Daily globe., 1878-01-22
MASCULINE COSTUME.

|
| his friends.
MASCULINE COSTUME.
MRS. s,cissheln. Makes a Sarage Assault
sspO,a Ma,s's Ha6iliments.
! Sw1ssvALE, Pa, Jan. 12.-Our brethren of
the press seem quite startled by my assertion
that pantaloons are not the ultimatum of
Dress Reform. Yo. tall men have so long
sat on your sublime height of fancied superi-
ority, and looked down on us poor little
women, led captive by the tyranny of fash
ion as we are; that French dancing masters
dictate what you shall wear, and how you
shall wear it; and that you follow their die
tation more blindly than women do that of
their Partisan divinities. It certainly is an
open question whether you do not suffer
quite as much as we do from this following;
and have sewed on too many buttons to be
blind to your folly. Fashion never invented
more unphysiological garment than that
which, for qnarter of a century, has been
the distinguishing glory of the wiser sex.
Tens of thousands Of men suffer from wear
ing it, agonies quite as acute as any that wo-
men inflict upon themselves by their suicidal
dress; and it is probable that doctors know
the cause or aggravation of their trouble,
just as they know the cause of the ailments
of women, and feel that the patient will en-
dure any amount of suffering, and death
itself, rather than wear questionable gar
ments.
We have much talk of the inconvenience
of ''pullbacks;'' but whoever saw man lift
anything from the ground without taking
1,,4I Lo,, 4<>l III
to make room for the bend of his knees and,
feeling that he risked his suspender-buttons,
and accommodated his motions to the fear of
losing them? Day by day our most sensible
men get into garments which intefere with
motion i'll any but an upright position, quite
as much as the most ultra sspullback'' worn
by the silliest butterfly of fashion. They
also distort the outlines of their figure quite
as much as do women. Suppose one of them
were made with lower limbs of cylindrical
form! How would he feel about it? How
would he use pair of legs as thick at the
ankle as above the knee? Yet this is the
shape they all make themselves They also
put Oh long boots and pantaloons over them,
thus conducting the gases from the feet up
around the body, and keeping it in foul
vapor-bath. There is no more appropriate
covering for mans foot and leg than cav
airy boot; but it should be worn with knee
breeches and the top fastened up to the belt.
Pantaloons and long boots are not made to
go together; and the pantaloon, in any case
IS an awkward contrivance, always Topping
around the ankle, impeding locomotion and
catching dirt.
Next, consider the physiological properties
of modern shirt; which covers the chest
with slab of linen as impervious to light
and air as marble headstone! Consider the
neck-band, which must not lack more than
the sixteenth of an inch of strangling the
wearer, and must be as hard and solid as the
brass collars worn by our Saxon forefathers
in the British Isles as a token of their sub
lection to their lords, Just as their sons now
wear their counterpart in evidence of their
bondage to their French dictators! Think of
their wrist bands, which more resemble hand
cuffs than dress; and the paper collars, with
their poison-dressings to which sensible men
have sacrificed their lives.
Look at the buckram pads used to give the
appearance of unnatural breadth to the
shoulders, which project like the roof of an
overshot barn, and leave the sleeve hanging
by the caves, giving painful impression of
insecurity or invisible brackets to support
that particular architectural design! The
amount and quality of buckram masonry to
keep up this false appearance must be very
while the fold upon fold of cloth worked into
a collar aids in the debilitating process.
Why should mans shoulder, and chest,
and neck be shingled any more than wo-
mans waist weatherboarded? In both cases
that indispensable requisite to health and
comfort, fexibility, is sacrificed to false and
spurious taste. The idea suggested is that of
mixture, part garment, part iron coffin, and
both men and women are sad caricatures of
humanity.
Women bear their bondage more easily
than men, for one never sees woman in
public try to relieve the pressure on her poor,
pinched sides, but one seldom talks ten min
utes with a man without seeiug him run his
fingers around between his pinched neck and
infiexible collar of seryitude. The muscles
are always demanding room to expand and
contract-always want space in which to
move-and this fashion does not allow. The
man tries to relieve the cramped muscle, but
must obey fashion, and so is fidgety, and
shows his discomfort.
A mans throat requires, and should have,
no clothing but his beard; and his garments
should never fit SO closely around the neck as
to prevent the escape Of heated air arising
from the body. An athlete to become such,
bares his neck and bosom to sun and wind;
and the man whose chest is buried under a
marble slab the hottest day in summer is
about certain to become dyspeptic. But, as
if this were not enough, they must needs ex-
clude light and air from their parboiled
bodies by wearing heavy black broadcloth
suits while the thermometer is in the nine
| ties, all the same as those worn when it is in
the twenties
But the most absurd part OF a mans' at,
tire is his head-gear, the most unaccount-
able things he wears on the top of his head
alike in prairie storm or an overheate6
railroad car. The badness of about one
third at 40 does not teach them anything
The go on sacrificing hair and head to hat
and shiny, stiff, air-tight steeple on his
Uranium is the crowning glory of mans
life.
| Take it all in all, l cannot see that wome1
would gain anything by adopting a mascu
| line costume, and think the brethren ma bt
at ease in their possession. Even Mary
Walker declines its adoption, and no othe
woman is likely to dispute for such prize.
JANE GREY Swiss HELM.
An Incident OF John MO1Tissey'S Iecen
Visit to Georgia.
Savannah Correspondence N. Y. SUM-
One day, however, the traditional Georgi,
blossom appeared at the hotel. He cam
from up country, near the Muscogee district
and was on his annual spree. He was si
feet high, well built, and in his own countr
was man of considerable consequence. Ava
from home he attracted general attention b
the loudness of his voice, the violence of hi
actions, and his odd appearance. He hear,