New-York tribune., 1873-02-17
COIIIRS and CUFFS.

COLLARS AND CUFFS.
A correspondent in another column nan
laughs at the Board of Trustees OF Fassar
College. and half complains of their action IN
decreeing that the fair students of that lnstl-
tuition shall no longer wear collars and Guns
The reason for this interdict we are not In
formed of; but our correspondent suihclehuy
indicates that if the Trustees mean to inter-
fere with the costume of the undergraduates
at all. there is excellent reason for not stop
ming at the wrist and the neck. 1t appears, we
are grieyed to say, that the Vassar students,
or many of them, are addicted to tight lacing;
and of this cruel and it may be fatal absurdlty
the Trustees seem to be unaware. 1t appears
moreover, that the Vassar girls wear pounds
of false hair on their heads, not to speak OF
costly jewelry and rich dresses IL the
Trustees cannot restrain their propensity to
meddle with these matters, why did they stop
at the collars and the cuffs The truth is that
in almost every misses bOarding-school and
woman's college in the country there Is
tendency TO Overdressing, especially upon
public occasions, and i'll this way parents are
frequently put to good deal of quite unneces-
sary and embarrassing expense. In every large
collection of young ladies there must be some
who cannot as well as some who can afford to
dress extensively, and the moral effect OF this
difference may prove at least annoying. The
girls are at school solely for the purpose of
culture. Their business is with their teachers,
and not with milliners and jewellers and dress
makers. They do not go into what Is called
society," They have no occasion to set out their
physical charms. They cannot afford to spend
the time which a very careful toilette must
always require. They can still less afford to
be educated, through rivalry in costume, into
a notion of he exceeding Importance OF dress
Last Autumn. when the annual exhibitions
of the young ladies' Neutrality-suspicious. were
most frequent, we received great number oil
communications upon this subject from pa
rents who complained of the expense quite be-
yond their means, to which they were put
every year, by the splendor, sumptuousness
and elegance of the anniversary" dressing.
They did not complain without reason. Why
should Il young woman, who Is to appear per-
haps for no more than quarter OF an hour be-
fore the public while she reads her theme or
performss a fantasia upon the planO-tOfte,
think it necessary to procure for the occasion
dress of some costly stuff and OF still more
costly making up, together with ribbons, neck
lace, bracelets, laces, earrings, French gloves,
shoes and handkerchiefs For six weeks be-
fore the great day, the great question
of the girl is, What am l to wearf
She keeps up constant chatter with
her companions and a constant CORE
spondence with her unfortunate parents
upon the subject. Her father, of course, wishes
his beloved daughter to make as good an
tha Ia 10 nn N
the mysteries of the toilet but he does know
that good round sum is required, and he
sends it, sometimes when 1t cannot very well
be spared. He would hardly be father If
he failed to do so. These daughters make
but fond old fools of us all. Then the mis-
tress of the school is naturally anxious that
her bevy should appear as beautiful as possible
upon the interesting occasion; and good dress
ing adds to the respectability Of the school.
The consequence is that there is about as
much dressing for the exhibition of a Female
Seminary, as there would be for a ball at
Saratoga in the very tempest, torrent, and, as
we may say, whirlwind of the season.
The managers of the schools have it in their
power to remedy these evils. Frequently, ex-
cept upon great public days, seminary dressing
is shabby enough, not overtrim certainly, not
neat about the head and feet, and sometimes
not so cleanly as it should be. We are for less
attention to dress upon the day of the ami
versary, and for more attention upon all the
other days of the term. All that a schoolgirl
wants is good, plain, stout dress, with plenty
of warm underwear, and with conviction
which every well-instructed girl will feel, that
her underwear is of the first and her outside
gear of secondary Importance, so it be whole
and tidy. Let girl too be taught to take
good care of her hair, of her hands, of her
teeth, and of her feet, and to make the daily
bath a part of her religion. In word, let
her be educated to respect her bodily frame,
and to estimate at its proper value the cos
tune which covers it, thinking first of health
and secondly of taste, and not at all of merely
vulgar display. There are schools in which
this kind of education is considered to be Of
as much Importance as the study of music;
and there are schools, we are sorry to say, in
which it is thought to be of no Importance at
all.