The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-10-31
EVILS OF FASHION
Pastor Scudder's TRADE
Against the Evil of
Dressing Well.
NINE. PoMPADoUR'S FAN.
The Awful Frenchwoman Excites
the Wrath of the Taber-
nacle's Dominic.
NINE. P%oMPADoUR'S FAN.

sharp sermon last night at the Taber-
nacle on the subject of Living tor Show.
or Evils of Dress" The church was
crowded. The text was from Matthew vi,
81. "Wherewithai stall we be clotheds"
The pastor said, This is a question which
has troubled the world from the time the
human race began to wear clothing even
to the present hour. Adam and Eve wor-
ried owe 1t in the Garden of Eden and
way by sewing fig leaves to-
gether, and we who are at this end
of the race are more perplexed about it
than they. In fact, this is n of the
questions of the age and is ever with us.
Our bill for clothing is no small item IN
our annual expenditures. In many fami-
lies more is spent for clothes than for
food or rent or fuel, aud l Know people
who give a large portion OF their time to
this one problem, "Where withall shall
we be ciotheds" Man scours the earth
in search of material to cover and beau
tify himself and uses his utmost
ingenuity in working up these
materials in to useful and pleasing
forms. The sheep must give It's wool, the
OK its hide, the camel its hair. the ostrich
its feathers, the worm its COCOON, the fax
its sinew, the cotton it's bloss ON the oys-
ter its pearls, the Cochineal its body, and
SO on, ad infinitnm.
BEAUTY ON PROPS.
'Our beauty is the kind that needs to
be propped up by all manner of ingenious
device. 1mperfections must be disguised
and wonderful changes for the better are
made II human forms aud phvsiognomies
by an appropriate application of those
witcherles Of dress. and people behold the
exquisite frame and almost forget to look
at the picture. The shell appears
more valuable than the kernel:
Your queen of the sidewalk or your ball
room belle does obtain a temporary
notice to be sure, but her day soon passes
and she is forgotten, but your Dorcas
who knows where the ragged children
live and puts shoes on their frost bitten
feet, this woman is immortal. Madame
Potnpadeur owned a fan tuat cost $50. 600
aud niue years We're employed IN It's con-
struction. The Empress Eugene had
her dresses fringed with diamonds and
covered them with lace valued at 50, 900 a
yard. Contrast these French hyaways
with hat solid, sterling woman Queen
Victoria, who though Empress of the
seas an1 ruling q territory upon which
the sun never sets, dresses her children so
simply that when walking through
Windsor Park they were frequently
taken for The lodgekeeper's daughters,
This mob woman has set a worthy ex-
ample to all the world in this matter of
dress.
"Many of the fashions of our day are
ridiculous. There is neither grace nor
comeliness about them. Look at these
artificial hummocks which ladies' wear
upon their shoulder tips. How ludicrous
aud contrary to all the laws of symmetry
and taste.
why, if this tyrant named style should
prescribe a pair of horns upon the side of
the lead. multitudes of women would
not scruple to stick them on and even
wear them to church. The custom OF
hanging the hair WAS taken from New
Zealand savages. Never mind. if fashion
says bang your hair that settles il, the
hair is banged.
THE CORSET CHESTNUT.
IF the oracies of fashion declare in
favor of small waists, multitudes of our
young women a process Of
cutting into themselves until they acquire
the authorized wasp-like figure. 1t mat
ters little to them hat their vital organs
are pushed out OF their natural positions
and they are compelled in after years to
suffer for such an objectionable crime
Talk about the natives of India torturing
their bodies in the name of religion. /
never saw a heather in that country that
was foolish enough to follow such
practices as this. WHY, not even
a horse will allow you to draw his girth
too tight. The minute he becomes un-
comfortably compressed he has the good
sense to turn on you with an open mouth
and manifest his displeasure III a very
practical and decided manner The
fashion follower will wear n dress a yard
too long for her. and drag this superduous
~appendage over filthy sidewalks and
~felryboats until one feels inclined to ask
her how much she Is paid for hourisnlng
That kind of a mop, or If she has a con
tract for cleaning the streets.
Years ago the Due de Richelieu pow
dered his head to CONCEAL his gray hairs.
and o all the young women in France
were doping their heads into -four bar
rels. Now. to me, it seems the height
OF absurdily that any one should pre-
sumo 10 Tell us what clothes we shall
wear and how we shall wear them. The
law OF individual liberty protests against
any such domineering spirit, and the vari-
ETY. of human shapes aud CONTINGENCIES in
| Weighs against this modern tyranny and
imposition. The style that is becoming
one person would make another hideous.
claim that people should study them
selves and adhere to the style that suits
them best. This is The opinion of Worth
the celebrated costuuer and authority on
fashion In Paris.