The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-20
DIVIDED SKIRT ON HORSEBACK.

/ New 4 OK
DIVIDED SKIRT ON HORSEBACK
A Pretty Drapery Suggested for Such
an Innovation.
NEwPoRr,R. l., July l9-Among various
! questions that have been asked me by my
southern friends is one relating to the
| drapery devised by Worth for an Engli h
lady of rank, who had determined to ride
her horse astride. who did not feel equal
| TO he ordeal without some sort of an ar
| rangement which would effect a pretty
! compromise, even if it did not afford com
| plete disguise. My friend. who confessed
| TO have u orn out three saddle-horses in five
! years and whose spine has been injured by
| the side-saddle desires TO obtain the pattern
Of the habit alluded TO. | do not know
how to advise her, but she and all
others interested in this healthful and sem
/ sible innovation may depend upon me to
| give them all the points as soon as | get
them myself. My impression is that the
| foundation of the costume is the divided
skirt, and that over the right side of the
horse, to conceal the right leg, some sort of
pretty and effective drapery has been de-
viSed. | am told that il is. entirely safe,
and that in case of accident it could not in
aay way hamper the riders m ,vements. it
would really seem as if a woman of good
taste and ingenuity could arrange s)me-
| thing of this ii ID for herself
w orth Is very clover. but he does
not monopolize all the skill and all the
brains. Why should it not be worth the
while of some artistic and ambitious dress
maker to set the fashion for this country by
some original design! Nothing is more
sure than that the old side saddle is doomed.
The conservative, aud the m re nice than
wise, may clutch the pommel with all the
strength OF boosted modesty and precedent,
but the first thing they know 1t will melt
away. The barns, the carriage houses and
the garre,s that have known them will
know them no more forever, and in their
places VIII come q humane contrivance for
both woman and beast.
II suppose you will think it very weak
and foolish" my correspondent writes, Ito
care about the Worth drapery, but d have
not had a radical education. Ga the con-
trary, have been brought up to think
first, last and all the time of what my
friends and neig bors will think, and it is
only by the loss of nv health that | have
come to look into causes and dare to strike
out for myself. | am brave enough now to
ride astride if | can do so without danger of
shocking those whose good opinion and
respect l am anxious to retain"
| see nothing weak or foolish about this
1t is only the coarse and bold natures that
take delight in the rude disturbances of the
convictions or pre- ldiceS of the world To
meet such prejudices quietly and artistically
is to overcome them. | have no doubt that
the conceaing drapery above alluded to
will make fifty converts to the new mode of
horseback riding, VIII lie tbs undisguised
method would not make one
Throwing straws against the wind is an
economical occupation compared with that
OF advising women against fretting If
women have dyspepsia because they fret,
then they are bound to have it and d with
1t, for five women out of ten will borrow
trouble if they can't get 1t in any other
way" Thus speaks one of our sage aud
popular editors in commenting on one of my
newspaper articles.
For such generalization there is no war
rant in history or logic. Women have more
to bear, more to suffer, and a wider and
heavier responsibility than men. That
many OF them eXaggerate their duties
know too well, ami TO this class | continually
address myself. "What of the motherr' a
Virginia Lady asks, "who by undertaking
lndustrv-the work that commences betimes
and lasts till late at night, sometimes into
the wee small hours, can keep her Eve chill
drea at school and all of them dressed as
we'll and tastefuIly as their neighbors? Is it
not the mothers duty to labor in this fashion
If by SO doing he can secure her chi dren
an education" If my correspondent
had not made so strong q
point of dress, nv response
would probably have been more in harmony
with her desire. But to slave all day and
half the night in order that ones children
can mako as fine appearance as the neigh
borS' children Is to work from an unworthy
motive. To begin with, this Pm as good
as you" spirit is most detrimental in its in
t1uence upon character. The little girl who
is brought up to believe that unless her
frocks and has are as expensive and elabo-
rate as her schoolmates she is not their
| social equal, will be likely to suffer keenlv
all her life from this feeling, and in her
turn give to her children the same
narrow and vulgar views of life
There has been most astonishing
change III this matter of children's clothes
1t has not come any too soon, for the
rutfllng, the hem-5titching and the en-
broidery had reached place where even
the mother who was aOle to provide her
family with such furbelows was obliged to
be on tle rack most Of the time in her
efforts to preserve the perishable aud fill
the gaps constantly made by the changing
styles. wish my Virginia correspondent
could see the summer wardrobe for three
girls ranging in age from to IA, which l
was privileged to examine few days ago
The most exp -nsive fabric in the whole
wardrobe was white serge. The everyday
dresses were made of the lovely and
economical IoiLe dW Nord, not over 1917
cents Per yard and there were blue and
gray fannels tastefully trimmed for cold
and rainy days. These three girls are daugh-
ters of a millionaire, and the r mother is an
acknowledged leader of society. When I
remarked upon the sweet simplicity of these
costumes, the mother remarked with smile
that she would not allow her children TO
dress any more deliberately If she had the
wealth of tue Indies. ~ cannot afford to
have my girls conscious of their clothes, -
! she said, and to have them snobbish aud
critical of other children whose parents are
Obliged to he economical would make me
perfectly wretche1." This is the spirit which
all mothers should strive to attain 1t is
sound aud healthy and WISE And so hope
my Virginia mother will now 'sleep q
lights, remembering that both common
sense and fashion are on her side.
ELEANOR KIRK.
To Mothers.