The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-07-26
THE WORLD Of WOMEN
Matters of Interest Only to
the Gentler Sex.
A Cosby Budget OF Current Topics
sehsoned to the Feminine Taste,
With . Few Remarks On
Graduation Gowns.
Somebody has a few sensible remarks

VII
Graduation Gowns.
Somebody has a few sensible remarks
in Harper's Bazaar on the graduating
go.n. To such proportions has ,hi.
dress grown that it uow tids lair to over.
shadow a good deal of that which has
called it into being, and fashion has been
obliged to give cognizance to the affair,
to take it under her protection, to pre-
scribe its conditions, and to print It's pat
terms and designs. This might not be
altogether SO Objectionable bu, fot one
Or two feature. % tie business. For the
fac. is that the gown and its accompany
ing environments Of something like scenic
display, almost eclipse in the mind CT the
actor and spectator that which has
brought the gown into being; and the
cut and fit of the gown, The loops of the
ribbons, the tucks, the plee's, the
drapery. the ssrn.taaie, the flowers, the
gltyes, the shoes. all are in danger of be.
collilS VI uloIG iOloldCidLlOu tuhn
perfect recitation or solid &C.
complishment. ard it Is apt to
bring about a feeling that in
the final examinations and exhibitions
this may be evaded, and that may be
slurred over. aud the pride Of theteachcrs
may be relied on to touch lightly on
dangerous spots: but thu dress must be
all that taste and luxury can demand,
till instead of a vision Of simple and in
nocent girls in simple aud innocent garb,
there is to be seen . sttoup of elegant
damscls II elaborate toilettcs better be-
fitting women of the world, and which.
! even of a simple and innocent appear
ance, have the simplicity and innocence
underlaid with such fine fabric and rich
material, that in looking at them one
thinks of nothing so much as of the
queen and of the court ladies playing at
being shepherdcsses and milkmaids, and
is aware Of an absurd incongruity about
the whole business, finding, in that re.
gard. the girls themselves laughabie, the
exhibition of their vanities and foibles
pitiful, and the whole thiEg out of tune
with the note that the season of com
mencement should strike.
But the thing does no stop here. This
elaborate dress is not 80 bad In itself, IS
IN the bondage it ordainsi for, if one girl
has it, another must also; since scholars
and teachers and public would think q
person made herself very undesirably
conspicuous. who varied from the stand
ard Of the rest, becaue a discord in the
scene, aud took her diploma in ordinary
attire, or In any other than that worn by
all the rest. 1t may be that the girl, on
leaving school, is to go into a grade OF
life where she may never again have USE
for such a gown, 30 that its acquisition
for the single day is an unwarranted and
foolish extravaganza; but it must be had
nevertheless. 1t may be that there is
poverty ii. home, or, if not poverty, yet
narrow means; a father who has all ht
can do 10 keep the wolf from the door, s
mother whose hours of work are nearer
twenty than ten every day, other
children, 10 whom the provision of this
dress means deprivation of many things
the year through, sickness to which The
price CT this dress would bring q nurse O,
medicine, flowers, u rolling chair, and al
the sick . luxuries; or its price
would build rude but
a sufficient piazza or porch
on the little cottage at home, where t.I
doors air could be had by those unable IL
walk and get it, where the mother coult
double enjoyment out OF his evening
pipe; the price Of it would send thai
member Of the family whose health fails
on a life. saving journey to the hills OF
sea, would continue lessons in music O
painting or gone other yet incomplet,
study to the student-would do y scoit
of things to make life ploasantcr in th,
home where every dollar has its mission
And even if poverty is not the OBJ
stacle, it may he. again, that a dislike tc
spend money, on the part of the pro
wider, makes the task of obtainin&
enough for the dress enc that embitter!
the whole domestic life for days, or els,
that stern principle at home may disap
prove Of the outlay and the compulsiol
and The example. 1t makes no differ
ence; the money must be given, the lIin
clple must be abandoned, the bad system
must be c~ountenanced, the dress must b.
had. There is only one remedy for tn;
trouble, if teachers are unwilling 10 pu
an end to 1t by authority, and that il
for those who are unquestionabl,
able, and who lead in such things
to forbid and prevent e~xpenditur,
on the graduating dress, and /,
refuse 10 be u party either to the mort
Hcation OF those who cannot afford tb,
outlay, or to the compulsion Of procuring
it by any, whether they can afford it o
not. The daughter OF The rich or i'm
portant citizen car dispense with a toile
which every one knows she can have a
will; the superior Hcholar can equal,
well dispense with it. The very cteepes
and simplest summer gown will bette
become the fresh young face and form
than the most costly and elegant speci
mems of millinery and if worn at all vii
be a reproach by none.
No anecdote has been to]dus about tn,
wife of the present president of GU
country more admirable than that re
counting her gracious and m~agnanimou
behavior when she found that one of he
schoolmates was unable to procure III
elegant toilet demanded for q commence
Dent day, that at once she ahapGone,
her " pretty dress and won the Who'll
class TO adopt a simple dress within To-
means of the schoolmate in question. ]
u schools of q high character others ca,
be found 10 act systematically as TIL
sweet aud high spirited school girl did
they will open q reform that Will ALLOW
many u girl to graduate who now eithc
leaves school without her diploma or els
in n way or another suffers acutely il
taking it.
The following i'll tempered ofrusio,
surely indicates that b%enedicts somet;me
sings sorrier songs than any in the repe1
,oire of bachelors:
Women are books, and men The readers be
In whom ofttimes they great eirata see,
Here tomttimcs We a blot, then we espy
A leaf misplaced, at least a line aery:
II they were books, I wish that my VIII
were
An almanac to change her ev'ry year.
There is no place where mere c~ccentri
IDEAS of propriety are found than in Mex
England. Take bathing as an ~illustra
ion. at Crescent Beach and other pop
liar resorts in the ne%ighhorhood of Bos
ton on any fine summer day you will fin,
plenty of female excursicnists who ew,
heir own bath bouses SO to speak. Tha
,s TO say, these fair but economical crea
lures bring long %Saterproofs with them
md putting them on disrobe unobtr,
'iyely beneath them on the open beach
Beneath their ordinary clothing the
~1srally wear their bathing suite down t
II