Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-10-25
wJman's business Dress.

A womaIs paper said the other day: The
need of a convenient dress for work Is strong
ly felt by business women. One Of the largest
working girls societies In New York has
adopted the blouse waist and straight gath
cred skirt as a club dress for the members
The dress Of young American women would
be improved by simplicity and cheapness
They dress too extensively and too much, as
a rule" Interviews with some twenty or
more women engaged in making their own
living resulted in the discovery that eighteen
Of them believed there was a crying need of
some dress designed distinctively for business
women, in which they might have more com
fort and convenience than IN the garments
they now wear Said one of them:
"A friend Of mine, just home from Paris,
Is very much interested in something she saw
there in the way Of a reformed dress for bust
pess women. There is no doubt that some re-
form IN that direction must and will come,
though it is slow, because women are not
only very conservative, but very much
afraid Of wearing anything that makes them
conspicuous or ridiculous. 1t is not women
they are afraid Of 10 much as the men, who,
ever since the days Of Jeremiah the prophet,
have been inveighing against the foIlies Of
womens dress, but who are the first to jeer
at and prosecute her il she dare attempt to
emancipate herself from those folhes In any
way. Now, in my own case, for example,
my work requires that should be out Of
doors q great deal, no matter what the state
OF the weather may be.
My condition when il storms il positively
pitiable. i must hold UP my umbrella. grasp
my skirts with one hand to try to keep them
out Of the wet-which, by the way. never
does succeed In keeping them out of it entire
ly-and whatever books, papers or parcels |
may have to carry must be tucked insecurity
under the arm. i have passed men plodding
about In the rain and almost wept from
envy. Their trousers are turned up quite out
OF the danger II wet, their long mackin-
toshes have deep pockets that will hold all
their parcels and papers and they have both
hands free for their umbrellas, and they can
step into their office, lay aside their outside
wraps and be as neat aud dry as when they
left home. Let any woman walk through a
windy rain and see IL she can say the same
thing when she arrives at her destination.
The new French dress which my friend
saw at Paris seems 10 me the best suggestion
have heard yet The trouble has been to
ind something that would, while being con-
venient, be also graceful and modest and
this seems TO come near it, II is modelled on
the uniform OF the zouave regiments and
consists OF trousers and gaiters--the neatesf
thing, by the way, for walking that has ever
been invented This makes no exposure of
the person at all, while leaving the limbs per.
fectly free. Over il is a skirt that comes al
most to the ankle, but it is only slightly gath
cred and Is slit up on each side to the hip. so
that while it answers all purposes Of modesty
Il does not interfere in the least with loco
motion. The waist can be either blouse
with sash, or a waistcoat and coat with
plenty Of pockets. hear that a number Of
French women who manage their own farms