The herald., 1894-01-14
HER IDEAS ABOUT MO1ESTY.
An Experienced WOman's Views
on That Subject.
What the Quality Is and What 1t
Is Not.
The Decay of Virtue Caused the
Downfall OF Rome-Prudishness
Not Modesty Nor Is Ches-
tlty Test.

LIN.
One by one the old-world virtues are
disappearing. Time was when chivalry
was the crown Of men, and modesty the .
diadem of woman. Chivalry has given
place to selfishness. and modesty to chic.
Not that those splendid qualities can
ever absolutely die, for there are, and
always will be, noble men and pure
women, but their diminution is serious
and of evil augury.
The past has only produced one other
people resembling urselves-austere,
brave, masterful, enterprising at home
and abroad, colonizing and roadmaking
all the world over, ekillful in peace and
M atch 'ess in war. The Romans were
the English OF ancient times; the Eng
lish are modern Romans.
But it is to be noted among the first
signs of the decline OF Rome, that her
women, so famous for virtue, had be-
come demoralized. The national fiber
had relaxed. Simplicity of life and
manners made way for luxury. For du-
ty was substituted qualification. Vo-
luptuous pleasure after pleasure had
palled upon the jaded tastes, until at
last honor and decency were obliterated
and nameless horrors were of daily and
common occurrence. st. Paul gave
forcible evidence of contemporary man
ners when he represented his fellow cit.
izens IS being s'given over to unclean-
ness." If history has any value, it is
by placing before us the wisdom and
errors OF the past that we may adopt the
one and reject the other. And If mod
esty was cause of national decadence,
then it would undoubtedly be the same
again.
But it may be said, what is modesty?
l will endeavor to point out what 1t Is,
and what it is not.
Words have varying values. They
may stand for certain ideas today and
for their opposites in the future or in
the past. Their Specification is modified
by the development of intellect, of GUS
tom and sentiment. Originally ''mod-
esy," borrowed from the French ''mod-
estie" and from the Latin "modestia,"
meant simply in measure, therefore
moderation or temperance, as opposed to
excess. Gradually it has become more
refined and spiritualized, 80 that while
I il may in some Caees be still used in its
vulgar and primary sense, it now denotes
purity of thought and feeling. The
truly modest. therefore, are alone "the
pure in heart" and the nearer they ap-
proach to perfection the greater is the
measure of their modesty. Such blessed
ones become centers of purifying infiu-
ences, and, like the fountains of Sahara,
they cleanse and refresh the stained and
weary wayfarers, and create in the desert
vast GASES OF verdure and beauty.
Prudishnees is not modesty, for has
not some one rightly said, 'the over
nice are those with nasty ideas?"
Chastity is not modesty, for many who
are chaste, Gre not so from choice. A
person may be both prudish and chaste,
and yet not truly modest. The down
cast eye, the quiet demeanor, the
maiden-like reserve, may often be its
external counterieits, the mere coating
OF "whited sepulchre." Concealment
is not modesty, else would the Turkish
women be the most modest, whereas
they are the most depraved. Eve did
not make the fig leaf apron until she
lost her innocence, thus her covering
was her badge of guilt. Purity has
nothing to conceal. Modesty, like love,
''thinketh no evil" but, unlike love, it
also subdues evil thought in others.
/ once observed some young women
arriving Unexpectedly in gallery upon
a group OF nude statues. They gave
one good look, then screamed and fed
as if pursued by satyrs. The immodes
ty that alarmed them was not in the
statues but in their own impure minds.
1t was an observation of the great Flax
man that "the students, in entering the
academy where they studied from the
nude figure, seemed to hang up their
passions with their hats" Their famil-
iarity with natural beauty led them only
to inform their minds and purify their
tastes. When MIR. Wallace, the great
naturalist, WAS travelling on the Anna
zon. he attended in remote place at
dance given By the native Indians. All
the guests, men and women, except
himself, were perfectly nude. He says
the master OF ceremonies performed his
duties with grave dignity, and the de-
corum of all present compared favora.
bly, with that OF the most polished as
sembly in a London ballroom. These
poor creatures went to dance and not to
firt. They had never even heard of
"Honi soft qui NAL y pense."
We pride ourselves on being more
modest than these. Are we really 80?
1t seems 10 me that naked Indian,
thinking no guile, is more blameless
than civilized belle who bares herself
as far as public opinion will concede;
who conceals only that she may excite;
who displays to the very point of ex-
pectancy. "The sister of st. Gregory of
Nyesa was afflicted with cancer in the
breast, but could not bear that surgeon
should see it, and was rewarded for her
modesty by a miraculous cure" (Mr.
,Lecky, European Morals). Miracles
nowadays are quite of another sort: we
generate impurity and are accounted
pure. Witness fashionable party:
white arms are flashing above the
shoulders. The 'modesty bits" of our
great-grandmothere are absent, and the
necks and bosoms Of all are as bare as
were those of the courtesans OF Charles
ii. Even the back is displayed almost
to the waist by gigantic V. Ia it the
initial of virtue or Of vice? We do not
pity the old campaigners, the veterans
OF 20 seasons. But the young snd inno-
cent girls of IL, who have Just left the
schoolroom, whose passions are fresh
and their imaginations strong-for these
we tremble. How many OF these will
escape such an ordeal unscathed? And
with what object have they been COM
manded to expose their budding charms
to the critical eyes of bold and observ-
ant men? Will il enhance "a ,naidan,s