The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-06-10


you 10 spell out these few lines that may
tell you of charming courtesy paid to US
yesterday at the hands of one OF our
cloth, ss the church calls it. / went TO
the matinee of 'Cleopatra'-to see Miss
Davenport-and she had ordered God
Save the Queen TO be played on our ar
rival. Now, can gOod-fel lowship and gentle
thought go further than tins? l felt so
grateful and quite overwhelmed. | have
received 80 many kindnesses from Ameri-
can actors and actresses and this Is the
last. felt | must write and tell you, be-
cause you like hearing kind things and |
love to tell them" This was a letter from
Mistress Madge Kendall, most charming Of
actresses and most loving OF women. Crit
icise il yourself.
The time of year has now arrived when
at all the wou ems clubs and societies
they read articles on how to dress health
fully. They are exclusively positive
they damn the corset with large ID, and
they go over the old story about petticoats
being hung from the shoulders, and
various other things strung around your
neck until the woman dressed to suit
them ought to look like Christmas tree.
| heard young woman the other day tell
how there had ceased to be great men be-
cause of corsets, how women were los
ing all their beauty because of cor
sets, how morals were at q low ebb
because of corsets, and how all the
ills OF humanity might be traced TO cOrsets.
She was a very nice looking girl. She lad
on a fine tailor-Iuade lrock that fit her like
glove, and because like TO get at the
very essence of everything | thought
would ask her her experience. 1 had been
growing very blue; l knew how good L
| rrruu nth md 4 rrCnhaNaH ~ |
would be an angel without them. So l
said 10 her in q faint way: when you
first took them of wasn't it rather uncom-
| fortable?" Took what oh?" said she.
"Why your corsets," said l. She looked
at me with an air that only a woman who
has written very moral paper can attain,
| and she said: "Why, / never took them off
at all. l looked at her, and a vague idea
of Sapphira went through my mind. and
she said: "Why, l pay almost as much
money for my corsets as l do for my
frocksl Why, | should be loathsome
without them"
kept quiet a little while. and then l
asked: Evil you tell me what you wrote
that paper for?'' WELL" che answered,
cit was a sort of an experiment. thought
/ would like to see what | could say for
the other side, and IL was interesting to
know how many OF the women would be-
lieve that | meant it." Now, that's lovely
woman to perfection. If it hadn't been
that | wouldn't give a straw to kiss a
woman, should have fallen on her neck
and embraced her; but instead | did it as
they do it in PlatOnic friendships-intel-
lectually.
Apropos OF cOrsets the American woman
is dreadful sloven about them. and the
-.4 -. - - Il
on her, either in London or Paris, she be-
comes conscious OF the fact. a corset
needs to be made for you Just as your
frock does; then it is healthy and wise
and you save money and become wealthy,
because 1t doesn't wear out so soon. When
women learn that il is worth while paying
SD for a corset to wear with $500 irocll
they will be better dressed, but i regret to
say that the average one spends $50 on
her stays, and, il she is very slender,
doesn't think it worth while to give that
much. And tie consequence is? Well,
| they are too big Tor her in the bust and
lap over; they are too long for her on the
hips and come up too high under her
arms. One can't generalize about them,
| but take a woman who weighs about 80.
who is five feet three in height, and she
wants a corset that is tolerably long over
| the stomach, short over the hips, low in
| the bust and which fits her there, not
! squeezes her so that she looks like pin
| cushion not so loose that two hard humps
are formed by their folding, but fitting
| her, which means allOWin her room
| enough 10 be comfortable and yet not so
much room that sine wobbles around. If
they would only think this out and get a
| good corset they would all look so much
better "If' is a troublesome little word
If you had the wealth OF Croesus, you
| think you would DO no end of good things
perhaps you would.
If the girl OF your heart only loved you.
you think you would never say an unkind
word to her-perhaps you wouldn't.
ii you had a vote, you would give it to
an honest man, irrespective OF party-per-
haps you wOnld.
never appoint anybody to office who
| didn't deserve it-perhaps you wouldn't t.
II you were a member OF the church,
you would be willing to sit in the lowest
seats and pray with all your heart-per-
! haps you would
Ii you were a man, you would never
| drink whisky, or smoke cigars, or swear
| perhaps you wouldn't.
| II you were dog, you would be polite
to the people who took care of you and
love whoever loved you best-perhaps
you would.
If you wrote book, il should never
have an undesirable word in it; you would
not degrade your pen-perhaps you
wouldn't.
If, well, good gracious what a lot OF
things could be prefaced by ii Bah.