Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-15

| WOOU-COCk anu lhN ~ httno'N IA WV FNfS
hest style. ate Il, gave two hours for d.
restlon. then walked ont on Westminster
bridge and threw himself into the
Thames and died, doing on large scale
what you and have often seen done on
a small scale.
But men do not abstain from millinery
and elaboration OF skirt through any su-
periorty OF simplicity. II Is only be-
cause such appeEdages would be n
blockade to business What would sashes
and trains three and half yards long do
In stock market? And vet me-. are the
disciples Of custom Just as much ~
women. Some OF them wear boots So
tight that they can hardly walk Ia the
paths OF righteousness, aud there are
men who boy expensive suits Of clothes
aud never pay for them, and who 90
through the streets IN great stripes Of
color like animated checker-bOards.
ssy these things because ! want to show
! YOU that am impartial in my discourse.
and that both sexes Ia the language OF
the surrogate's Office "share and share
alike"
A. God may help me I am going to SCI
/ forth The evil effects ~ improper dress or
an excessive discipleshlp If costume. II
Is a simple truth that YOU all know al
though the pulpit has not yet uttered IT,
much Of the womanly costume Of our
iiine Is the cause Of the temporal and
eternal damnatiOn Of multitude of men
/ There is q ~hamelcssnes~ among many In
what Is called high life that calls for
vehement protest. The strife with many
seem, 60 be how near they can come 20
the verge Of indecency without falling
over The tide of masculine prof gao,
viii never turn back until there Is de-
Clded reformation In womanly costume
I am IN full sympathy with the officer OF
law VINO at leyee In Philadelphia last
winter, went up TO "A sO-Callcd lady and
because Of her sparse and incompetent
apparel ordered her either to leave the
house or habilltate herself Immediately
10 Is high time that our good, sensible
women make vehement protest against
fashionable indecency and If the women
OF the household do not realize the depiur-
able extremes Of much Of the female cos
tune, that husbands implead their wives
on this I'll ject, aud that fathers prohibit
their daughters, the eVil Is terrible ana
OvershadowiDg.
| suppose that the American stage il
responsible for much OF this. do not 20
10 thraters, so must take the evidence
OF the actors and managers of theaters
such as Mr.. John Gilbert, Mr.. A. NJ. Pal
mer and Mr.. Daniel T.. Bandmann They
have recently told us That the crime OF
undress Is blasting the theater, which by
many Is considered school OF morals
aud indeed superior to the church and
torerunuer OF the millennium. MIR. Pal.
mer says; "'rhe bulk of the perform
anccs on the stage Is degrading and per-
nj Tho afrg,,
come just as near the line
as possible without nagrantly
breaking the law. here never nave been
costumes worn on a stage In this cit,
either In a theater, hall or dive so lm-
proper as those that clothe some OF tn,
chorus IN recent opera productions" lie
says in regard to the female performers:
1T is not II question whether they can
sing, but Just now little they will consent
20 YEAR. Mr., Bandmann, who has been
twenty-nine years on the stage and be-
fore almost all nationalities, says: ~
unhesiatngy state that the taste Of the
present theater-going people OF America
AS body, is OF coarse and vulgar
nature. The llindoo would turn with
disgust at such exhibitions, which are
sought after and applauded ON the stage
OF this country. Our shop windows are
full of, and the walls covered with, show
cards and posters which should BE dis
grace to an enlightened country and an
insult To the eye OF cultured commuui-
w." Mr.. Gilbert says: "Such exhibit
tiOn Is u 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 that? Ii
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 obtaining the pictures OF the
way actresses dress. | suppose that
those representations of playhouse cos
tune are true, for II they are not true
then those highly moral and religious
theaters are swlndling the public by in
ducing the people To the theater by prom
ises OF spectacular nudity which they do
not fulnll. Now all this famiiarlzes the
public with such impropreties OF cos.
tune and depresses the public conscience
AS TO what Is allowable and right
The parlor aud drawing-room are now
running n race with the theater and opera
bouffe. They are now nearly N, OK ana
neck IN the race--the latter little ahead.
nut the parlnr and drawing room are
gaining on the others, aud the probability
Is they will soon be even aud pass the
stand so nearly at the same time that one.
half of PaLdemonium will clap its hands
because opera bouffe has beaten and the
other half because the drawing-room mas
beaten. Let printing press and platform
and pulpit hurl red-hot anathema at the
holiness OF much OF womanly attire. /
charge Christian women neither by STYLE
of dress nor adjustment Of apparel 10 be-
come administrative of OWL Show me
the fashion plates of any age betw, en-
this aud the time OF Louis XVI OF France
and Henry VII OF England, and viii
tell yon the type of morals or minerals OF
that aye or that year, No exception TO
II, Modest apparel means righteous
people, lmmodest apparel always means |
u contaminated and depraved society.
IL Is not only such boldness that Is TO |
be reprehended, but extravaganza of
costume, This latter is the cause of |
fraud uullmitahle aud CHASTITY, 10 you
know that Arnold OF tho revolution pro.
posed to sell his country Ia order to get |
money TO support his home wardrobe9 | |
declare here before God aud this people