The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-04-25

one and all, if close pressed, will admit
the disabilities of much that they call
beautiful, and pro fess readiness for any
thing demOnstrably better.
the reformed costume has failed to
make its way into popular favor; such
costume at any rate a. emaRates from
Lady Habbert0n and other inventors OF
the same order. Ii is impossible for the
most ardent advocates OF reform to dem
Cnstrate that beauty dwells in any of
these. 1t was my fortune TO meet at q
scientific convention an English enthu-
siast who wore the divided skirt. She was
fresh and fair and bic, with the deep chest
voice OF the healthy Engli n woman and
the caimeSt defiance of any law OF beauty
or proportion. Her dress was a gray
poplin bag, separating below, with a ruffie
around the bottom, and a mere line of
white appearing above the neck-band. 1t
may have been comfortable, but it was
also hideous, and no woman with any real
sense OF what beauty means would have
tolerated ii, even as a slck-garment from
the fashion precisely as II stands to-day
any woman can plan for herself costume
easy, comfortable, and most certainly
graceful and becoming. The short skirt
GEARS the ground well, and is thus neither
worn nor soiled. The dress is often a
princess, made in one piece, and thus
easily adjusted. The shoes are lOw-heeled
and broad; the stockings black or dark.
With half fitting jacket or long cloak per-
tect ease and loOseness are both possible,
and sleeves may be as one will Woman's
dress has never, in modern times, been
more really what il should be in all its
outward expression and adaptation to
modern needs. 1t remains to banish all
bands and ligatures; secure even layers
for the whole body; abolish hideous steel
punches, and support the dress so far as it
needs support by perhaps a hounced back
to the underskirt, and behold the modern
woman emancipated, yet not a terror.
This Tor street and ordinary house-dresS.
the quality OF the material used being de-
pendent on the purse OF the buyer. For
evening there is a greater latitude, and
nothing could well be more graceful or
more intrinsically beautiful than many of
the costumes worn, whether by matron or
maid. The material is often of the sim
plest nuns yelling or soft cashmere for
the elder wearers, and muslins dotted or
embroidered for the younger ones; but
the effect produced by suitable c0mbina-
tiuns is beyond any to be secured by mere
blind expenditure for the costliest thing.
| 1t has also been demonstrated that a dress
may be so constructed as to remain beau
tiful even when quite apart from any ex-
isting fashion, and many women with
very limited means but keen artistic sense
are proving this, and appearing through
an entire season or more in what is called
society" in the same dress modelled after
some favorite painters costume, and in
surng always an instant tribute OF adj
miTatIOn.
The farmers wife or daughter, the busy
woman everywhere, with whom there is
little leisure and less opportunity for
planning or wearing beautiful costumes,
can still take refuge in one phase of the
beautiful. choosing color and material that
viii unite becomingness and utility. Do
llg this she, too, will escape the charge Of
oyerdressing, brought against us by hasty
travellers through the country, for the
majority of sensible wonderland their
name is legion-live below rather than
a Iove their opportunities and, indeed,
their duty in the matter. They are under
rather than overdressed, and have much
to learn before the laws of dress are made
plain. HELEN CAMPBELL.