The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-02-26

verge of indecency without falling over.
The tide of masculine pronigacy will never
turn back until there is decided reforma-
! ton in womanly costume. am in foil
sympathy with the officer Of the Law,
who, at . levee in Philadelphia last
winter, went up to . so-called lady, and,
because of her sparse and incompe-
tent apparel, ordered her either to
leave the house or habilitate herself imme.
diately. It is high time that our good and
sensible women make vehement protest
against fashionable indecency, and, IL the
women of the household do not realise the
deplorable extremes of much of the female
costume, that husbands implesd their
wives on this subject, and that fathers pro.
hibit their daughters. The evil 10 terrific
and overshadowing.
suppose that the American stage is r..
sponsible for much Of this. do not go to
theaters, 30 must take the evidence Of the
actors and managers Of theaters, such As
Mr.. John Gilbert, Mr.. A. n. Palmer and
Mr.. Daniel e. Bandmann. They have re-
Gently told us that the crime of undress Il
blasting the theater, which by many 10
considered . school of morals, and, indeed, ,
superior to the church and . forerunner Of
the millennium.
Mr.. Palmer says: t~s
The bulk of the performances on the stage
10 degrading and pernicious. The managers
strive to come just rs near the line as posi-
bic without fagrautiy breaking the law.
Their Q never have been costumes worn on q
stage OF this city either in theater. hall or
''dive," SO improper as those that clothe
= nf a In INIT nvSatS,
productions.
He says in regard to female performers:
It is not question whether they can sing.
but just how lttle they will consent to wear.
Mr.. Bandmann, who has been twenty.
nine years on the stage and before almost
ali nationalities, says:
unbesitatingly state that the taste Of the
present theater going people OF America as
a body is of a coarse and vulgar nature.
The Hindoo would turn with disgust at such
exhibitions, which are sought after and APP
plauded on the stage of this country. Our
shop windows are full OF. and the walls GOV.
cred with show cards and posters which
should be a disgrace to an enlightened coun.
try and an insult to the eye of cultured
community.
Mr.. Gilbert says:
Such exhibition Is disastrous one to the
morals of the community. Are these
proper pictures to put out for the public to
look at, to say nothing of the propriety of
females appearing in public dressed like
{ hat? 1t Is shameful.
must take the testimony of the friends
of the theater and the confirmation which
see on the board fences and in the show
windows containing pictures of the way
actresses dress. suppose that these rep
reservations of the play house costume are
true, for if they are not true, then these
highly moral and religious theaters are
swindling the public by inducing the peo-
pie to the theater by promises of spectacu-
lar nudity which they do not fulfill. Now
all this familiarizes the public with such
of costume and depresses the
public conscience as to what is allowable
and right.
The parlor and drawing-room are now
running a race with the theater and opera
bouffe. They are now nearly neck and
neck in the race, the latter little ahead,
but the parlor and drawing-room are
gaining on the others, and the probability
is they will soon be even and pass the
stand so nearly at the same time that one.
half of pandemonium will clap its hands
becaus opera bouffe has beaten and the
other half because the drawing-room has
beaten. Let printing press and platform
hurl red hot anathema at the boldness of
much of womanly attire. 1 charge Chris
tian women neither by style of dress nor
adjustment Of apparel to become adj
min istrative Of evil. Show me the
fashion pilates Of any age between this and
the time of Louis XVI. OF France and
Henry VIII. of England, and will tell you
the type of morals or minerals of that age
or that year. No exception to it. Modest
apparel means q righteous people. I'm.
modest apparel always means . contain
mated and depraved society.
It is not only such boldness that 10 to be
but extravaganza of costume.
This latter is the cause of fraud unlimitable
and CHASTITY. Do you know that Arnold Of
the revolution proposed to sell his country
in order to get money to support his home
wardrobe: declare here before God and
this people that the effort to keep up ex-
pensive establishments in this country is
sending more business men to temporal
It was this that sent prominent business
men to the watering of stocks, and life in.
insurance presidents to perjured state
ments about their assets, end some Of them
to the penitentiary; and has completely
upset our American finances. But why
should I 60 to these famous dsfaultings to
show what men will do in order to keep up
great home style and expensive wardrobe,
when you and I know scores of men who
are put to their wits end and are dashed
from January to December in the attempt:
Our Washington politicians may theorizs
until the expiration of their terms Of Office
as to the best way of improving our none
tary condition in this country. It will be
Of no use, and things win be no better un.
til We learn to put ON our heads and backs
and feet and HANDS no more than We can
pay for.
There are clerks in stores and banks on
limited salaries, who, in the vain attempt |
TO keep the wardrobe of their family As
snowy IS other folks wardrobes, are dying
,f NUTS, and diamonds, and camels' hair |
Ihawls and high hats, and they have moth. |
ing left except what they give to cigars |
suu vino SuPPerSi anu toey ole before sneir
lime, and they VIII expect US ministers to |
preach about them as though they were the |
victims Of early piety; and after q high
lass funeral with silver handles at the /
tide Of their coffin of extraordinary bright.
less, it will be found ont that the under.
;aker is cheated out Of his legitimate ex.
,enses! Do not send to me to preach the
uneral sermon of man who dies like that.
viii blurt out the whole truth, and tell
hat he was strangled to death by his wife's
.ibbons. The country In dressed to death.