The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-12-19
ssZHE gjzRlBuNE.
STYLISH WOMEN.

In the good old age Of which we have
all heard so much and know so httie,
the great charm of woman was to be
domestic The lords of creation were
very patronizing and complementary If
only s'lovely women knew her place
and kept it. The kitchen was her king
dom, and the culinary art and It's tradl-
,ions her one study. To have aspira-
tons beyond the range of the frying pan
was shockingly unfeminine. Her place
was among the scullions,
One change has succeeded another
until now it is the mode OF those VINO
pride themselves with being up to the
times to effect, in a !anguld Way, that
impalbable, undetnable sometnIng or
nothing, known as style me en9er
ings of to-day fall down and worship
his delifed ideal. It is the fetish Of
society. and more potent divinity
could not be asked for by the devotees
of fashion. The sun who knows no other
armament than ''our set sees IN all his
circuitings nothing SO sublime, so lovely
and so winsome as style. lt IS the
mantle that hides all defects the key
that opens every door on the avenue
the countersign to che most exclusive
camn: the o{l6i Of Mr.. Weller, and
Alfred David Of Roger Riderhood. Pos
sessed of that, the happy woman heads
off criticism, lowers pride. dIsarns pre-
iud1ce. slays arrogance, qulckens lawn
ing. and performs all the teats taught ID
the gymnasium of genteei society. Such
at least is the estimate put upon style
bv some weak woman and q few weaker
men.
This notion, that to be stylish Is the
chief end Of woman, is down right shod-
DIV. Stvle is the last refuge CT lmbecIll-
ty, of ugiiness and Of ignorance. 1t is
never the goal of lady IN whose veins
course the blue blood of genuine arls-
tocracy: in whose head the ideas which
make this eye sublime find familiar
home, and whose heart beats in unison
with the better aspirations OF humanity.
The suddenly rich, the "bran new, aud,
above all, the stupid, make up the rank
and file of the ''stylish" The stylish
woman may lack beauty and brains it is
all the same. Her conversation may
never rise above empty platltudes. She
Hatters herself that she does her dress
maker credit by carrying her fine feath-
ers with killing air, and that is enough.
Appearance has been the absorbing idea
DL HGE 1llG, anu AiiS az 1881 iSocL'N "
she supreme goal of being called stylish,
she com placently looks upon herself as
entire. wanting nothing. Now the wo-
man of this type, with her absurd Gre
clan bend, Tichborne crawl, or whatever
new folly fashion FORCES, IS little better
than the mantua-maker' dummy, She
Is bue{t, not born.
The ideal woman has taste in dress,
bp,--alP
bv ignoring the shiftingS of fashion
but her wardrobe is not the closet OF
her deyotions. She esteems those Incl
dents Of life at their real value. Her
ambition is to. make those within the
circle of her influence better and hap
pier. She is not vain Of her own charms
nor enyIous of those possessed by others.
She walks without the aid Of stits. BY
the instincts of her nature and the force
of habits formed by the familiar associa-
tions with good society, she observes the
proprietors of all occasions without any
apparent effort. Beneath, yet above.
the manners of genuine gentility, which
are indefnable but unmistakable, there
is a cultured. vigorous and judicious
mind, coupled with heart agloW with
the white rays of spotless sun.
The girl OF the period has ample lels
IRE to acquire a good education, and the
woman of the period has, on an average.
more time for reading, than the other
sex, Ignorance, then, is without ex-
cuse. Austere women are repulsive
but knowledge COMFORTS well with that
delicaey which is feminine without being
etfeminate, and with that regard to ex-
ternals which is lady-hke without being
degenerated into an absud worship Of
triAes.- Chicago Journal