Morning journal and courier., 1892-12-21
THE THOUGHTFUL TWELVE.

Woman is rapidly emancipating herself
from the tyranny of Man. Indeed, Man is
no longer tyrant, SO far as Woman is con-
cerned. He is either slave or a cantank-
erous and futile rebel. But there Is q
tyranny which Woman has not yet made
much headway against. She hasn't even
protested against it to any great extent.
She has, indeed, actually seemed to hug It,
as she used to hug Man before she realizsR
that he was tyrant. 1t is the tyranny of
Fashion, the tyranny that makes a woman
make an hour glass of her shape; that
makes her sweep the dirty sidewalk with
her fine clothes; that makes her wear hats
that cause profanity in the theatres;
that makes her wear great rolls of dead
hair; that makes her stoop, or wiggle or
hump when she walks, and that makes
her do all manner of foolish and harmful
things to herself. But there is ray of
hope. 1t appears that there are twelve
women who believe that If Woman must
have more sensible If not less severe ty-
rant than she has had. These women are
the executive committee of the National
Council of the Women of the United
States, and they have been meeting in Chi
cago. They say they hope to deliver Wo-
man from certain hard and fast lines with
in which Fashion has 30 long confined her.
They very wisely .deprecate anything in the
nature of a uniform, and they only
offer recommendations as to a dress
suitable for business hours, shop
ping, marketing, housework, walking
and other forms of exercise. They rec
ommend union undersuits. The eques-
trienne trousers and any properly adjusted
underwaist, or no underwaist, can be
used. These form a perfect system of
underelothing, and are said to be a foun-
dation in securing physical freedom and
comfort. Utility, beauty and proportion
demand freedom of outline, and the out
side dress should conform to these princi-
pies. Numerous beautiful designs, es-
pecislly the short waist of the empire
period, have been offered by artists, which
each may adopt according to her in
dividual needs. There are three ways in
which all this may be practically achieved.
By adopting the Syrian dress, as
suggested by English women; the
gymnasium dress, which is acknowl-
edged to be graceful and beautiful one;
and the American costume, consisting
of short skirted gown, with leggings Of
the same material as the gown. Recogniz'
ing these different designs as basis, great
latitude and variety are possible in general
effect. The dressing of the neck should
be loose and easy, whatever style of collar
| may be preferred. And sleeves, however
cut, should give the greatest possible free
dom and comfort to the arms. The bes
| authorities agree that the head and fee
require as much freedom as any othe
parts of the body. Therefore, easy fitting
| gloves, and shoes loose across the balls o
the foot with room for the toes a md will
low, broad heels, are recommended. Th
outside wrap should be loose enough t,
permit unrestrained motion to every mem
ber of the body.
Thus say the thoughtful twelve. The.
will probably not make much impression
on their sisters just yet, and 1t is no
probable that they expect to. And per
haps they themselves are not all thorough
ly emancipated from the tyrany of Fash
ion. But they know how to give good ad
vice, and we are told that little leavel
lesveneth the whole lump. Trousers, com
Portable outside garments, big shoes an
big gloves would certainly do Woman goo
if she could make up her mind to lik
them. But 1t will take some time to tea
down structure that has been buildin
ever since Eve sewed the elegant fig leave
of Eden together and made herself q