The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1883-07-21
KATr GREENAwAY crAzs.
Carson Editors Reflections and
Sug 90 estiUns.


That necessity invented clothes - is
popular error; for-it Is said that the first
use OF clothes was not warmth or decency
but ornament; and, in point OF time,
tattooing and painting preceded clothes
From the middle ages to the end of the
seventeenth century, Carlyle says, was
the true era of extravaganza in woman's
dress. Then /" Rich maidens, again, fit
abroad in gowns scolloped out behind
and before, SO that back and breast were
almost baIe." Not unlike this is the
ladies' costumes Of nowadays. That hen
pecked old cynic, Joseph Addison, had
great deal to say about ladies' costumes
He describes one hoop.petticoat that was
twenty -four yards in circumference, SO
large, in fact, that it would not pass
through the folding. doors Of his house.
He says if men would only take to wear
ing trunk breeches, man and his wife
would Ell a whole pew. However, the
strutting petticoat," he says, "smooths
sIl distinctions, levels the mother with
the daughter, and sets maids and matrons
upon the same bottom" Queen Eliza
beth had new dress for each of the
three hundred and sixty-fve days Of the
year. Since such distinguished person
ages have given SO much attention to
this article of wearing apparel, our
modern girl Of fashion is certainly ex.
cusable for this, her latest maniacal
craze.
In nothing is it more true than in
ladies' that "extrcmes meet. Less
than twenty years ago the arctic seas
were white with sails, and giistened with
the armor OF the harpooners in search oi
enough whalebone to circumvallate the
lower extremities Of women. Nothing
short Of base of ten feet, for a fashiona.
woman, was safe. The arguments in
favor of this mode Of dress were, sit was
pretty ''it was graceful" ''it was
cool, Z" it was protection to virtue,
etc. But, suddenly, this casket of sweet.
ness collapsed, and, to the surprise oi
the whole male sex, woman was found
standing on the smaller end with only 3
pair of tiny feet for base. The butter
fly had come out Of the cocoon, and tht
hoop.skirts had been dropped in th'
streets, or left hanging on the fences
Then women looked like drowned cat
or, to be more classical, like charming
mermaid, just emerging from Neptune
liquid realm.
Following this fashion came the tight
lacing process, the whale-bone havin
been removed from the degraded position
in the vicinity Of the feet to the place O
honor Just below the neck. In this cos
tune the ladies got terribly cinched, an
physicians say that the average age of tn
rising generation will be ten years less j
consequence. In the travelling crcuses
in every doctors sanctum throughout th
country, can he seen the skeleton of som
female whose ribs overlap from six to te
inches, and whose paper.like lungs an
liver have been carefully prserved
alcohol and put away in some showca'
all this to frighten women out of ii
custom Of tight.lacing. The "old fogy
finally made his point, and now woms
comes out on the street, of bright Sur
mer's morning, looking exactly as 81
did the night before when she went
bed, and calls this costume u greenawa
As in the Stellar world the evening st
is sometimes called the morning star,
at this season of the year the "nigt
away" has modestly assumed the mo
elegant name of the 'greenaway. Al
what real luxury it is now, says t
Carson Index, to meet Carson lady
fashion on our streets, and, in passing,
see the chest swell like the tide of t
ocean coming in. or to hear the ri
crackle like bent hickory sapling
turning to the natural position.
But their costume has other 60
features. 1t is airy; it does away wi
the use Of surcingle; it is q classical
lusion to Greek s.atuary, and it cas-
wrinkles and soils whenever gent
mans vile arm touches it. OF eou
ladies can't show their pretty forms, |