Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-11
RED HAIRS ALBRIGHT
Just as Good Brain Grows Under 1t as
Under Any Other Color.
THE PREJUDICE ALL NONSENSE.
Empress Eugenie's Redeeming Act Was
Making Red Fashionable.
DECISION OF THE INSURANCE MEN
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WRITTEN FOE THE pfsPATCH.1
When Eugene became Empress of France
she seemed to have little idea of any of the
duties of such position save those OF be-
coming the leader of the fashions, giving
e1travagant and snowy entertainments.
and making an ostentatious display of piety
and devotion to the interests of her church.
Perhaps no other woman ever gave 30 much
attention to dress or spent 30 much money
in parade of foolishness. The revelations
of her court show that she went through an
elaborate change in dressing three or four
times day, and prided herself upon never
wearing the most costly of her gowns more
than twice. She had an allowance from
the treasury of $4,000 a month for pin
money, and yet she was hardly ever out of
debt.
When the toiling peasants and working
men of France were kept poor BY taxation
to support such extravaganza, who can won
der that they abolished royalty, and set up a
republic-that from the heights Of such
splendor Napoleon and Eugene were de-
throned and driven into exile with hardly
ga stitch to their backs" Eugene in her
flight had not an opportunity to change her
gown three or four times on her way to
England, but had to make her appearance
in that country in borrowed clothes-
A Story Hard to Believe.
II the same sort of silly women were not
parading before us day after day, spending
money like water in the eagerness for dis
play of dress and diamonds, luxurious liv-
ing, magnificent houses and sumptuous en-
! ..rtainments that would discount Lucullus,
it could hardly be believed that woman
| could be as madly foolish as Eugenie
| possession and enjoyment Of all the goods
the gods provide, such women seem to be
unhappy unless they can faunt their riches
and display their splendor 30 as to excite
the admiration-and envy-of their poorer
neighbors, regardless of the fact shown In
| history that no better way of infaming the
passions Of the masses and melting revolu-
| tion and anarchy could be devised.
| The Duchess of Marlborough once .
plain American girl-testified recently that
she could not live in proper style on an in
come less than $140, 900 year. She cannot
keep out Of debt on such a limited sum.
Poor womanl to what straits and close econo-
mics and debts she will be reduced, since it
has been decided that she must now feel the
biting pinch Of poverty on only $1,000 a
| year.
| The throne of France, the lives Of husband
and son, were sacrificed to the ''elothes
mania, the silly vanity, the prejudices of q
woman whose mind was too narrow for any
thing save pride, Ignorance, selfshness and
the vulgar ambition for q display of
! luxury and theatrical effects. It 10 said that
her influence brought about
The War With Prussia,
| which she was wont to allude to playfully
as "my war;" until its disastrous effects SO
| turned the wheel of fortune that-threat-
ened by mob, and with the precedent OF
| the ill-fsted Marie Antoinette in mind-she
was glad to leave France and her dresses
| and jewels behind her, and seek refuge in
| England and obscurity.
| As leader of fashion, Eugenie infected
the earth with rage for extravagant dres-
sing and pompous display. How the whole
world of women wore "hoops" and "tilters"
and torrents Of "trimmings' and costliest of
| gaudy apparel at her behest is well known.
| The effect of her example in this respect is
not lost yet. Although her successors as the
leaders Of fashion in Paris are the stars upon
the stage and the demi-monde, there are still
| American women SO devoted to Frenchiness
that they must have Partisan gowns, cost
what they may. Even the ladies of our
| Republican administration are SO indiffer-
| they pride themselves upon their Paris
| gowns, and glory in having upon them the
| stamp of Worth" to attest that they were
not made in this country.
Eugenie's Redeeming Act.
But while Eugenie will go down in
| history as a woman who ruined herself and
her family by her vanity, love Of dress and
bieotry in religious matters, she is to be
credited with relieving, if not removing the
| old-time ridiculous onus upon red hair.
| The Difference shown to this superstition is
| to be seen in the efforts of her friends, who
writOabout her, when they call her hair "a
! rich auburn" which by those who saw her
in the glory of her days as Empress, is said
to have been Enthusiastically and unmiti-
| gstedly red"
However that may be, it is certainly true
that since she, in her beauty, set the fashions
in dress and adornment, the stigma of
ridicule which once made red hair calamity
and a cross to its possessor, has been largely
removed. This prejudice seems to have
been founded only upon fancy and supersti-
ton. Like the rage for golden hair and
| powdered wigs, it may have been mere
matter of style. Fashion is tyrant that
sways all minds and gives beauty to every
absurdity. Fashion at present prescribes
| long skirts for women, and in obedience to
this ridiculous decree millions OF women are
parading around to-day in the slop and
] slush and dirt as "draggle tails" giving up
! comfort, health, and risklng their lives tor
fear of being called "dowdies"-for fear an
inch or two shorter might stamp them a. out
of style. "What fools we mortals be. :"
The Brick-Tops at School.
In the good old days agone children al
school who had red hair suffered q sort al
martyrdom. As "brick tops" they were
hooted and reviled and subjected to such
abuse as only the untamed barbarity oi
children could devise.
| Mans inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn
saws Robert Burns, but the inhumanity oi
children to their fellows when they gel
mad" at them is cruelty almost inconceiv.
able. One bright girl have in mind had
curls SO utterly red that they could not by
auy stretch of fancy be toned down into
"auburn" or SANDY" She was studious
ouick-witted, well-behaved, and $50 smart
that she always stood high in her class, and
as consequence, was everlastingly held uI
by the teachers as q model for the class
For this was she taunted as q "red head, u
and her life made miserable by being dubbed
"stuck up"
| Sl.kf