The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-07-19
Cur 0lio.
ARE WE c1vILIzEDY

rial anomalies, which perplex and humili-
ate us. Take an ordinary dwelling-house,
with its bad drainage and unscientifc ven
tilation; its clumsy contriyances of all
kinds; its underground caves. where the
servants stiAe through the day, deprived
of direct light and air, supplemented by
the windy perches under the roof assigned
them for the night its cruel stairs, the
WEAKNESS Of which could be so easily OBJ
waited by simple mechanical arrange
ment its bells which only summon and
do not explain why its wasteful CRATES,
where the wealth and well-being of the
world at large is dissipated to fry slice of
ham; its partial water-supply and INSULT
cient method os both heating and lighting;
its want Of protection against fire, and its
absence of sure way of escape should it
break out take the pipes which are always
bursting, and cannot be got at without
pulling the walls and floors to pieces; the
cistern into which the sewage gas escapes
by means of the waste-pipe that leads di-
rect into the drains; those drains them
selves of which no one knows the direction
or extent, which are always "going wrong"
and which often end in a cesspool right
under the house; take the wallpapers,
lined with putrid paste the heavy WOOL
len hangings, which hold dirt and dust,
and the germs of scarlet fever for months
after, like eggs hidden carefully in a nest;
take the insane, or rather criminal, ignor-
ing on the part of the architect of all the
laws of health, as influenced BY domestic
conditions; take our houses as the shell in
which We express and enclose our civiliza-
tion, and we are forced to confess that we
have not yet mastered the initial figure.
Are we more civilized in our dress than
in our dwellings? Not a whit. Our
guide and ruler here is that irresponsible
tyrant we call fashion, and neither comfort
nor beauty have word to say. To be
sure men have discarded many absurdities
though they have retained more. They
hold to their stiff shirt collars, which rasp
their necks; their wide expanse Of linen
front, which the very act of fastening rum
pies; their meaningless swallow-tails, their
hideous hats, their tight-ftting military
uniform, and all the mysteries Of seam and
gasset and band, which are mere symbols
Of the art Of cutting out, and not necessary
to the comfort of shape. But even with
the follies they retain they can move about
with ease and unhampered. Women, on
the contrary, torture themselves in the
name Of fashion with touching fidelity.
They would as soon forego their nationality
as their stays; and the thirty-nine articles
are less sacred to them than their multi
plicity of garments, all hanging from the
waist. 1t is to keep these up, and lessen
their heavy weight, that they put them
selves into steel cages, which destroy all
grace of line and all comfort Of movement,
save in walking. The beauty of simplicity
is thing dead and done with in their
code. Heads are loaded with false hair
stuck about with lace, feathers, flowers, and
colored glass; ears are pierced that bits of
crystalized earth, or limitations thereof, may
be hung into the holes; health is destroy
ed, and the tender vital organs which
nature has SO sedulously protected by the
outer casing Of ribs, are compressed and
crushed that the waistband may be reduced
to seventeen inches; and the highest efforts
Of military genius are directed to the most
elaborate method Of sewing one bit Of stuff
on to another bit Of stuff, to the confusion
of anything like leading line or an intel
ligible idea. We laugh at the Chinese
"golden water-lillies,' the Papuan head
dress, the Hindu nose-ring, the African
lip-distender we laugh while we look in
the glass, and complacently brush out our
frills, and congratulate ourselves on look
ing stylish" and "well got up" But our
highest efforts culminate in partial naked
ness in the middle Of winter if we are wo-
men, in black broad-cloth in the dog-days
if we are men-in absurd lengths Of silk
trailing after US as We walk, in the one
case, in ridiculous pennon meandering
at our backs in the other; they eliminate
in fashion, not in use, or beauty, or sim
plicity but while we do thus dress without
personal convenience or artistic meaning,
we have no true civilization in the matter
four clothes. Modern millinery is neither
art nor nature. II is our translation Of
the primitive mans delight in rags and
gaudy colors; and there is no essential
difference between the two. What differ
ence there is consists simply in conyen-
tional acceptance; but the aesthetic base of
each is tho same
We are supposed to have civilized the
forms and perfected the art ofsociety. We
look back on the rude feasts of our fore
fathers with disdain, and wonder at their
gross gluttony and coarse lavishness. But,
at least, they fed the poor in those days Of
ruder living, and feast, if wanting in
gastronomic art, was bountiful in hospital
ity. As Il is, hospitality is a name no
more. There is none Of it in the sense Of
sharing your goods with Others, in onr