The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-12-10
THE sIx-BuTToN PRINCIPLE.
Awful Discovery of some Ladies Of south
ern pennsylvania.
In. Y. Times.1

IN. Y. Times.1
Although the female dress reformers al-
ways demonstrate at their annual convention
that the practice of supporting stockings by
what are delicately termed ligatures insures
the moral and physical ruin OF the sex, no
successful substitute for the denounced ar
| ticle of dress has yet been invented. Certain
dress reformers have, IT Is true, devised
system Of halyards, brails. and downhauls,
which they assert are far superior to the dead
| ly ligature, but the intricacy Of all this rum
ming rigging, and the difficulty which mex
| perienced persons find In it's management
| have prevented 1t from coming into use. The
| inexperienced woman when thus rugged Is
very apt to make mistakes, and to find her.
self scudding under bare poles, in eonse-
| quence of having hauled away ON the down.
| haul when she had merely intended to take o
small pull at the halyards. Thus, few per-
| the improved stocking gear, and even these
| confess that. for the purpose OF catching an
early morning train, the despised ligattue has
| it's manifest advantages.
About two months ago the ladies OF three
successfully visited by slight, graceful and
unassuming young woman, who announced
| that she was the agent OF q "Women's Dress
Reform Benevolent Association and that
she desired to call their attention to new In
vention Of immense hyglenic value. The new
| invention consisted Of the application Of the
| button glove principle to hosiery. Of
course this Ia delicate subject, but, In the In
terest OF reform and public morality 1t must
| be discussed It is idle for us to ignore the
existence Of stockings, and 1t is cowardly to
shrink from performing O public duty be-
cause It involves an allusion to delicate
topic. Let us, then, go boldly forward and
young woman, as reported among the police
| news OF q Pennsylvania paper.
| While the substitution OF buttons for liga-
lures Or running rigging struck the ladies of
| the three counties as an admirable invention,
the amazing cheapness with which the agent
OF the alleged association offered to sell the
improved garments created immense enthusi-
asm. She said that the only object Of the as
ISOLATION was to do good, and that 1t was
| therefore prepared to sell the best quality. OF
six buttoned goods at one-half of their origf-
nal cost In confirmation OF this statement
she submitted photographic copies OF letters
| from President Hayes, Mr.. Tlden, Peter
Cooper. Stanley Matthews, and other 2,
that they felt that the introduction OF
boon which could be conferred upon
| the women of America, and simultaneously
ordered six dozen pairs of assorted sizes to 30
sent to their respective addresses. In addi-
| ton to these letters the agent exhibited a
sample Of the garment in question, which aD-
peared to. be OF the very best quality: The
opportunity was one which no prudent lady
every one to whom the agent applied ordered
at least half dozen pairs, to be paid for upon
| delivery.
There was, however, one little preliminary
which the agent insisted was Indispensable
| II she was to execute her orders to the salts
faction Of her customers. The human mind
shrinkss from mentioning this preliminary
but 1t cannot be ignored. II the buttons were
to be OF any use they must be so placed In re-
lation to the button holes that the garment
| would be neither too tight nor too loose
Hence when the agent produced a tape meas
ure and a note book. her view OF the matter
was at once conceded to be correct, and the
agents note book was furnished with the re-
quired data Thus that unassuming agent
went from house to house. throughout almost
the whole of three counties, cheering the
female population with the hope Of miracu-
lousy cheap and beautiful hosiery, and filing
her note book with statistics. Unfortunately,
that otherwise astute agent drank too much
whisky at the last town which she visited,
and. being arrested for disorderly conduct,
confessed that she was q man.
When the ladies who had ordered six-but-
ton hosiery learned the truth as to the I'M
assuming agent and the fate which had be-
fallen him, they denounced the wretch with
great vigor, and were unanimously OF the
opinion that combination OF wild horses and
red-hot pincerS could alone do justice to him.
To this outburst Of indignation succeeded the
terrible thought, what had the felon GUS agent
done with his collection Of statistics? Natu-
rally, this thought led straight to mysteries,
and for the next week the sale OF sal volatile
in central Pennsylvania increased to an UNI
precedented extent.
A deputation Of indignant fathers waited
upon the inconceivable villain in Jail and de-
manded the immediate destruction Of his note
book. To this request he declined to accede.
He admitted that his pretended association
did not exist, and that he had no intention OF
executing the orders which his deceived GUS
toners had given him, but he explained that
he was an earnest reformer and that he in
tended to publish the statistics in question,
in order that the medical fraternity might
become con WINGED of the blighting effect of
the ordinary ligature. Nothing could shake
his determination. He said that he had great
duty to perform, and that much as it panied
him to grieve anybody, he must perform that
duty. The indignant parents left his cell
much cast down in spirits, and after vainly
applying to the local court for an Injunction
forbidding the false agent to publish his sta
tistics, went home and reported their failure
to their wives and daughters.
The one question now agitating the public
mind in Pennsylvania is whether that wretch
ed felon will really publish his statistics. The
contingency in one which cannot be contem-
plated without a shudder; but at the same
time it is possible that there is more or less
merit in the pretended plan of adapting the
six-button glove principle to more esoteric
garments, and that the pretended reformer
has really solved the problem with which
professional dress reformerS have proved
themselves incompetent to grapple.
HOW KELLOGG CAME SOUTH.