The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1878-02-28
The Senslbly-Drcssed Man--The" Well
GOt.np" MOman.

The dress Of men in all western ma
tions meets fairly all the conditions Of
health and decency, and Jail only on the
side OF beauty. The dress of the woman
on the contrary, ever variable as it is,
persistently misses the condition Of
health; frequently violates the rules of
decency and instead of securing beauty,
at which it aims first instead of last,
achieves usualIy--ugliness. 1t is to be
remembered for our consolation and en-
enlargement that men have arrived at
their present good sense in dress only
within two or three generations. A hun
dred years ago the lords Of creation get
beauty above health or convenience,
just as the ladies do now, and pea.
cooked about in their peach.blossom
coats and embroidered waiscOats, sur
mounted by wigs for whose stupen-
dous discomforteven seat on the judicial
bench can scarcely reconcile the
modern Englishman, Now, when the
men Of every European nation have alb.
jured such fantastic apparel, we naturally
ask, why have not the women followed
their example? Why is the husband,
father and brother habited like a being
who has serious interests in life, and
knows that his personal dignity would
be forfeited were he to dress himself in
parti.colo'ed, be ribboned garments, and
why IS the wife, mother Or sister bediz
eIe like a macaw, challenging every
observer to note how much of her time,
thoughts and money have been spent on
this futile object? The answer is one
which Is not pleasant to make, discredit.
able as 1t is to both sexes. The women
who set the fashions dress for admiration;
and men like women who dress to be
admired and the admiration given and
received is a very poor and unworthy
admAation, not much better than a sal.
mon gives to glittering artificial fly, and
having very little more to do with any real
mthetlc Qualification as is proved too
clearly by the thoroughly u~n-beautiful
devices to which fashion has recourse,
1t is the w~ell.got,up woman Ito borrow
a very expressive phrase), not the really
Well-dressed woman, who receives by far
the largest homage. And now let us see
howail this concerns the health of women
how much of their petite sahte is due
to their general neglect to make health
the first object of dress, or even an object
at all compared to fashion. Tight lacing
among habits resembles envy among the
passions. We take pride in all the rest,
even the idlest and worst. but tight
lacing and an envious heart are things
to which no one ever cOnfesses. A
small waist | suppose, is understood to
belong to that order of virtues which
Aristotle declares ought to be natural
and not acquired, and the most miser-
able girl who spends her days in a
machine more cruel because more
slowly murderous) than the old "Mai-
den" Of Seville, yet always assures us,
smiling through her mavtyrdom, that her
clothes are really hanging about her."
1T would be waste of time to dwell on
this supreme folly. Mrs. Haweis, in her
very noteworthy new book, the Art of
Beauty, has given some exceedingly USE
lul diagrams, showing the effects of the
practice on the internal organs and
skelet0n-d diagrams which | earnestly re,
commend to the study of ladies' who may
feel a%"call" to perform this kind OF
English suttee for a living husband. Mrs.
Haweis says sensible men do not love
wasps, and have expressed to her their
"over~allishness" when they behold
them Considering how effectively they
have managed to express their disap-
proval whenever women have attempted
to Introduce rational attire, it is n pity,
think, that they do not pronounce"
a little more distinctly against this
literally mortal folly Contemporary
Review.