The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-08-30
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
HE DISCUSSES woMENs FASH
IONS, PAST AND PRESENT.
Would Compromiss on Anything Hx-
cept Hoop skirts.

don't believe that the most sensible woman
In he world can be wholly indifferent to tho
tyranny OF fashion. II they don't follow II near
they do afsr of. Woman ms to be built that
way and reckon she can't help it. The meu
have bsen fnssing about it for ages butt don't
do any good. Some say that the dev. is at the
bottom of 1t. aud that fashion is womans be-
setting sin and il the devils trap that he gets
TO catch them. bu, don't bolieve it. I've no.
tced my female FOLKS making these big sleeves
aud know they have had no bad effect on
them. Taey - to church all the same, and to
the missionary meeting, and the Sunday school
and sng i'll the choir, aud are just as kind and
Industrious at home AZ they ever were. Now
the biz sleeves were really .ght pretty and be-
coming until they sve,ie them out OF all rea.
son. aud now they are horrid. For about
year the style Of woman'S dress has been pref
tlcr than tor many years before, 1t fit her per-
son ami showed the grace of her form and
movement. but this balloon sleeve business IL
!ef'rming her some. | don't think il will last
IonS. But l will compromise on most any
fashion except hoop skirts. l never was
coutl,ed t" them and never will be. L remem-
Der whca they came into fashion, and they
were qui decent and we'll behaved, but in
cour,e OF time they got bigger and more wider
snd spres'li-r until man dident have much
showing Oh a std walk or the street cars, and
woman with a fuli-Srown tilter on confident get
mo church pew with any grace. She could
eur lean up against the counter in a store but
had to stand of foot to Keep the tlter
from r!z.ng from horizontal to r perpen-
dlc1lar. That WAS away back before the
war when George ID. Prentice was running
Tie Louisville Journal. and he wrote such
sarcastic poem about them that the laliesgot
ashamed and reduced their rcumference But
they came back again u few years ago, though
not to such all cX'ravagant extent. L was
younc man when thev first come and the rage
was 50 infectious and universal that poor folks
who couldn't buy them got the boys To make
them of white OAK splits like they made the
cotton baskets. But they were right cool in
summer time. reckon. They looked very cooi
when there was 4 y. cJZA.
This balloon sleeve is no new thing, though
don't think they were ever quite so large
they are now. The prophet Ezekiel took a dis
liz" To them anou; 1000 years ago, for he says,
"Wu 20 the women who sew pillows to their
armh les" They were stuffed reckon. Bu:
Isaiah made clo AT sweep of ali kind. Of fash
ions that prevailed among those Hebrew wo-
men IL procaim.d u curSa upon the tink-
ling ornaments about their feet and their cauls
and rouma.tlre, like thr moon" and the chains
and bracelets aud muiirrS and bonues and
Ii, AL bands and tablets and rings and
chanSeahle suis OF apparel and big ornaments
aud rings ami those jewels ana mantles and
wmpc- AMI curling pins and SiasSc' and hoods
ami vel \.
Pretty hard on them. wasn't II? Tho poor
creatures didn't have much left, not even
dire t change ~ when company came-no! q
ring nor noSesay
l rem, inter those "round-tires like the
moon, Ike the new moon when IL Is about
three days old. wore one when was sweet
sixteen. | Was as trim and pretty as a girl aud
had 10 act girls part in play on the stage
on c"mm"nccment night. was to be fash
iou bic young lady AMI BE-! IIatb'e or J m Al
cxauIsr I've tOrSOtton which one, WAS the
di:dC. Some OF the girls made me round
lire, whCn was III n called 4 hustle. All
the women wore them, but think mine waS a
tr!tlr larger than the average. II hell half
peek %: bran and made my hmdGcar stick outa
foot. A. | wrIgSl"d about with my long train
l.. 1 L..
dropped qUn! Of tobac % on the hustle, which
"au--'l much laughter. That hustle WAS as big
Il b. mans arm aud tupcred Gown a. both
,MdS. lii" the horns al tie moon. Some women
wore them ucar!v as large and the hump behind
w"u!i have made comfortable seat tor sna
boy. som times the STIihnS leaked and You
could u"nk IN" Grl all around town by the
bran she dropped. \ town hog would keep fat
on D.. sometime, they came united and
d'"plrd u:t, "hrh wa1 very mprtifyInS. One
dty | pIrn"l up o." III the store where |
c.erNinG. LuuS It up IN SIGHT, but | never
could uni the owner. Bat IN course Of time
bu-'l,s wcu' ont and when the humps came
. back ngalu they N"r made bC that kind OF
rounl-'Ire'. bur I:.,i OF II stiff grass cloth
that was crliup.d up and gave a more graceful
slope 20 the Dir .S-iuG. 1t was y sind OF lOrsal
tp-Tlrtt" ami Wa, Sonc;Im \ made of religious
uow>r.,p por>, such as The Christian at Work or
The Even-sIst.
don't L"..cvc that the ladies' lace a. much as
they E-,'l to. haven't seen bu. one girl IN a
LONG Inr WHO excited my fears. AMI | am still
cOL".rIlc for ar snC will break in two. right
At IN. coupling, or hccOmc uncoupicd some Of
th".c ,,al,. \ .uud hcalthy-sIZ"i waist is alb
solu;"lv necessary to a healthy wife. and nobody
bar an IDIOT w"IIil marry a woman with dirt
d:.Ul-r b .dy. New. 7 hrl"S>. like 20 women
iiNcl Ur nicely w.'h ruvSc'S on. In fact. with
aLv hing on save No'h-r liuHbardS.
~'-tkInS on these Ohl-,imc writer's who
were 30 hard unpu women rrluinds me Of a
phil pI" of Na'ianIrl Ward the author of the
:'r.' cot oi Massachusetts law He was .
preacher, too. and raj led the fashionable wo-
men o: :ha' tim a.,"r this fashion:
"Wncn l hear nugpcrou- dame inquire
what dress the q zee" Is in this week or what is
tie m'jJi.>'"r 1t" ia-l!i Of The e .urt VITA tn,
Gcs!I' {" %" n II al a.! has'". look up,n hoI
"a the Yer" -IIIirl &C tTiii.. the pro met of ;
quarter If rph"r, m" "priomc OF nothing
more litter - o" kicked than honorod or I'm
mprcL some "t these women have 80 lIril,
wiz or T'r;uc that they dI-iigure themselves
with exotic SarbS that dsmautlc their nativ,
lrst'r and tr,uNci"uts them into grantba
G"eSc or l,i-hapen, iI-ho't"n shell fish or Egvp
tjan hi.roglvuhIcS or French ilar's of thn pas
terry. The. wear drail"s on the hinder part o
their H. adj, having nothing on the forcpart
| can make myself sick cOmpar.nS the splnndo
IN which our gcnflnwonl"n used to he dressed
with the gut.toUndvr Il Gooscdown wherewitl
'H.v a." now .ryr u,l"'. When I sec anv o
'."u r" 'id. n'a..v cannot c ans" my fancy o
them for a E.,a'h a;i,r. | have been a widow
t.! 80: iw' iEr E'.trS an purpO-Cd 20 look arOun.
tor z woke fellow. but when | consider hOv
these women EaS. ir.p,W, fol fE,ruS wifi