The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-03-20
FOLLIEs AND FOIBLEs OF WOMEN.
AS Related by one of Thorn. but She Says
the Men arc Responsible.

At the nnual meeting of the National
Woman Suffrage Association of Massa.
chusetts in Boston recently, Miss Nancy
Willard Covell, speaking on "The Rea.
son Why" said that she had been called
upon to fill the unwelcome part of telling
some of the follies and foibles Of women.
After making some sharp and facetious
comments on the self.assumed greatness
OF man and his oppression Of woman,
Miss Covell spoke Of the marked differ.
ence in compensation paid women for
rendering the same service as men, and
contended that the fact that woman was
paid less was due to her lack of the pow.
er of the ballot, which was claimed 10 be
worth fifty cents day to any laboring
man. Speaking of the different voca.
:ioH5 OF iife, SIZE conienieG that, because
woman had never opposed man in enter.
ing her sphere, in becoming cooks, MILL.
ners and dressmakers, she had outdone
him in fairness In speaking of the
condition of women of to-day, she said
all that girls are taught is to be pretty
and hide their faults and read love storieu
and crochet and make sponge cake, until
some one asks them to marry. So the
poor creature through fear they will miss
their chances and fail to marry, begin
very early to pinch themselves in some
places. and pad themselves in others.
Sometimes they wear clothing enough to
founder ship, and again it is pronounced
lovely" to appear without any to epeak
OF. with the injunction ringing in their
ears, "whatever you do. be pfetty," girls
paint their lips snd crock their eyebrows,
and take opium to make their eyes soft
and arsenic to make their compilations
clear 1t was an unfortunate day when
Paul or somebody else said that the Joy
of woman was her hair. What nameiess
and untold fortunes has this appendage
of the human body not been subjected
to? 1t has been filled with "ratsH and
mice" heroically pulled out by the
roots to make the forehead high, glued
to the forehead with extract of ounce
seed. and again brought over the eyes in
tangled snares. It has been curled with
over.hot irons, and then allowed to float
free far down the back; it has been
pulled and frizzed and powdered and
curled and creased and banged, done up
high or low, made longer or shorter, or
dyed black or blonde, in strict accordance
with the caprice Of the tickle goddess of
fashion. Does the Grccisn bend reguirs
them to look like detected monkey,
straightway they become limp in body,
and chatter that they do not do it be.
cause it is fashion-it is perfectly natural
for them. To-day they drag innumerablo
yards of dry goods through the streets,
and tomorrow they appear in tie backs
so close TINT it is at the risk of their lives
that they attempt to board railroad
train. Now the head is surmounted by
q bonnet the size of postage stamp, and
then by one larger than an umbrella.
Sometimes women are supposed to have
hips, and then everybody, no matter how
slender, grows broader that donkey
with papieB. Then hips are abolished
and no trace of them can be discovered.
If snakes and bugs become fashionable
as ornaments, the snakes and bugs be.
come perfectly lovely" and the very
girl who shrieked ct the sight of spi.
der, simpers, "they are just too lovely
for anything" When iridescent beads
become fashionable, enc has only to wait
little, and every woman becomes q
walking rainbow. Vow cardinal is the
rage, and then old gold; now mitts. and
then twelve button gloves; now pleat-
ings, and then ruffles: now hens and
then facings; now waists are long and
the ribs are laced down until they adhere
to the liver, and then waists get shorter,
and an opportunity is given to breathe.
In short, woman's enalavement by fash
ion has resolved life for her into an
eternal game of "wigwag," and until che
escapes this bondage there is no mental
life for her. All this, the speaker con.
tended, is the outgrowth of the oppres.
sion of man in not giving woman an cp.
portunity to develop herself mentally
and in not giving her a social position
equal to his own.