Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-01-10
Woman,s Danger and Receit.

NO lady," OF any age, color, occupation,
could live up to her proper ladyhood without a
greater or less supply of silk dresses. From
the .'rich black silk" which was for long time
supposed by the American 1Y people to be the sole
White House dOwn-or up-to the gorgeous APP
parel that flares along the streets, as The proud
insignia OF being ''aS good as anybody on the
and Starve, to win and wear this glorious badge
OF ladyhoOd, silk dress is an indispensable
quantity In The sum of feminine human happ!-
ness.
Comparatively few of our American ladies'
we would not venture to Indulge our prefer
ence for calling them women in such a c0nnec-
tion-are aware that their generic passion for
silk dresses is, like most OF the other passions
OF poor, weak human nature, attended with
some risks. We do not refer to the exhausting
ehects produced upon marital excnequerS. In
many cases. the cost OF a new silk is a matter
OF no consequence at all; in many Others, it is
borne out OF The sell-denying economy OF the
WeaTer. But the risk is an intrinsic one.
Heavy silk dresses made in France and Ger
many are liable, ii not to actual explosion. at
least to spontaneous combustion. Numerous
fires have occurred in The silk warehouses
abroad, which have been traced directly to the
chemicals and dye stuffs. with which the silk
fabrics are loaded, and it will be a dreadful
thing If these fires begin to break out on our
sidewalks at the opera, in the ball room, or at
church. The old dangers OF too close proximity
to the gorgeous half of the human family are
great enough, but if women are liable to burst
into flames, at moments warming, a total
separation OF the sexes will become the una
voidable condition OF fashionable society. Any
properly constituted woman, would naturally
prefer the risk of conilagration and even OF Sc
questration from mankind rather than sur
render d !, her beloved French silk ''real Lyons"
ened In her devotion to the standard material
or her SeX'S garniture when She Is told that not
only Is there this incendiary quality about it.
but that recent scientific analysis has decided
that there Is very little actual silk 3hOut her
after ALL
When t>e fire occurred on the Bremen steamer
its causes, and, among other things, it was as
certa1ned that of the silks on board that vessel,
destined for this country, only little over
tMenty-one per cent, of the material was Silk.
Ihere was also 9.15 per cent. OF moisture and
about two per cent. of fatty oils, and all the
rest was made up Of minerals and dye-stuffs,
much OF which lay on the surface in minute
lustrous scales. Only about one-f1fth OF :.silk'
dress OF this kind is really Of SIX. AS regards
nearly four-fifths, it is merely a wrapping of
chemicals and dyes. Apart from the fraud OF
the thing, 1t detracts somewhat from the senti-
ment of 1t to know that Belinda's s'real Lyons
silk" is one-ffth real and fouy>flfths bogus, and
that she has been wasting her substance upon
lot OF cheap and vulgar chemicals and dye
the bewildering question of how much aggre-
gate reality there Is about a woman If four
iifths of single item of her external loneliness
IS delusion and q snare. 1t Is question OF
grave importance to the adorerS and slaves of
The seq, and ii its solution is ever scientifically
determined, 1t is impossible to predict what
may be the ultimate effects in the relations Of
the sexes. ShOnld this four-fifths standard Of
counterfeit quality be found to run all through
tie texture Of the average woman, 1t will al
most inevitably lead to the emancipation of the
male race. II woman, decked IN her gorgeous
paloply Of conquest, Is four flfths sham and q
fraud, she will be diSarmed OF half her terrors,
and Subjugated man VIII rise and assert his in
dependence, casting Oh the letters OF the ages
and proclaiming himself no more the crouching
vassal, but the proud equal OF woman. For
man Is not more than fOur-fifJhs humbug
himself.-[P Philadelphia Bulletin.