The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-09-29
STORIES ABOUT TOWN.
Boomers Are to Be Worn by To-
peka Women.
one HUNDRED AGREE TO WEAR THEM

brated In Topeka
There is no doubt about it. il is comm
this time. The women of Kansas have
taken up dress reform and they will
make q success where all others have
made a failure.
Soon the sportive winds of Kansas will
have a new and fresher toy. The Turk
ish trousers will be with us.
IT took eastern women to start dress
reform but it took Kansas women to
furnish the nerve to make it a reality,
or rather conclude to do 50.
Right in Topeka the fever is now at
work More than fifty women have al
ready agreed to it and it is presumed at
least one hundred will have agreed TO
adopt it before election, just after which
they will appear on the street "A written
agreement will be formally drawn up and
signed by each Of the women who con-
sent 70 wear them.
Drs. Eva Harding and Agnes Haviland
seem to have been the first of the re-
formers in Topeka and they both talked
about it to JOURNAL reporter
There Will not be the lea st thing i'm
modest about them" said Dr. Haviland,
sand they will be so much more con
veDient and comfortable, 1 don't see how
any sensible person can object to them
on any grounds You will hardly be
able to distinguish the change at all
when it comes. for the skirt will be there
A-AN~N@-
plain and straight and six or eight inches
shorter than the dress skirts now worn.
The trousers viii be loose Of course and
will be fastened tightly just below the
knee. The fold, however, will drop sew
eral inches below that and the skirt viii
reach Just below the fold. The costume
can be worn in any color desirable,
though I think dark goods will be the
best
You see these are simply for business
it
or receptions.
"D0 YOU know what a lot Of heavy
skirts are to manage? No? Well, were
you ever walking with a woman on
windy day. and have her skirts blow
against your or did you ever try walk
ing against q strong wind with a long
ulster buttoned close about you! If you
have, add several pounds Of accumulated
dirt and water TO it, and you will have
fair idea of what women have to contend
with on rainy, windy days. oh, wish
/ could dress you men up in the clothes
we have to wear, and send you out on a
real wirdy day
1--WE viii wear leggings Of the same
cOlored cloth as the trowsers, and they
will extend far enough up to meet the
clasp Of the trCWsers and be lost beneath
the fold
aThe waist may be made any way the
wearer likes, and will probably be some
thing on the style of the shirt waist and
Jacket we see so much now. Nothing
could be heater. But don't 20 and get
the idea that we are going to discard the
corset The underwear will be about
the same aa nov, though with these suits
it is proba bic the equestrian tights or
combination suits Will be more predOmi-
nant
with the skirts Of today no woman
can walk gracefully or easily. Look at
a woman with dress on and her hands
full Of bundles going up a muddy stair
way. She perhaps has half a hand to
catch up her skirts with. She must step
just where the skirt is raised and the re-
suit Is she lOOks.WOrse than a COW. There
is another thing; think of US walking IN
all the uncomfortable filth of the streets
with our skirts dragging and then hav-
ing TO put them on over our heads,
breathing as we do the impurities thus
accumulated. Disease can be impaired
that way.
Il have talked with any amount of la
dies about this dress reform and they are
all in favor of it. many more than have
promised to become charter members of
the reform. They will all follow later
without doubt / cannot tell you who
have agreed to don the new costume yet
because some Of them might object, but
4 can tell YOU that nearly all Of the bust
ness women in town have agreed to it
and several society women will take it
up also.
that we have no time to begin work on
this or we would begin Immediately, but
just after election we will have a meet
ing to formally organize for the reform.
1f necessary to accustom people to Sec
ing them on the streets we will organize
into relief squads and have a certain
mum Der on the streets all the time
Yes. there j. no question that dress re-
form will soon have come to stay"
A RoUND HUNDRED YEARS.
The oldest Lady in Topeka Celebrates
Her Hundredth Birthday Anniversary.
Ona hundred years is a very long time
TO live in this world, but that one can
has been proven again by Mrs. Rather
inc Roberts of this city.
This estimable lady will reach her
hundredth mile stone tomorrow and at
the home Of her son, Byron Roberts. at
$40 West Tenth street. at dinner time be-
tween forty and fifty Of her descendants
from abroad viii gather around big ia
PIE and partake Of a betting dinner in
honor Of it.
Mrs. Roberts is a native of Morris
county. New Jersey, where she was born
on September 80, 1894 She was the