The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-03-29
Duties Of Dress.

thing of beauty itself and the content of
possessing it, but through that acquaint-
ance with human nature which is m
stinctive, and which makes one aware of
the inspection one is undergoing from
the point of view of all rival toilettes-
an inspection to meet which the exquisite
toilette seems to offer coat of mail under
whose shelter one can defy the sharpest
criticism of the most ill-natured envy.
Not that we can think other than
poorly of the famous young woman who
felt the comfort given by well-fitting
dress to be superior to that afforded by
the consolation of religion; for of course
that young persons standard of every
thing but dress was not at all high one,
and her acquaintance with the conSola-
tons of religion must have been much
more imperfect than her acquaintance
with ribbons and laces and any out-of-
the-way shade of color, any singular and
fantastic weaving in silks and velrets
and novel stuffs. She was not far re-
mote from that lady of DIR. Holmes &C
quaintance who, as she declares, re-
members 1.-THE time when thought more
about the shade of color in a ribbon,
whether it matched my complexion or
not, than did about my spiritual inter-
est in this world or the next"
But because we should not be given
up altogether to the delights of dress, it
does not follow that one does not owe
ones self and the rest of the world some
duties in regard to it; not merely those
duties of which few right-minded women
+ IaY,,cnlr-ao l,
the duties of cleanliness, of Wilderness,
and of seasonableness, but the other
duty, of which not so much is thought,
the duty of becomingness. For every
one is under some obligation of adding
to the beauty of the region round her, if
not in the bloom of ones cheek or the
sparkle of ones eye, then in the pleasing
effect of the garb in which one shrouds
ones deformities and endeavors to
counterpoise ones defects. Because one
is sallow, for example, it is no reason
for wearing salow tints, and making the
whole world seem bilious; one should
hide the sallowness as much as may be
by balancing it with some tint that puts
it out of sight. And because one is
plain, that is no reason for going labelled
and ticketed Ugly" but all. the more
reason for inventing. seeking and putting
on toilettes that are themselves so lovely
that one shall forget whether the wearer
is as lovely as they or not, or if COM
PEELED to remember, shall at any rate
gather certain compensation for the
eye and thought in that exhibition of
gentle taste which the toilette makes.
A great deal of ones character is to be
told from this toilette, be the latter love-
ly or the reverse. For, let us say, if it
be known that the condition of the wearer
is but just beyond poverty, or the purse
narrowly limited indeed. or if one is at
that happy stage of life's journey when
youth itself is beauty, and beauty is it's
own best adornment, and yet the dress
is seen to be exceedingly rich, OF elabor-
ted in the last fancy of fashion, then
personal vanity and love of display are
felt to be preponderating traits of char
acter, and something not to be tabulated,a
but totally destructive of charm, is elm
mated from that costume. Such dress,
under such circumstances, speaks of a
taste that is far from choice, and that
can render no compensation for any
And meanwhile any dress that to the
gaze of the stranger who knows nothing
of the ease and condition of the wearer
is obviously unsuitable, as, for instance,
a toilette which combines greenish hues
about sicklY face, or frills and fiounces
about dumpy woman who walks i'll and
sets them all bobbing and jerking at
every step, or one of cheap material
loaded with snowy trimming, or taw-
dry mingling of hues, or gloves and
boots discordant with the rest of the
apparel, or anything else that proclaims
want of the sense of fitness, is equally
devoid of taste, and in so far as it is
devoid defes the unwritten law that re-
quires each and all to make themselves
agreeable objects to the common eye.
Certainly those who regard dress with
the consideration that is its due, and with
no more, have their reward for the ex-
penditure of money and development of
taste; for becoming dress carries an inn
portance Of its own in society that's per-
fectly appreciate. Any one may observe
this who takes notice of the difference in
treatment received from pretty girl in
a cheap or Indifferent dress, and one who
is not pretty, but is in dress of perfect
fit and design. The usual dancer of at
tendance is apt to think the pretty face
brief accident, the .gaudy or neglected
dress an indication of permanence, and,
on the contrary, the perfect toilette an
indication OF fine feeling and nice breed
ing, and is, quite unawares, led to be
conscious of the superior power to make
a home in her who already does the best
she can with Che little kingdom that she
has:
= Her purple habit sits with such a grace
On her smooth shoulders, and so suits her face'
But forgetting any view of what
others may think of ones dress, whether
that is a narrow or broad view, there is
another side to be looked at, and that
raises the question as to whether one
would not be really in the wrong to do
otherwise than make the most of ones
and insist that ones dress |
should draw as nearly as possible to the
of perfection within ones
means. For while in the universe abroad |
beauty is so plainly commended to ones
eyes, and is shown to be so omnipresent |
hat it can only be because it is valued |
by the creative hand, it is surely beneath |