Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-03
IN RRTEFS.


IN RRIEFS.
Every change in fashion is subjected to a
certain amount of adverse criticism, be-
cause the eye, unaccustomed to the new
modes, treats them much in the same way as
new acquaintance are net. The canning
is close and curious and often hypercritical.
The trailing skirt invites criticism, but is
!; quite rs dirty rs has been charged. 4
short skirt scarcely clears the ground,
while a trailing one must be held up. It
was not because of skirts in the filth that
the women Of Pittsburg, through the health
commissioner, have made radical move to
prohibit promiscuous expectoration. Des-
SEATED sputa, it IS well known, is conveyed
into the lungs and breeds deadly disease.
Expectoration is Il most disgusting habit,
and habit largely. \ home commission of
mothers would DO good work for
the health of communities and the decencies
Of life by teaching their boys, as well as
their girls, that splitting is vulgar in the
extreme, and should be avoided whenever
possible, and when it becomes imperative,
should be done quickly and in private.
The question OF o city park is being agi-
tated, and there IS bare possibility that
81 no very distant time there may be Sc
cured land for park purposes. Now is the
time for the mothers to put in their plea for
gardens before grand parks. Think how
delightful it would be in the summer morn
ing TO send the little ones with an elder sis
Ter or the nurse to play under the shade of
green trees and amid the pleasant sights
and sounds of flowers, of singing birds and
of tinliling fountains Then. too, when twi-
light drops the curtain, buttoning it with
stars to sit with the father and husband in
cool shadows and forget in soft moonlight
the cares that infest the day. Certainly an
acreage park would be 4 great luxury, but
squares about the town for tired laborcrs,
in ard out OF the house, are prime necessi-
ties j would be well to urge this before
the time when it will be necessary to tear
down substantial buildings TO give the
crowded dwellers IN Fort Worth breathing
spaces =
Mrs. Margaret +. Langster in 4 talk not
long since to company Of ladies on The
Wen-Equipped Woman" took the ground
that versatility was an essential character
istic of the woman she was delineating.
With all due respect to the opinion of this
noble woman, and never for one moment
questioning The desirability Of knowing
something of everything" and the impos-
Of
thing" we feel obliged 10 differ with her
somewhat For social intercourse there is
nr woman quite so delightful rs the bright
woman who listens intelligently and ques-.
lions with sense, but in the hard, every
day world where the majority of women
are battling, it may be for actual existence,
That woman who has only versatility and
10 specially fights losing battle. The
hard lines that come 10 women in the strug-
gle for life are largely due TO the fact that
there IS no one thing which they know
thoroughly and can dowell. The apprentice
ah,p system is well nigh abandoned and its
abandonment is 4 wrong done all parties. 1t
is particularly unfortunate that girls, of
whom there is 4 growing preponderance,
ARE rot being prepared by thorough train
ing for the positions they wish to occupy.
business IS business" is not dogma in
heir creed, and they fail 10 appreciate
that bungling methods in the Office are
more fatal 10 their real interest than any
want Of drawing-room tack or minor
breaches possibly can be.
l., IS not meant TO censure any means by
which women become attractive, nor TO
hint that attractive women are only super
acial, but This is meant, that, in this the
woman's century. it is important to her
well-equipment that she know one thing
thoroughly and that she cultivate tact
which IS The true essence of kindness
aud begets in the truly tactful desire to
spare the feelings Of others, tact that
men are said to possess in greater degree
70 admit, Is il not true that they utter of
fener than men little cutting comments and
with blandest smile thrust their tiny
weapons into the quickest part.
The step-mother, the mother-in-law and
fhc ban Of cheap wit that repeats itself ad
narseum. Yet many families owe their
after prosperity TO their careful bringing
up by some devoted woman who without
the mother tie has done her best to supply
IN irreparable loss. Then too, the mother
sn-law fills niche in the household that no
one else can, and when the puny wall of the
Grstborn ,swakens the feeling of paternity,
on whom but the much abused mother-in-
law does the newmade father rely for
rounsel IN that darkened chamber, and ever
after when the gentle ministrations of
woman, experienced through hours of pain
sorrow, are needed?
Then, again, what contempt is heaped
upon matchmaking mother, a merited
contempt when in its usual application it
Is understood to be the maneuvering sordid
-l,o