St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-23

SUBJECT IN ltS every phase. Inc meIo
announcement of the fact by bulle-
tins brought together big crowd
OF men and women. The discus
sion was quite lively. for Chautauqua
had no less than four systems of dress
in full sweep among the ladies. First,
there is the regulation style, repre-
scented by the Old-faShioned skirt. of
which the DelSarte teacher is the eX-
ponent. The second class are
the followers of the divided skirt;
the third class consists of the
Zouave uniform young ladies, who
spend most of their time in the gym
nasium and devote five yards of broad
cloth to each limb, and the fourth class
is made up of the extreme radicals, who
wear no skirts and Initiate SctreSSeS by
wearing flights" The interest in the
meeting was so lively that the ladies
determined to hold another session and
probe the veXed question to the bottom.
Men were to be excluded, and the meet
ing was to be very secret. Fully 1000
of the faithful crowded into the tenn
pie when the doors opened.
TT
Mrs. Frank Stuart Parker, of Chicago,
had brought with her the latest and
most improved style of ladies' clothes
for exhibition purposes. She rapidly
changed her outer garments in full view
of her audience and showed the beauty
of the new styles Of dress. She de-
nounced, in turn, high heels, narrow
shUes, high collars, seamless gloves
and all kinds of cOrSetS and
| carriers, and told the audience that it
| was greater sin to defOrm and abuse
! the body than it was to tell lie. 1t is
absurd to say that a French dressmrker
Trrho God hoe
ated The speaker recommended her
hearers to supply themselves with
| photographs Of the Venus di Milo
| and Titan's nude figure, and
study them until their beauty
was literally felt. Then came a long
! discussion, and it seemed hard for many
! ladies to renounce the carriers, particu-
larry the one hOnOred by Edward Ill.
of England. One lady said it was ID
shame that women disfigured them
selves so much as to compel their huS-
bands to 90 to see actresses in
| order to behold beautiful
form. 1t was simply disgraceful
to have brothers and husbands go to
| theater to admire the female figure.
| Another lady said that the reason why
| so many women are iIl-natured is be-
| caused they are clothed so badly.
Women were certainly superior to men,
| if the doctrine of 1.-The survi val of the
| titteSt" were true, for a man could not
| survive in the garments that most
| women wear. Altogether it was great
day at Chautauqua.
tt
One of the speakers OF Dire SIS reform
at the Chautauqua convention, in COM
| menting on the changes which had taken
| place in the past six centuries, remarked
| that 600 years ago men wore attireS al
most identical with those of women, and
that when reform began to creep IN
a shortening of the skirt was
the first step toword improve
| ment. Then she remarked with
| a deal of commentator as a remarkable
| coincidence, that the first change advO-
| Gated for women was shortening of
! the skirt and she put the subject for
| ward with a considerable satisfaction.
The amusing part of this is that two OF
| three years ago. when the dress agita-
| ton swept with renewed YigOr
over the country fashion did COM
mand that women should shorten their
skirts, and for several seasons the short
| dress prevailed in walking dresses, and
many bali costumes did dot drag on the
floor. Now, it is a pity that this reform
was not VirtuOuS change instead of a
fad, but the truth will prevail. Already
the decree has gone forth. Already street
dresses dust the pavemeDtS. Already
house dresses even for informal occa-
sion lie bit on the floor, so that the
| apparent step which women anxious for
the reform of their sex fancied they had
seen made toward the desired result
was only false promise. Indeed, the
| strong-minded woman who is sincerely
| anxious for the reform of her sex has a
hard lot, for it is woman herself who
always handicaps her.
tt
If the ChautauQUa dress TefOrmerS
! are right in asserting that the feminine
! line of beauty should be revealed from
the sloping, shoulders to the dainty
! feet, why Is elss Kate Fields sug-
gestion good that men should wear knee
breeches and long stockings? In waging
war on the unnecessary and shape
| cOncealing trousers she is simply apply
| ing to the distinctive apparel of one
sex the same principle that the Chau-
| tauquanS apply to the distinctive, un-
| necessary and ShapezcOncealing dress
| of the other sex. But how the kodaks
| will snap when'a band of reformed lads
| and lasses parade Broadway for the first
| time in the new lumb-revealing habili-
mentS, the lads in knee brooches and
| the lasses in tights. For enc evening, at
| least, the most melOdramatic theaterS
! will be deserted.-N 7 Ork Sun.