The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-11-06
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I A writer I'm the Kansas iaRsdgdsfne giyesth
following account of Che women found along
the, western frontier: al know of no female
inhabitfng the border vii eruessof our Coun-
try who, has not some of the refinement
which belongs rather to sex than to race,
except the Indian squaw. A woman whose
face bears any evidence of relationship
with any Of the dominant races of the
world has something about her, wherever
you find her, which Is womanIy and attrac-
tive. The borderer's wife does not swear
nor chew tobacco, nor offer any suggestion
Of immodesty In action or word. If I
might be allowed to coin the expression,
would say that the standard of delicacy
by which the border woman's sensibilities
were governed was different and broader
one than that in common use. She as
sociates with men, and very coarse ones.
she Is intimately acquainted with and
Interested In all their affairs. She Is accus-
toned to wildness and danger, and learns to
be strong of hand and nerve, and to he cool
In sudden emergencies. l have been amused
to note that woman who was complete mis-
tress of recacitrant mustang would utter
the little cry of her sex and ingloriously re-
treat at the sight of one of the harmless little
lizards which infest the prairie paths of the
Southwest. On the border, the old business
OF the sex, to look pretty, receives as much
attention as it does anywhere. There is not
much choice Of MATERIAL calico is the article.
Valenciennes and Mechlin, and all the cum
ming variations in name and material which
make up the lexicon Of the modern dry.goods
clerk-even the cant about "chaste" colors
and "pretty" styles-are utterly unknown to
the belle of the border. AS she tits
back in hidc-bottomed char like man it
is easy to perceive that feet which are not
always coarse arc incased in brogans, con-
structed with Il special view to the rough
ness OF Wayslde stones, the penetrating
qualities of early dew, and the gravity and
responsiveness of kicks administered By
them. The neck, sunburned, but not always
wanting in due proportion and natural
Whiteness, is ignorant of collar or contine-
ment. Waist and limb are unconfined by
any of the devices which are supposed to be
so necessary TO style; and the hair, combed
straight and smooth, is twisted into tight
little knot behind, which, as compared with
the enormous mysteries which for these
many years have been carried about beneath
the hats Of fashionable women, remind one
OF the knob on an old-tashioned bureau
drawer. III 4 frontier toilet there is Il lack of
the two essentials of starch aud whtencss.
Cleanliness there il. to be sure, but it is Il
cleanliness OF material and fact, and fails i'll
any suggestion of daintiness. 1t is upon
the calico mentioned that the efforts Of
taste are mostly expended. There are ruff
hes there, and bias strips and founces, and
hundred pretty and fantastic devices which
is beyond masculine technology to describe.
Yet there arc no prescribed fashions for these
vagaries in dress. There are women here
whose hair falls in troublesome abundance,
and will not be confined; whose checks, if
they could but know the absence of the Gu
rcsscs of the sunhcams and the boistcrous
kisses of the wind, would show the cleareSt
white and the bonniest bloom. There arc
limbs which shuttle Slip-shod along trails i'll
search of lost animals, of whose round
strength the owner has little thought, and
arms which split frewood and bring water
from the spring whose whiteneSs and mould
would fit them rather for the adornmcnt of
golden clasps and folds Of ancient lace