The evening world., 1894-05-10
THEY WON'T WEAR THEM.
Why Women Continue to Cling to
Long skirts.

Every once In while we don't hear
anything about dress reform Such n
lull In the strife Is the present time says
Philadelphia Press writer, when no
conventions are convening no honorable
bodies being petitioned. no lecturers on
tho warpath. Without the slightest de-
sire to myself enter that path nor dis
turb the slumbrous embrace OF the lion
and the lamb. 1t seems to me an advan-
tageous occasion for confronting cold
facts-facts connected with the divided or
abbreviated skirts. boomers, &C, which
women won't and don't adopt For OF all
unavailing war cries Down with the
ears; the insidious Turkish trousers and
the daring knckerbocker remain the
rarest curiosities and women cling un-
convinced, to long skirts, or the skirts
cling to them, as you please.
The only substantial reason why they
won't wear them Is because they
wont" .., Al others sink into subordlna-
has once made up her mind. mules. gra-
Won images, crowbars and other symbols
OF inhexibility retire from the field.
and persuasion. what perceptible head
| way has the skirt reform movement
made? None. Nor is it tyrant man
who forbids the onward sweep OF prog
ress; Did enough women demand Il he
would cheerfully concede-he would have
| to concede-to any eccentricity OF cos
tunes the Ingenious sex might devise;
but the face-eTdent fact is that enough
women do not demand a change and
the small minority who are left have the
privilege OF dressing as they please. al
stubborn and stiff-necked sisters follow
| their example.
As for the minor reasons. they exist In
plenty. The trousers idea never was any
| thing hut wild dream few
among the camp OF radicals daring thus
to brave the oppressor's wrong and the
proud mans contumely. They, are ugly,
rightly or wrongly-a hopeless majority
cannot be brought to regard them ms
modest Somehow-and here again We
may be right or wrong, which doesn't
influence the fact at ali--the conceptions
OF womanhood and of soft trailing dra-
per!es have inextricably tangled them
selves together In the human mind.
dim idea OF protection and of soft sur
roundings and Of graceful prettness as
sociates itself with the skirt, and with
out II even the radical must struggle
, hard not to think. like the old woman ii
Mother Goose" when the mlschievou,
peddler "cut off her petticpats mp to he,
knees"-
Lawkamcrcy me. this Is none OF l.
To overcome this objection the offend
ing garment has been wldencd into IN,
! divided skirt and It's variations. whicl
as improvements on knickcrbuckers arr
, success blt as improvements on IN
, long skirt comCally recall DIR, Holmes
! description of metaphysics: Its like
/, man splitting log, when he is done NJ
refOrmcr-instead of being done up int
one bag she has two bags
No: they won't wear them. Nor doe
the short skirt gain pcrccpthly FOR rea
sons not very far to seek. II is NO
beautIful-tccre Is an unfinished, almos
= an interrupted appearance about a Skin
which stops short OF the ground tina
does not please the eye. 1t is nm M
~ happy medium; between the regulate
" FORTY inches" and the brief ballet skirl
y there Is no line of beauty. Then tn
/ short skirt has an atrOc'ous fashion c
= blowing up pretty nearly to ones ears
Il the only remedy being to make II scar
e almost to pillow case proportions. AS Il
? ankles, they may be ,Loral-a point q
which authorities wrangle, but they Gel
70 n 2 II shoe, and even when we do n
,s effect is by far the best when, as the ol
= poem puts 1t.
l. Hcr feet beneath her pcitlrnat
Like little mice run In and out
the case against the long skirt isn't ser
r, running or cunningly twists itself rour
ii us in winding sheet style or flaps d!i
re mally at our heels In wet weather "
ty execratc, cry aloud for emancipation
ID but when IL appears refuse II, lii
m Aesop's old man and Death, and II
IN stray mortal who has the courage of h,
he bifurcations is left in lonely gTandcu
nd The average woman won't wear then
That's the long and short OF It,