Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-05-07
WoMAN's DRESS


| Mr. Dana,of the New York Sun, Take.
Miss Cleveland tosTask and dos 4
| tends the Decollete Dress.
Miss Cleveland, because Of what she
modestly calls the brief prominence Of
| her position, has felt tito be her duty to
express her disapproval Of any evening
| dress for women (which shows the
BUST She has no objection to the dis.
! play of neck and arms, and leaves her
own bare Oh all full dress occasions; but
she lays down the rule: that '.between
the neck and bust there is line always
| to be drawn, and which can not be pass
ed without producing an effect ''shock-
! ing, nauseating, revolving, and deserv-
| ing of the utmost denunciation on the
! score of morality, beauty, health, and
| every other consideration which good
men and women should conspire to pre-
serve and exact"
| Yet throughout the civilized world
, the full evening dress for women falls
below Miss Cleveland's line, and is ex-
pressly designed to show what she de-
clares so emphatically cannot be reveal
ed without outraging t1ste and decency
the swell of the bosom. The fashion,
too, is not recent, but has prevailed in
all ages, and no less in times when
SOCIAL MORALS
| were strict than in times when they
were lax. 1t is true that the portraits
by Sir Peter Lely of the beauties of the
court of Charles II. show that the
bosom was then exposed to an extraor.
! binary degree, rs was also the case in
France under the Directory; but por-
! traits of the women of courts and times
equally distinguished for dissolutenese
| represent the women closely covered
| from head to foot and from shoulder ia
wrist. Marguerite of Lorraine, famous
| for her beauty and her bad morals, APP
| pears in q full dress costume which re-
| veals only her face and hands; while
La Belle Hamilton, the chaste beauty
in the scandalous reign Of Charles H..
shows her bosom almost without any
covering at all.
Queen Victoria, who is everywhere
| honored as a bright example OF woman
1y dignity and propriety, at the presen!
time requires ladies to appear at her
court in costumes which frankly ex-
pose what Miss Cleveland declares can
not be revealed except at the sacrifice OF
modesty; and the Queen herself makes
a display that would shock the Presi.
dents sister, who probably has seen
nothing equal to it among the women
with whom she has been brought into
contact since
HER BROTHERS, ELEVATION.
The truth is that our notions as to
! modesty or immodesty in wonlan's
dress are largely, if not chiefly, con-
ventiSnal, SO that up to a certain point
what is customary seems modest The
Turk S estimation of woman is low and
gross, and yet he will not endure the
sight of his wives in public with their
faces exposed; aud in other countries
where women are degraded they are
kept bundled up from view, except in
the presence of their lords or of each
other. But Christian civilization. every.
where demands that feminine beauty
shall be seen; and wherever that civil
cation has reached its highest develop
ment the practice against which Miss
Cleveland inveighs so violently, has
continued to prevail, though other
fashions of women's dress have under.
gone multitude of changes. In every
country where women are most highly
honored and most tenderlv cherished,
and where respect for women is most
complete and sincere, it may be said
generally that the line drawn by Miss
Cleveland is always ignored in full dress
of the best women.
This style of dress has been worn by
! the most admirable of women in all
! generations. It was
WORN BY OUR GRANDMOTHER.
| the ball dress at the beginning of the
century, for instance, having been de-
scribed as nothing but chelnise OF
pink silk and yet Miss Cleveland
would hardly denounce the women of
| that period as immodest, or DENY that.
in spite OF their low-cut gowns, woman
ly purity continued untarnished among
them. The evening costume of the
present time, SO far from being more
| generous in its display of feminine
charms than that of past periods, is
rather more reserved in that respect,
even in its freest manifestations, al.
though those who have but lately be-
come familiar with the social customs
| Of great capitals may think differently.
Perhaps dresses may now be worn a
trltle lower in the United States thar
was the case ten or fifteen years ago:
but in Paris and London the line drawn
| by Miss Cleveland has never been re.
spected during that time.
Nor is there intrinsically any more
immodesty in showing the
BEAUTIFUL CURVE OF THE BOSOM
! than there is in exposing the neck and
| chest, the arms and shoulders. The ex-
| hibition, too, is quite as unassailable on
esthetic grounds as it is on grounds OF
taste and morality. We observe also
that as q general thing the denuncia,
ton OF the fashion is apt to be more ar.
dent in the young to whom niggard ma
ture has denied the beauty they insis,
should be concealed, or in the old and
sickly, in whom it has passed its bloom,
SO that they no longer dare to confront
the air in fear Of ague and catarrh.
However, there need be no dispute
on the question. The beautiful will
continue to delight society with their
beauty, and the others will only follow
the law of wisdom in avoiding the at,
tempt to do what is impossible. Mean.
while for all those, beautiful or not.
who share Miss Cleveland's opinion.
only ona course is open, and that is tc
obey their conscience whether the
world agrees with them or not.-Neu
York San.