Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-06-06


=, Are good, because the good Lord lays
!, No bound Of shore along the sea
= or beautiful Eternity
= From the I.ondon) Pail Mall Gazette.I
s The Absence OF the Bonnet.
/,
2 The name Of the bonnet, we believe
V still survives for a curiousIy-exagger-
/ arted ornament Of the hair; and it is
possible that in the female mind, the
j subtle ways Of which are unseacha-
r bic, some kind of historical unity
s with respect to the article has been
T kept up, so that women may still i'm
: agine that they wear bonnets. But.
: as men understand things, bonnets
e have ceased to be. 1t is the most
: complete innovation of dress made for
!, several years. We are not always set
: ting up the past against the present.
] The existing female fashion is always.
3 IN our judgment, the most charming;
0 II Is so for the reason -tltut- 10 rs the.
r only one embellished by actual wear.
Not one of the old ones has a single
2 pair of bright eyes or rosy cheeks TO
recommend it. Besides, the celestials
r surely need not ask those to whom
they show themselves how they are to
} fed in any suppicatiOn of a critical
} kind, it is when they ask that women
should reveal, not hide, their faces;
and in leaving off the bonnet, the sex
has gone to the full limit in that point
of their attire. No woman in Eng
land now conceals a single feature.
Forehead, cheeks, dimpled or Undim-
pied chins, ear-tips, all are visible.
In speaking of the change of ap-
pearance caused by the absence of the /
bonnet, we know better than to be |
critical; we are dealing with it only as |
a matter of abstract speculation and /
/ respectful reminiscence. First of all, /
it undoubtedly does away with a
striking difference previously observed /
between the indoor and outdoor look
of women. A bonnet more or less
transformed the wearer; in some cases
the alteration it made was inexplica-
/ bly, great. The change might not al
ways be advantageous; at times it was
| decidedly so; but in every case there
was change of some sort and degree.
! This Is clean gone. Now we see wO-
men, indoors and outdoors, with Just
/ the same play of light and shade upon
| the countenance; that is, with all the
[ light possible TO fall upon it. 1t is
true, other parts of dress in the same
way are becoming modified. For
some seasons past feminine drapery
has been growing less and less con-
ceeling. Our streets promise to show
US crowds of ladies as little reticent
of the principal lines of feminine con
tour as in the seclusion of home. Ev-
cry year the celestials become kind
er, increasingly revealing themselves
to casual behOlderS. Men have never
/ yet faced the streets with wholly un-
/ covered visage. The narrowest of hat
brlms has always cast little modest
shadow on the masculine features.
Now doubt the ladies Will say the
creature is bold to show his face at
ali; but our present topic is bOnnets,
and we must keep to it.
Bonnets, during the vogue of some
styles, used to produce wonderful ef-
fects on the complexion of the wearer.
Softened CLEANS of reflected lights,
faint tints or welcome color, not seen
when the face was no longer within
the bonnet, trembled there so long us
it was observed in that conjunction.
Mistakes were fearful, we admit. At
| times cheeks glowed like a sunset or
turned of indescribable hues, ever
/ greenish. How it was done one may
not pretend to know. We fancy we
heard something about silk and satin
Innings; bat these are high mysteries.
! Then, besides being in that way pos
tive resource of the toilet, a bonnet,
within the limits of manageable di-
mensions, lent itself to skillful art
of wearing. A face conscious of its
attractiVeness could bewitchingly balk
| the gaze, or else cut the vision at al
most any selected stage of incom-
pletenesss BY means of the bonnet
woman could vary the profile view
/ through a series of moon-like phases,
! the charming vision obscuring and (
eclipsing slowly. Your coquettish
knew to half an inch the exact set
of the head required in each case; it
was a necessary feminine accomplish
ment. All this is over. The tantal-
izing persistence of the bonnet which
would not turn to give the opportuni-
ty of q second look, after the first
hasty one is gone; male artifice is no
longer needed to obtain full inspec-
ton. A beauty once across the
threshold can no longer wilfully hide
The face, no matter how fair, is there
for all to see, and for all to see all of
it. a beautiful face hidden inside
the bonne. gave the finder a sense of
personal and exclusive discovery.
This enjoyment no man can now have. / ,
Extreme bonnets there were at some !
periods which made discovery impos-
sible; the range of the human vision
was not sufficient to ascertain what
really was at the far end of them. But
extremes may fairly be omitted from
observation.
What is now worn-we must not
4 II. e D
then, an exaggerated ornament of the
hair. The essential characteristic of
the bonnet is that it modifies the face;
whatever variations fashion takes it
through, it must keep some power of
affecting the light and shade on the
features. So soon as what is worn di-
minishes to a degree which prevents
this, or is wholly removed from vicin-
age to the countenance, the male in
/ tellect, at any rate, requires that 1t
should take another name. It has
| ceased to be a bonnet. What is at
present worn has no relation to the |
/ facets obvious purpose is to display Z
/ the hair This is not merely another
purpose; it is Something contrary. II
/ The hair is a Characteristic female
charm, which, until recently, is was
/ a long-standing English custom not
fuliyto display. 1t was an indoor dis
closure, greatly restrained there.
/ Now a good deal more than every inch
/ of il Is OstentatiOusly exposed to the
public gaze. For that has happened
which a moments thought is enough
/ to show was inevitable. The hair is
a charm in which women are very un-
/ equally endowed; but it is also one in
which deficiencies can be most easily
rectified. Under the stimulus of the
/ abiding purpose which every woman
has to be behind no other woman in
what is admired, ali the sex now pre-
sents the same incredible wealth of
tresses. This has gone on till the
adornment of the head has lost all
natural character; it has become an
accepted and understood art hcial
construction. Faith, however, IS a
much neglected duty, and here Is a
fresh opportunity for its cultivation.
Men ought always to make an effort
to believe. In any case, this Is the
last proof possible of the kindness of
the sex; they now publicly show men
the whole of their hair. 1t was pos
sible in the latter respect to go fur
ther, and they have gone further.
The fashion has now been IN eXis-
tence so long that there are women,
no longer juvenile, who have never
worn a genuine bonnet. Whenever /
the ladies think they have shown men i
enough of their cheeks and too much /