The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-08-02
TO THE REFORMER.
Some Relevant Remarks Which She
May Possibly Not Relish.

~ 4 ~
"The Decollete Dress and its effect
upon the morals. As an antidote WI
today give the following from tn,
New York San, which we heartily en-
dorse:-
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, or Mrs
Herbert d. Ward as she is n ow, look
out from her quiet Massachusetts
home and utters through the Forum
a cry of horror at what seems to hel
the passing away of feminine modesty
under the corrosion of the prevailing
fashions of dress, latitude of speech,
and familiarity with sights and scenes
which once would have been deemed
unfit for the eyes of pure ONE
To her thinking, the theatre, the
ballroom, the art gallery, and the din
ner table are uniting to blunt femi-
nine delicacy, and the time has come
for a concerted effort on the part of
all good people to counterfeit their
corrupting influence. Already she is
| distressed because too often she misses
in the eyes of the girls of today the
'.indescribable expression of the eye
which distinguishes a modest girl
from q matron." She is confused"
at 1.-The ease, nay, the eagerness, with
which our young girls attend and
| seem to prefer those plays where the
ballet is enough to make any gentle
man uncomfortable,n seeing with
| composure sights and suggestions
from which any pure girl ought TO re-
volt.n
The promiscuous dances of society
| seem to her of a still coarser influence.
The liberties of che ballroom" startle
her sense of propriety; the clasping of
| a pure woman in the arms of depraved
men, where she is held ''for the length
of an intoxicating piece of music;''
1.-The styles of undress which now dis
grace our sex,n and the general tone
and The prevalence of
drinking habits among ladies terri
fies this good New England woman,
who tells us that the first young man
she questioned On the subject answer
ed at once that he had often danced
with young ladies who were intoxi-
Gated and that it is mot an uncom-
non thing to meet them too far
gone to converse The freedom of
Of speech prevalent in society sends
the blush to her face. SIN the old
times she says, "a modest wife hard
ly conversed with her own husband
as young women may be known to do
today with young men of their ac-
| quaintance.n She tells OF a distin-
guished foreigner who thought his
hostess had insulted him by having
him take "a disreputable woman down
to dinner" though of course his COM
panion was of an exalted social posi-
tion. Her pen cannot even describe
Az, - 1,aa- ~ ~ +ko 1uacs 1f n IL Axy Of
high chal acter and society whom she
we characterize the too-low corsage,
lower bodice, with no sleeve at all,
nudity covered by transparency, and
what is known as the V-back?" care
our ladies' she asks, morally insane
or mentally? Do they know what
they are doing?n
Undoubtedly they know exactly
what they are doing and why they are
doing it, and they are not mad either.
They are simply making the most OF
their physical attractions to the ex-
tent allowed by the conventions of So
ciety, as it is in their nature to do,
and a women have always done
underline permission of custom. The
ballroom dress of this period is about
the same as it has been for centuries,
SO far as exposure goes. Mrs. Ward
has only to study the fashion plates of
the past to verify this statement. 1t
was not worn in New England vii
lagos, was not known in the Puritan
society of Boston, but it was almost
obligatory on the world of fashion,
The reason why she discovers it now
as q shocking novelty is that the gay
world and its customs have greatly
extended in our day, so that the his
torical ballroom costume is now
brough to her provincial eyes. The
dress of the ballet. too, is purely con
ventional, and if the petticoats have
been shortened during the last gener-
alton, or since Fanny Elssler's days, it
has not been at any sacrifice of mod
esty, for the longer dress may be more
immodest. The modesty or inn
modesty are in the dance or the
dancer, if they be present at all, not
in the costume. If young girls look
on unabashed it is not because of the
impuriJy of their minds, but because
the suggestion of evil does not come
to them from the conventional dress.
For the same reason habit and custom
prevent ballroom usages from afflict-
ing them as they affiict Mrs. Ward,
accustomed only to the high gowns
and restrained manners of the village
tea party.
Yet there is something worth seri-
Gus consideration in what she says,
more particularly as to the laxity of
speech used and tolerated in polite So
ciety of this period. We were once
provincial in our squeainishness in
that respect, but there is such a thing
as going too far in the opposite direc-
tion. 1t is also true that more Ameri-
can ladies drink wine than formerly.
though the young man who told Mrs.
Ward that they are often intoxicated
at balls presumed on her ignorance
and innocence.
How to Clothe the Baby.
A baby's clothes should be sufi-
GENTLY long to cover its feet. but with
out the superintendent length that
we are accustomed to see it wearing.
| The dress should not be low-necked,
for that exposes the throat and chest,
and flannel should be worn next the
skin. The long clothes should be dis
carded If it were for no other a
than harboring dirt. Such clothes do
not serve the purpose of keeping the
heat of the body. Besides it Is an ex-
| ira expense, which, with Door people,