Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-15
Oress Reform.


readers in regard to that line Of beauty which
the PARKER crusade" is striving to inaugurate?
In stirring article copied in your issue Of the
18th from the New York Sun almost every So
called reformer, with her method, is quoted, but
Madame Parker gives only hints of something
SO high, mighty and superior that common
place understanding like the writer's cannot
catch on to any clue The madam. talks about
line of beauty chat extends from the arm
pits to the ankle that has hitherto been COW
cred up, but must now be exposed to be apprc-
clated. Is ii possible that Madame Parker can
devise dress that will expose line in this di-
rection! Never since Mother Eve invested in
fig leaf apron has an innovation" so far
reaching 30 momentOusin its results been pro-
posed 1t seems that Madame Parker insists on
the destruction OF petticOats. which. if done,
VIII relcgate US into pants, >" short ones at
that If the women OF this country-l mean
the solid womanhood, the sensible matrons the
noble young women who glory in the signet
and crown of woman because placed there by
Aimighty God--wer; forced into men's clothes.
they. certainly would prefer Mary Walkers
manly dress. with pants covering her ankles,
rather than the undignitied short pants OF a
boy and bis GETAWAY" jacket While Madame
Parker chooses to launch her new ideas from
siralSht-laced, respectable Chautauqua by adj
vocatlng the abolition OF skirts"-or II she
means to let Us have one skirt why does she
no. say SO! She talks about Mary Walkers
"unwomanlY trousers" Mary Walker never
launched her unwomanly trousers at CHATEAU
qua; never tried to make other women wear
them These poor dear trousers tramped
over the battlefelds with the form that STOPPED
to stanch the CHASTITY wound She refers to
Mrs Stanton's ugl " rufied boomers Mrs
Stanton ugly boomers at least preserved one
OF woman's highest attributes, her virgin
modesty. for this dress shows only her pretty
toes. Madame Parker Gays she has no SYM
pathy with Ella Wheeler Wilcoxs Mother
Hubbard night dress because Of climatic rea-
sons and because 1t suggests the bed chamber.
Who has said SO neutrality-suspicious. it was Job
or old Shakespeare-tha Ito the pure ali things
are pure!" II you want beauty you must
''ieaSe Elias night gown and follow the lines OF
the fgure?' How many sculptors' models
among women have We in the land? II is said
that at Chatauqua 1.-THE spirit of athletic sports
Is fairly rampant. and the girls compete splen-
didly with the boys in rowing, racing, riding,
fencing, club swinging, bicycling. tennis play
ing, shooting, bathing; in fact, every outdoor
sport The new style Of dress frees the young
women from conventional customs and gives
them greater play of muscles. CONSTRUCTIONS
are unknown under the new dispensation."
IL the ChautauquRs now scattered over the
country are to lead of in the crusade to destroy
all that which distinctly belongs to the sensi-
tive. modest woman, that exquisite indescribable
something SO subtle and elusive and heavenly
that it cannot be described by words, that some.
man. then it were better that every Chautauqua
should be plucked up by the roots, consumed
by fire and scattered to the winds.
When the womanly part of woman il bate red
out OF her, all her sentiment and tenderness;
wheL she car. seize and WELD the surgeons
scalpel or the deadly shooting irons and
bring down. the innocent creature that has the
sane right 70 life which she has, what is left in
her for man to worship or admire? What does
the young man WOO? Simply the squaw, whose
muscles are probably stronger than his own;
who will be left to kill her game in the struggle
to feed her young il she is fortunate enough to
know motnerhood2
Madame Parker, the so-calied dress reformer,
who Is aiming her guns at our petticoats and
declares they must go, that our corsets and col
lars must follow, that .'Chautauqua' sets its
seal on that to which we have chung from time
lmmemoriai, 1t is not necessary to say .haltr'
Ii Is true there is found among the women of
the land sort oil bustless, hipless underground
OF unfortunates who can 60 without corsets be-
cause there is nothing to support, who can
wear short pants or any kind Of q reformed
dress, because there are no hips to support a
skirt, and whose "shins' even u reformer can.
not reclaim. II these creations were dressed
as men no one would doubt their mascuiinity;
II as women no one Would'be so cruel ~ 10 GUS
pect them else than what they appeared. The
TACT Is. these so-called women who are apins
the men are of neither sex, but simply the con.
meeting link between the two. Instead OF blot
tiiiS OUT OF destroying that which separates the
sexes, they simply appear as blotches on the
great national body. just Us the sol;d snks Of
the women OF this country are not clamorin9
for suffrage, and when it comes it will be thrust
upon them by some great political exigeucy.
size will cling to her corsets, her collars and
her pctticoat, for the latter is the dug
Of the womans kingdom. long time ago the
elegant women OF the capital discarded ali
supertuous understanding. A silken garment
or one OF fire wool, vest and drawers in one.
then the corset which serves to hold IN the
long hose. then the long ''kuickerbockers.
heavy ones for winter lighter ones for sum
mer, or, perhaps, in the intense heat discarded
altogether. lie finishing is the dress, which
Is lined throughout, whether OF thick or thin
material. Can anything be more simple than
this perfect OUTFIT The women Of Washington
have never thought Of publishing on the heights
that they have divorced themselves from
swaddlng bands. 1t is doubtful whether thew
have found out just where that line of beauty.
which begins ut the arm pit and ends at
the ankle lies. We know as little about its
location as that line which We are told goes
around the earth and il called the equator.
In Washington we have learned that the women
OF this country arc quite ~ wise as we are. and
by their dignihed silence and going their own
way have hurled every so-callsd dress re-
former" into oblivion. OIIyfA.
Maple Square, August Is, 1891.
LUTHERAN ExcrIsIox TO PEN-MAR VIA PxSN-