Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-07-21
Summer Resort License.

w ueuuo ny Tile worn prOprleJy, uepenu
wholly upon place and circumstances,
and not upon permanent scruples resi-
dent In the hearts and minds of indi |
viduals. The logic of right grows |
naturally out OF the premise that class
traits and national customs are the gov
erning influences, after the Injunction |
of fashion that when among the Romans
we should initiate Roman practices. 1t |
Is certain that surroundings have much
to do with matters. modifying habit,
where they do not direct and control.
Observing this, one might inquire if
there is not somewhere an erroneous
system of pr0priety, since propriety
should be an elemental quality in itself,
governing circumstances rather than
being governed by them. If we are to look
anywhere for this arbitrary condition
in its genuine state, our attention
should be given to the young ladies who
make up the attractive adjunct of gen.
teel society. Seen in the parlOrs of
metropolitan mansions they present the
very excellence of refined decOrum, mOv-
ing with stately dignity or refreshing
gracefulness, shutting out even the sug-
gestiOn that any abandon or neglect of
form could soften the elegant refine
ment of studied courtesy to anything
| familiar or unreserved In the home
circle, too, where the young lady be-
comes the hostess of the hour, entertain
| ing the casual guest with the easy
charm of perfect self-possessiOn SO char
acteristic of the American society girl
there is the nice regard for gentility
that prevents careless speech or thought
less action. In her city life the young
lady. and we may include her elders in
the world of fashion, preserves with the
utmost caution regard for the strictest
prOprieties. She could not be induced
to lOll at length upon sofa while en-
| gaging in frivolous conversation with
gentleman. and it would be shock to
her nervous system if that gentleman
should surprise her in the unguarded
attitude of swinging dainty foot over
the arm of an easy chair. But is 1t not
singular that this same Miss PrOpriety,
when one OF party at some summer
resort, casts all this reserve to the sport
ing breeze, and becomes as free and in
tangles her unbound tresses? Unmind-
full of the precision of posture that mark
ed her parlOr movements, the fair fugi-
tive from the sedate atmosphere of
fashion reclines artlessly beneath some
outrageous tree, sharing without con-
Germ the meager carpet shawl with her
male companion who surrenders digni-
ty beside her.
Tired with the rambles of the morn
ing hours, and wearied of the chatter
politely known as small talk, she devOtes
the afternoon to novel reading. coiled in
the yOluptuGus embrace of hammock.
Should some vagrant cigar smoker
chance upon her solitude she will not
hasten to assume more collected atti-
tude, as she would spring from her sofa
at home, but will receive him with a
radiant smile, unconscious of any Offense
against her social tenets, even though
she may be aware that below the edge
of the hammock there CLEANS tangible
evidence of hosiery. Rusticity is inter-
preted as emancipation. The Eve-like
economy of the bathing suit does not, in
the mind of the recreating Miss, bear
any resemblance to the limited apparel
of the boudOir; and white feet and ankles
twinkling among the green waves that
splash jOyfully upon the sanded shore
seem quite different from the extremi-
ties uncovered to midnight slumber.
The resort is license. But it also seems
to be prOpriety, since no one condemns
its license. 1t is simply matter of con-
dition.. The young lady may run down
from the bath house to the water in a
charming brevity of dress before shore
full OF slght-seers, and do no wrong tC
prOpriety, but should she come bounding
into drawing-rOOm thus unconvention.
ally attirred, the scandal would not
abate during her life. 1t may be. after
all, that we are little too strict in the
city; yet it may also be claimed that
they are a little to liberal in the resorts
Just what Is proper is to be settled only
as thought, or place may dictate, since
the rules are not infexible. But from q
good Old-fashioned mOralist the intima
ton might come that propriety is the
Legitimate child of virtue and mOdesty
and that where these are, prOpriety is
always.-Inter Ocean.
THE Christians of London are select