Richland beacon., 1876-11-18
THE TIEBACKS.
A British Opin on OF me !. ASH.
ion OF the Period in Tight
Skirts.
fLondon Telegraph

in a thoroughly exhaustive
and ph,!osophie spirit the
claims OF the two sexes to the
common use Of the neither ha-
bilimcnts. the exclusive right
to which is arrogated by men
and not lightly do we thus ex-
press our regret, since the re.
searches of archaeology in this
department of knowledge open
the widest field for philG"ph.
ical speculation. Even as the
"garEaenture" advocated by
Mrs Mary E. Till"tson is of
"dual form for the legs" 80
does womankind in all ages
divide itself into two great
sections. Of those who wear
patent and conspicuous trous-
ers, and women who wear full
flowing draperies The frs
are the women of the east and
let it be noted that the count
less millions of trousers.wear-
ing Chinese, Turkish and
hindOo women. have always
been treated virtually asslaves,
have always been systematic
ally beaten. and have frequent
ly denied by the stronger sex
the possession of a soul to be
saved. On the other hand the
women who have worn flow
ing skirts ha g always been
more or less free, and have en-.
joyed more or less, equality
with men in the respect paid
to Il EN- and the influence
which they p"sse.sed. 1t is
rs easy to understand how the
first apron was made into a
pair If trousers as it to under.
stand how the first needle was
q thorn and in the infancy
Of the world it is probable
that trousers were worn by
all women who were servilely
subject to their lords. The
"garmenture" was not nor
mally a masculine but a femi-
nine one, at least among the
nations who were free. We
have. it is true, the dictum Of
HerodOtus as to the Persians
wearing leather breeches;"
aye and the Daciens wore bag
gy trousers with frills ar",lnd
the ankles; but the Greeks
and Romans scOrned the aid
of neither garments, and the
rheumatic Augustus was laugh
cd at by his subjects when he
adopted his feminalia from OF
the brache of the Gauls
Mountainers have been at all
times races remarkable for
petticrats in contradistinctiUn
to pantaloons; the fustanella
Or kilt is the favOrite dress of
the wild Albanian and the lip.
irote; while. $" late as the Pc
riod when DIR. Johnson under.
took ais tour to the Hebrides.
the act of Parliament prohlb.
iting the use of the Highland
costumes had not been opera
tive in persuading the High
landers tOwear breeches. They
assumed them when under the
eyes Of authority, but as
soon as Donald's foot was on
his native heath off came t e
hateful "garmenture of dual
FORM" which he was wont to
suspend by a pile over one
shouldcr.It is we'll, then, that
Mrs Mary E. Tillots"n and
the ladies who sympathize with
her should lay this cardinal
truth to heart-that petticoats
are not necessarily a badge of
slavery; whereas trousers
have been in all time a dis
tinctive part of the costumes
of the enslaved. mewed up, |
condemned, bambOoed and bas.
tinadOed oriental women. The
mother of the Gracchi wore no
such garmenture Trousers be.
long to tho apparel of the
meek and trembling Sultana
Scheherezade. For the rest.
the ladies have clearly the
right to wear what they like.
and in view of the alarming |
bills Of silk dresses which pas
ter familias il occasionally |