them meet tenn
pies for the indwellins of the Hol,,
Spirit. Our very dress, in its har
mony and purity, should consecrate
otdesecrate, the beautiful home Q
The soul.-Na7y Cleney Ames, IN til
I.depe7adent.
.essr A lady. in Lewiston. Me, has
dress WHICH she has worn every summe
; frsstaentssharei yearss SIka edryaeood
men, look upon, her with perfect: scptr
,,,h;ia oh afis, hnlnvad Nl,,,;y rho rrYo