The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1876-02-23

BY MISS EVA WILLIAMS.

| at the expense of women and their dress!
From pulpit, lecture and press, there
rises one continuous clamor, until one is
tempted to wish that the whole male race
/ would turn dress-makers and milliners,
when - perhaps = this vexed. question
would be satisfactorily settled AS, how
ever, this latteri is scarcely practicable,
why do not these much-disturbed mas
culines don female attire, and go out
into the world as preachers of a new
Reformation, showing, by example, just
how we misguided daughters of Eve
should adorn ourselves
Talk of masculine women-discontent
cd spinsters and unhappy wives, who
would assume the attire and rights of
men, raising their squeaking voices in
noisy clamor for their so-callcd "liber-
/ tics !"-I grant you ones soul turns sick
at the mention Of them but can they be
more disgusting, more unsexed, than
man, '%the nOblest work of God, /" for
ever and aye discussing, and re-discuss-
ing, the number of ruffies that shall 90
upon a woman's dress And yet-this
country is flooded with just such feeble
limitations of manhood, Petty rhyms-
contemplate to win the love or respect
of AIRY true woman, delight in ceaseless
carping upon I" the extravagance of wO-
men" the country going to rum for
dress, ete.-while a still feebler folk
pirate loudly of pin-backs," high
heeled shoes" striped stockings" and
d" false hair" with high-sounding elo-
quence and questionable mOdesty
Poor, dear, much abused darlings
How my heart blecds for them l fear
not to wager that One-half of them-if
any woman has been cheated into mar
rying them-live with their wives peo-
ple'-while the money of the other half
goes for wine and cigars, but not fer the
mother and sisters at home. Bah my
soul is sick of the whole song Were it
not for the frequency of this thing, one
might he amused, if not at the wit of
the writer-which is notably " absent
without leave"-at least by their charm
ing seIf-cnnceit. But the joke has grown
so stale--So abOminably thread bare
that our outraged patience cries, hold
enough !''-unless it were of q better
quality. The dose has been repeated
I" ad nauseam," and a wearer of all these
deprecated 18th century denominations
would venture u word of feeble remon-
STRANGE.
In the first place, dear gallant, high
minded gentleman, sclat business is it of
yours if we choose to wear short skirts
or long skirts, high heels or no heels, if
we friZZ, and puff, and otherwise manip-
ulate our 9 crOwning glory" instead of
plastering it down on our fOreheads,
looking like patience sitting on a mon
ument," after the manner of the dear
aunt Jemimas and aunt Susans that you
are so fond of quoting to US ? In the
name OF every spark of manhood that is
in you, What business is it of Yours
Why don't you " let us alone" for. dcs-
pite all your croahing and lccturing the
women are going to do just as they please
in this mattcr-wear just as many ruff
tieS-juSt us much false hair, anu pin
back just as far as if you had never open
ed your Oracular lips upon the subject.
Men have been about six thousand
years iJ learning that there are some
things in which woman will have her
own way, and it seems to me that they
have not yet progressed further than 4
BIC.
Besides, every man, deep down in his
soul, has a firm respect for the fashions
that be, and no more enjoys seeing his
wife, or his mother, or-Or-somebody
that he hopes one day will pour out his
tea for him, dressed unfashi0nably, than
Il woman enjoys wearing her old bonnet
My dear" remarked my respected an
Cestor, one morning, - what ia the mat
ter with you 1t seems to me thatyOu
look rather-well-Tath skrimpy /"
Why, | thdt / was very nicely
dressed - " Well, perhaps you may be-"
was the somewhat doubtful response,
"but il seems to me that there is some
thing wrong" 1t may be well that /
. rise to explain" that the something
wrong" was attributable to my wearing
q dress Just a season behind the style ! 1t
sounds very we'll to talk and write about
" sweet simplicity" beauty unadorn-
ed, " and all that sort of poetic ponscnse,
but | tell you, in point of practice, il
wont do. A woman that dresses plain
ly, unfashionably, is voted dowdy,"
q" common" having no style and by
whom Her sister women No, that
were easier to bear, but by those gallant |
masculine autocrats, whom she - de-
lighteth to honor" Every friil and
flounce, every curl and crinkle, endears
her to the autOcrat's heart, and &te kH0lcs
it! He may not be able to tell just what
is lacking, but he feels that there Is a
lack somewhere, and We women know
that it is this much-abused thing called
Z" style" that the man wants.
/ once read of a lover who was deScrib-
ing his Dulcinea to a male friend. After
to n considerable length, he
awaited his friends response. What was
it Is she pure-true-womaniy Not
a bit of it. Here it is, verbatim
well, trot her out this evening, and !
let me sec her harness, and l will tell
you " hat think of her."
There is man for you-a man who
writes long effusions upon the extrava-
gance of wOmen-whO clamors for dress !
reform, etc. There he is-look at him.
- Let him see her harness and he will tell |
you what he thinks of her" All this !
has been so often said that | wonder / |
should care to repeat it-but so long rs
men consider it their especial province |
to find fault with anything under the sun, |
so il only be the fashion for wOmen-sO |
long will il behonve us to remind them |
that there are two sides to this question. |
Imet Brown the other day-the Brown |
who writes such man-delighting articles |
upon the Extravaganza of Women"
He declared to me shat the high taxes |
the depleted treasBfy-the impaired ma |
tioual credit, were all attributable to the /
folly of women in spending all |
their husbands earn in expensive and |
useless " finery."
why" said he, ''I@often tell my /
wife that if she were as economical as
I, we would soon have a nice little sum
in the bank, but as it is-----,'' and the
poor man sighed a sigh THAI seemed born
Of gros-grain silk and twenty dollar bon
nets
When the sigh had been waited
perhaps--I inquired, in
careless sort of way, What did your
hat cost, Mr. Brown ~ Brown has
weakness for beaver, you will remem
Der.
q Abem-abeu,-i T.p,, dollars 7 oave
sr felt for ordinary wear"
" And the suit you have ONT seems
10 be very neat one. You gave about
fifty dollars for that, did you not ?"
" Well, To tell the truth. that fellow
Smith made me pay seveaty-five dollars
-or this entire suit | did not think ii