Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-01-25
Concerning Dress.

erned by petty prophecies. What IS the
use of having gorgeous dresses If one
doesn't show them to an admirins publicy
and where can they be shown to such good
advantage as on the street Everybody
cannot have carriages. and democratic
America Is not too proud TO GO on foot.
Going in that way, however, let US put the
best foot foremost. by all means. Because
Ms. Brown takes the air in her c0ufe, and
Mrs. Jones's barouche stops the way at
Stewards, shall Mrs. Robinson walk Broad
way in wr-tched alpaca, or dismal, di-
agonal serge,
Not at all. Mrs. Robinson admits no
superiority on the part of Mesdames
Brown and Jones. She is quite as good,
If not great deal better, than either of
them. Did not she know all about them
before the DAYS of the barouche or roupef
Consequently she is determined not to
suffer by comparison, at least in the mat
ter of toilet She arrays her pretty figure
in black silk costume. charming in
itself; charming for dinner party or
evening call; and oh, most charming of
all for promenade on our delightfully."-
clean metropolitan pavements, 1t has
demi-train, Of course-fashion before
common sense, whatever befall!-and
many ruffes, all of them bound by lovely
white gros grain, SO admirably adapted
for street-sweeping purposes. Her lilac
gloves three buttons and three dollars
her dainty lilac-velvet bonnet, with its
white plumes and French flowers, her
velvet jacket with costly lace trimming,
her delicate ermine furs, and her high
heeled, French kid boots, are all in per-
feet keeping. She has a serene conscious
ness, as she takes a final exhaustive sur
vey of herself, that she can bear the clos
est scrutiny of Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Brown
without fear of criticism.
The one comprehensive vcrdict-"ut-
terly unsuitable for the occasion"-ncver
crosses her Imagination; not even when
the sudden shower, which is not wholly
unknown in our climate, dragglcs her
plumes, spots her velvets, and drives her
for shelter into the crowded omnibus or
car, where her flounces are crushed and
her laccs torn by throng of lncongruous
refugees This is an accident, heart
breaking, certainly but to be endured like
other visitatons of Providence !
Mr. Robinson, who is not a rich man,
and who remembers little sorcly the first
cost Of the damaged costume, sometimes
inquiries pertinently-or impertincnily, if
YOU please-whether less expensive and
less pcrshable articles would not really
be more appropriate for pedestrian shop
pers. But Mrs r. "smiles superior"
What do men know about prophecies Of
dress? And even if the same idea comes
dimly to hcrsclf-somc day when she has
not been rained upon, but her black silk
is gray with the inevitable street-dust, and
she is vainly trying to flannelrub it into
freshness again-she puts it from her
with fatal recollection of Mrs. Brown
and Mrs. Jones. Her undying sense of
duty requires her to dress as they do; and
it does not lessen the responsibility that
her bricks must be made without straw.
Mr.. Jones is in public life, and doubtless
he can afford to renew Mrs. Us silk
dresses quite frequently-at the expense
of a long suffering public. Mrs. Browns
husband manufactures a patent medicine,
warranted-or at all events ingeniously
adapted--to increase the ratio Of infant
mortality Mrs. b. may be a lily of the
field, therefore, and flaunt her splcndors
when she will, in fair weather or foul.
There is no such justification for Mrs
Robinson, present or prospective. She
devoutly wishes that her husband r0ald
invent vermifuge, or soporifc, or get
himself made city chamberlain, or com
missioner of something. But he is not
likely to do either. Meanwhile, it is no
pleasure to her to pinch and scrape in her
housekeeping, thwartng Mr.. X. s hospjta-
bic propensties, and doing violence to
her own inclinations she does not en-
Joy perpetual patching and darning of UNI
der wear, and that ought properly to be
renewed she feels mean when she buys
cheap, ugly garments for her children,
that she may have more money to spend
for her own adjoining she is ashamed of
never having anything to give for a chart
table purpose; and yet, she willfully
smothers her finer instincts, her purer
perceptions, and persists in course that
degrades her in her own selfesteem. All
for what? That she may rival her richer
ncighhors in vain display-purposeless,
Intellectual, and equally opposed to good
sense and good taste.
Il Meanwhile, il is a relief to
come across, now and then, the represent
atives of different creed the creed
whose worship is of harmony, not vulgar
display.
It's keystone is not money, but good
taste, regulated by good principle. The
young wife. entering upon her married
duties with only moderate means at com
mand, will create AN harmonious atmos-
pherc about her through these essentials
She will not buy snowy furniture for her
cottage parlor, and leave kitchen and bed
room in disgraceful shabbiness she viii
not wear purple and fine linen when she
goes abroad, and dowdy wrappers for
home establishment she will not spread
feast for distinguished guest, and turn
away from her door a hungry beggar in
short, she will not make clean the outside
of the cup and platter, in any sense, to
the neglect of the inner and unseen, but
all-signiticant side.
She has her temptations doubtless
what woman is blind to the destinations
of faiNe, and Lyons velvet, to the refined
charm Of print and valenciennes, to the
seductive grace of curling plumes,
and the dainty marvels of French
millinery She looks wistfully sometimes
at the silken splendors piled on shop
counters, contrasts her fresh, young face
with the fat, shapeless one ofsome vain old
dowager, loaded down with tinery already,
yet buying more, and signs at the unequal
distribution of worldly goods. Perhaps
she mentally calculates the cost of
"swell' dress for herself, and takes in
rapid review the possibilities and contin