The Red Cloud chief., 1878-02-14
The Dress Of Women.


Miss Francis Power CObbe, an English
woman with a very vigorous mind. con-
tributes to the Contemporary RerieU for
January a noteworthy paper on 1.-The
Little Health of Ladies.
Her point is that a large proportion
of women of what are called the high
er-classes of England pass their years
in semi-invalidism /; that they are chrOn-
ic Veterinarians, who make
themselves unhappy and bring
unhappiness to the homes e
which they preside. Though we
believe she has never been in this cOun-
try to observe for herself as to the con-
ditiOn of our women in regard to health.
Miss Cobbe AYERS that they are pecu-
liarly fragile. This is an old charge.
and perhaps at one time it had some
truth in it !; but now it cannot be sus-
tanned by facts.
She draws a very depressing picture
of an invalid, declaring that if the
mistress spends half the day in bed
the whole household is sure to fall into
disorder, and the ~demoralizing effect
! on the children is lamentable. She even
goes so far as to suggest that some OF
| these interesting invalids are mailing
ers-peOple who keep sick in order
to avoid their duties and to gain a SYM
pathy to which they really are not en-
titled. Perhaps. however, her own
high health prevents Miss Cobbe from
| giving due sympathy to those of her
| sisters who are actually invalids !;
| though it is undoubtedly true that many
persons, both men and women, think it
| necessary to coddle their ailments in
bed when they would find themselves
in very fair bodily condition If they
walked abroad and tried to avert their
thoughts from imagining that there
was anything the matter with them.
Miss CObbe lays great stress upon the
moral disadvantage of this encouraged
invalidism of ladies, and she certainly
has some reason for SO doing. "Out
of it," she asks, "what evil vapors of
morbid feelings. jealOusies. suspicious.
hysterical passions, religious terrors.
melancholy, and even insanity are gem
Grated, who shall estimate ?" She tells
of a lady who had enjoyed the luxury
of illness for many years who said that
. actual pain is always, in n inter-
esting." There are a good many peO-
pie who feel in this way, and they are
not always women either.
Miss CObbe complains of the dress
of women of civilized countries. 1.-The
dress of men in all Western nations
meets fairly all the conditions of health
and decency," she says, :" and only fails
on the side of beauty. The dress of
women, on the contrary. v e variable
as it is. persistently misses the condi-
tons of health, frequently violates the
rules of decency, and instead Of secur-
ing beauty, at which it aims first in
stead of last, achieves usually-ugli-
ness" Now, while we agree with her
that the dress of our Western men is
Just about as unbeautiful and unpictu-
rescue as it well could be, we cannot
Join Miss CObbe in her wholesale con-
demnation of the female costume.
| There never was q time when women
dressed SO prettily as they do now /; and
if in the effort to secur the effectSeof
beauty they sacrifice mere utility, we
| shall not condemn them. Some of our
New York women, however, might
probably learn the lesson that q dress
which may rightly be worn in acazriage
isnOt just the sort of thing to be dragged
over the pavements in . pedestrian ex-
cursiOn.
- Miss CObbe is very severe on what she
calls 1.-The brain-heating chignons,"
the bOnnets which expose the forehead
to the cold and furnish no protection
against the sun, necessitating the carry
ing of q parasOl ; the lOw-necked dress
es at parties, and the thin shoes worn
by ladies ; and she even goes so far as
to quote ian experienced shoemaker"
who informed her that '.he scarcely
knew of a lady of fifty who had what
he could call Q foot at all-they had
mere clubs" Her main objection,
however, is against the skirts of w0-
men, which she thinks are very injurious
in several ways. She would have
wOmen's dresses reach to the ankle and
no further, and contends that If this
fashion had been adopted in England
twenty years ago, the population would
be far better of than It il now.
The views of Miss Cobbe may be, and
many of them unquestionably an,
sound, but we fancy that for long years
to come women will 60 on % aTrsying
themselves as to enhance their beauty
in the eyes of men ; and, for our parx
we N not hard-hcarted enough to de-
ny them that gratificstion.-M = Swa.
Mark Twainis Military Career.
Mr.. Mark Twain, in q speech at the
dinner of the Ancient Artillery Compa-
ny, of Hartford, described with serious
simplicity his military experience in
Missouri in the early days Of the war.