Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-21

up its hands in holy horror and would have
| applied to her the epithet of tom
| ~ ,; oL hoyden, and would have thought
her lable to grave suspicion if not positive re-
proach. Now young ladies' can and do indulge
treely IN al the exercises and pastimes 1 have
named, ANY one who has ever visited our city
| u washington knows how popular the bycicle
| Is win our young ladies, who take delight in
! r!olhg 1t over our smooth, concrete, paved
! streets When visiting or shopping. The Vassar
! girls nave baseball club, and all over our
country young ladies engage in almost all the
aShetlc amusements of their brothers without
eIicltlng unfavorable comment.
| Inc influence OF this change can not fail to be
| oenehClal. Of itself it has already occasioned
many most commend able dress reforms In my
! glrlhood young ladies all had their dresses made
so uSnt over the shoulders that they could not
! raise their arms. The outdoor sports in which
| they now participate have done away with that
and have given rise to the much looser, more
! comfortable style of to-day. Then woman s
sphere was thought to lie almost wholly in
uoCrs, and as consequence all wore shoes
with soles as thin as waters. When we ventured
OUT our leet soon became damp aid severe colds
ana sore Threats were the result. The much
treer life that the girls lead in the open
arr has led to the wearing of stout shoes with
heavy soles, and thus one great foe to woman 8
health has been removed from her path.
i am gai to see that colleges for women as
Wen as men are making athletic and gymnastic
training part of their curriculum. This is a
most encouraging sign of the times. We cannot
nave sound minds without sound bodies, and the
latter can only be secured and maintained by
an abundance of rightly directed exercise Of
course athletics are often carried to excess
Health Is thus injured and even lives are lost
put TINS abuse will gradually tone down to
moderate, sensible use
With the improvement in their dress caused
by their present life of out door activity, has
come a corresponding Improvement in the health
OF our women. In my young days girls had
little. waspish waists and contracted consump-
tive chests. Now they are much better deyel-
oped and much moro robust. If all forms of
out door exercise shall continue as popular as
now the next generation will be physically su-
sun, ana so on until we shall have an ideal race
OF women, MT TO be the 10th ers of a race of
physical and intellectual giants.
DRESS reform tends to health; therefore IL
should be encouraged. The present agitation of
the subject cannot fail to be productive of good.
Even II tie ideas suggested by our modern
discussion of the subject causes women gener
ally to think and talk about il, and thinking and
talking lead to doing. If there is to be a reform
in the present method of woman dress wopld
personally prefer return to the classic style of
ancient Greece -
MRS. ATTORNEY GENERAL MILLER SAYS WOMEN
VIII. BE FASHIONABLE
1T Is utterly useless to try to induce women
to make any reforms in their dress until those
arbiter who has so largely controlled feminine
destiny ever since Eve first donned her fig leaf
apron, and who will continue to do so until the
last of her daughters shall obey the summons of
GabriePs trumpet said Mrs. William II
Miller, wife of the attorney general THE
average woman will follow the fashion no matter
~ may pS VI where IL may lead. The hue
and cry which has been raised about
dress reform will be very insip-
nihcant bubble on the froth of feminine exist
ence for little while, and then fades out OF
SIGHT as suddenly as it came. Until fashion
shaA decree reform in woman's dress there will
be no reform.
II is impossible for any dress reformers to
lay down rules for dress that will be applicable
10 I'll women. That which is adapted to one will
MOI De TO another. The first essential, of good
dressing Is that it shall be adapted to whatever
pursuit OF business or pleasure the writer desires
to follow. Hes
without adopting the radical methods of So
cauee oress reform there are certain changes
wnlcn can De readily made without altering the
genera style OF woman's apparel as to convert
II from thing OF beauty into an awkward and
9hslghty monstrosity, as would many of the
Dress REFORMS that have been proposed MANY
women inlure their health by an improper nss
of the present mode of dress because they have
never given the subject due consideration and il
is only necessary to point out their errors 70
nave them corrected Thus MANY won en-
wear tight, high heeled shoes because they are
ignorant OF the fact that such foo.pear Is re-
sponsible for many Of the ills which feminine
flesh is peculiarly heir to The torture thar some
women VIII endure by crowding their feet into
SHOES half size too short, OF too narrow ~
both is simply incredible. No one can nossibiv
wear shoe more than size too small. and tina.