Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-02-05

fashion is at his command. If social life
is turgld or imnlodest in any of its cur
rents. he alone is to be held accountable
for it. Nor by this is it intended to under
estimate the moral power of woman. Her
influence in conserving the best forces in
society is unquestioned, but she rarely ex-
erts it unless fortified by the concurrence
Of man. Whatever she does in violation
of the code of morals and decency is for
and by his approval. Her pure and REIN
ing influence is such because man acknowI-
edges it, and hence just in proportion as
he approves and smiles upon her efforts to
please by other than modest means, her
power becomes as potent for i'll as it is for
good.
But if we consider the protest of DIR. Dix
from wholly different standpoint, it will
be found that the laws of health pronounce
more terrible invective against the i'm
modesty of the full-dress uniform of fash
ionable society than all the anathemas the
Church can hurl. The local readers of this
Journal can call to their memories more
than one comparatively recent case of
early graves filled to satisfy the DEGREES of
fashion in dress. The daughter of the
Federal Secretary Of State was an accom-
plished horsewoman. She dashed over all
roads, and her feats in the saddle won for
her enyiable reputation for strength, en-
durance and bounding health. Wearing
every day high, warm wooden bodice, vet
this estimable girl was accustomed, as one
Eastern journal puts it, to attend, night
after night, society gatherings in the APP
proved attire of fashion, and thus Exposed
her arms, neck, shoulders, and part of her
bosom in low corsage, often standing.
as the night before her death, where cold
drafts from doors constantly opening and
shutting struck her half-clothed form" Is
it any wonder that under such system
the splendid physical being of the lady
broke down? Which is the more likely to
be true, that the horseback exercise or the
demands of fashion cut short her promis-
ing life? DR.. Gardner, her physician,
soon after her death, declared, says dis
patch, that "he was surprised there are
not more fatal cases among young ladies
who are slaves to the demands Of society.
He calls it slavery because the ladies upon
whom these official duties devolve are com
PEELED to saciiice health, strength and natu-
raj rest to conform to the memorable re-
quirements of the social SYSTEM Had
the doctor been less family physician and
a more courageous man, he would have in
cluded ultra-fashionable attire among the
"slavish demands of society"
The same law of society that gives IL
cense to the lavish display of female
charms by modest women to shame mod
esty, in most cities and towns Of the land.
countenances and approves and Classics
with them such ladies of Washington So
ciety as strain the social positions that
shield them, to cover such improprieties
as are described by the Washington CORE
spondent of the New York World. His
rather vivid pen-portraiture is excusable
for the moral it points for fashionable So
ciety, the character depicted being by no
means single, though, it is to be hoped.
an exceptional and exaggerated type of
the undeniable immodesty in attire of
which DIR. Dix complains:
Speaking of morals reminds me that ono of
the ladies of the Diplomatic Corps is causing n
great deal of talk by her immodesty in dress
ing, and at public gathering recently She an
peared IN costume which. if it had been
worn anywhere else, would have caused the
interference of the police. She is young and
beautiful and her reputation is unStained Int
e en- IN Washington society-whieh tolerates
almost anything-she cannot 20 much further
without losing the respect of decent people.
She has always been noted for an ambition 10
exhibit the charms with which bountiflil nature
mas endowed her. and the artistic perfection of
her inquire is as wen known as the Washington
monument, but her dresses have been cut
shortef ana shorter at the top, and wound
more closely around her as the season has
grown, until she might as well wear nothing at
all. On the occasion referred 10 she appeared
in pink-tinted silk which fitted her SO per
iectly that one who |, oked at her from across
me room eould not distinguish where the fabric
ended and the flesh began. There wasn't a
ruhe or wrinkle from her corsage to her
Tram, and not the slightest ornament except a
puhch OF roses at her waist OF the same tint as
her meek and dress. The corsage was laced AT
the back, what there was of it, but from her
chm to her waist it was one unbroken line. ard
as size faced you she locked exactly like Il nude
statue OF pink mermaid. Her skirts were as
tight as her corsage, and every outline was as
distinct as undraped nature itself. of course
she made a sensation, and l suppose that was
tights