St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-17
Personal ADORNMENT.
why the Wife should Retain Her
GirIiSh PIumage.

StElAsh A-AhhakSs
Women are too much disposed TO take it
for granted that marriage means the eX-
tinction of the aesthetic sense i'm the hus-
band. Ii does not mean anything of the
kind. There is no reason why the aesthetic
sense should not be just as strong in a man
after he is married as before ne is mar
ried. In fact it is 80. The average woman
is too much disposed 10 shed her plumage
when she marries. The average man is
mere disposed TO keep his and makes him
self appropriately more interesting. The
average woman saws when she gets mar
ried: Thank goodness that have come
thus far. Ii is over and / am for life. :"
Then she settles down. This settling down
means a great deal. In it is involved the
disenchantment the disillusionment spoken
of above. Too much is revealed. The
actuality becomes too bald.
"But am l too be in stays all my life?"
says the woman. Not quite so stiff and
formal and reserved and prim of attire as
when a girl with suitors galore, but don't
take the veil off entirely. Be pleasing still
and remember that the admiration of a
husband is won in much the same way that
you, as a girl, won the alteration Of lover.
So many married women lose all pride of
personal appearance when in the privacy of
their own homes. The husband goes on
and dresses Just as he did before marriage.
And the matter of dress has much TO do with
the subject. 1t is one of the illusions that
we must have TO make life enjoyable. But
a wife says she Is poor and cannot dress
well Every woman is well dressed who is
dressed i'm good taste, and good taste de-
scends to calico and a white apron.
Not even Carlyle i'm the INVESTIGATIONS of
40. Il
philosophy of clothes. lie never explained
the charm of good dress. The difference
between clothes and no clothes at all is not
as great As the difference between good
clothes and bad clothes, for the latter dis
figure and distOrt what nature has already
done. Women can dress better than men.
They have greater variety of styles and
colOrs TO draw on, and fashion always per-
mits them a wide range. There is no rea-
son why married woman of even ''moder-
ate circumstances" should not be well
dressed at home as well as abroad. But
how many women are there who study the
art of dressing well at home? They buy
slippers and smoking jackets and studying
gowns for their husbands while they them
selves wander about in untidy, Scare-crow
neglige. Perhaps il is true that even rags
are royal raiment when worn for virtues
sake" but they ought TO be clean-and so
ought the wearer, otherwise virtue
loses half its charm. Many a wife
is panied 10 observe the waning in
terest i'm her husband without suspecting
why or how, when, in truth, the trouble is
traceable 10 little negligence on her part
as to personal appearance. She assumes
that he is no longer impressed or influenced
by the mere appearance of things. She at
tires the children in their best for him 10 see
and admire, while she herself sits by a
spectacle of unlOvely careleSsneSs. Beloved
reader, do you not call up many a picture
like this where the well-meaning and really
devoted housewife foregoes all personal
adOmment In her efforts to adorn the other
members of her family. There is where
she makes mistake. She ought to adorn
herself as well as the others. AdOn the
house YOU live in. Build Conservatives.
Have flowers on your table. Beautify every
thing. Get as far away from the spiritleSS
reality of things as possible. Give the I'M
agination chance. Have pictures on your
walls; hang your windows with curtains;
tie ribbons on your chairs. The asceticisn
of the middle ages condemned people to sit
on benches and live in cells. That will no,
do now. The ideality of mankind has
| bloomed into thousands of new and beauti-
| full forms of which our forefathers nevel
dreamed, but in which we now take un-
| limited delight. Woman is the center oi
all adornment. Her face is the fairest thing
upon which human eye has ever rested, aid
in the building up Of the world beautiful
she should not be neglected, nor should she
| neglect herself