San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-02-09
been the motive of the patient toll we had

Deen the motive OF the patient toll we had
witnessed with so much sympathy; and
the same incentive held her to similar
tasks for many days during the season.
She could not afford to pay dress
maker; she would not dispense with one
inch of trimming on her suits. Very
many other women are in the same pre-
dicament, not only for themselves but
still oftener for others. elf it were not
for my sewing!" groans many weary
mother, half crazed by the thought of
the mountain of needlework that must be
done for her little ones. Fewer ruflles
and tucks would make the task easier |;
but no ! the little AS and the little BIS,
and all the rest of the small alphabet
wear them in abundance; so with stern
heroism she bends to the task, deter
mined that her children shall dress like
other peoples! Health, time and re-
creation are all sacred to this modern
Moloch, which does no little to make
strengthening plasters fortune to their
patentee. The children come with
questions and requests to their mother
turning the wheel. "Run away, dear,
mother is busy" and the ruffler is adj
justed or the tuck mark reset, while the
little ones are left to their own devices
or to Bridget's tender mercies.
WHERE is THE MEDIUM
She ought to go to market; yes, but
there is Mamie's dress to be finished,
and so at the last moment u hastily
scribbled order is sent round the corner
to the provision store. The kitchen
would be the better for her superin-
tendence; but the sewing-machine de-
mands her energies, even though there
be no pudding for dinner and the joint
be raw or overdone. Verify, this bond
age to wheel is becoming serious evil
in our own land. Yet how shall we es-
cape itp 1t requires no slight degree of
heroism to run counter to public opin-
ion, and public opinion demands rufiies
and tucks or their equivalent. Instances
have been known where girls have been
forced to leave school merely because
they could not afford to dress like the
rest of the scholars. They were ostra-
cised, SO to speak, and preferred to go
elsewhere rather than endure the con-
tempt and rudeness to which they were
subjected. Girls who are scarcely old
enough to speak plain beg for silk
dresses with plaitings and bows-"All
the other little girls have them, NAM
ma!' Boys, who may wear one suit as
long as it holds together at the knees,
and still have plenty of playmates-
men whose swallow-tails never 60 out
of fashion until they are rusty, can not
understand this; it is all nonsense to
them. Even so! We once read a
treatise. essaying to prove toothache a
purely imaginative disease. In some
respects we are far wiser on the subject
of dress than were our ancestors. We
wear thicker clothing and more of it,
and do not risk our lives by wearing
thin shoes. But our grandmothers kept
their silks and velvets for state occa-
sions, and did not cut them ruthlessly
into strips. They had pages to bear
their trains, never trailing them through
tho ,n,d and duSt Realltv unadOrn-
ed'' is rarely fully effective; but beauty
may none the less be too much adorned.
Why need all white garments be a terror
to the laundress, and why should the
hum of the sewing-machine be unceas-
ing in our homes? Not that ruffles and
tucks are not pretty, andwel enough to
a certain extent. Still, there is me-
dunn" if one could only find it, and
finding, would adopt it. -.. ...
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