Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-10-23
ARE BOOMERS UGLY?
Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher Calls
Them a Disgrace.
OPINIONS OF WELL-KNOWN WOMEN
Mrs. Russell Harrison and others Dis.
approve of Them-Hardly Voice
in Their Favor.

Well-known and clever women con-
tinue this week to discuss for the BEN
eft of the Sunday Worlds readers.
the question of boomers, their propri-
ETY., their utility and other matters
pertaining thereto.
As the discussion proceeds it be-
comes apparent that that portion OF
the world which made bicycling fash
ionable has SET its face almost solidly
against boomers or any other form of
bifuroated garment worn without the
protection of skirt All the re-
ports brought back from the country
and seaside prove this. The great mass
of women riders wear skirts.
A woman who is associated with the
most exclusive and fashionable athletic
on account of her position prefers not
to be named, declares that society will
regulate bicycling in cities after this
season. She says that when the bioy-
cling season opens next spring it will
be found that society will taboo mis-.
cellaneous riding in the city, and that
country riding will be the only form
proper for fashionable women. AS
soon as that is recognized the imitators
of fashionable women will ride only in
the park-and with escorts-in quiet
way, and respectable women who wear
boomers will find themselves classed
where they will not care to remain.
Fashionable society already shuns
boomers. AS result, the boomers
will cease to reign and die a natural
death.
That fashionable society is arrayed
against boomers is evident. One of
the strongest proofs is that women
who have been riding on the other side
and have worn Partisan bloomer Co.'S
tunes do not ride ON their return home
until skirt has been added to their
outfit.
The concensus of opinion among the
number of women who have been inter-
viewed this week for the World is over
whelming against boomers ON the
score Of their LONELINESS, lack of style
and the ungainly appearance they lend
the women who wears them.
The advocates CT bloomers seem to
depend on proving that skirts endanger
the lives and limbs of their wearers
But for every authority who maintains
this there is another who testifies that
women who ride in skirts at moder-
ate speed with properly protected
wheels are as free from danger as those
with boomers.
Dr. Margaret Cleaves said with a
shake of her head: 81 don't like them.
I see neither improperly nor immod-
esty in boomers, but from an aesthetic
point of view dislike them heartily,
and really don't see how women who
like beautiful things wear them. l
ride wheel and have worn all sum-
mer in the mountains, both for riding
and walking, short skirt coming
midway between the knee and ankle.
and a pair of knickerbookers under
meath. haven't found the skirt annoy
ing or in my way. 1 see no harm
whatever in wearing skirts as far as any
tension and weight on the muscles Of
the abdomen are concerned, because !
think skirts and every garment wo-
man wears should depend from her
shoulders and not from the hips"
Mrs. Russell Harrison, ex-President
Harrison's handsome daughter-in-law,
said: 81 think they are ugly. I've
had no experience myself in wearing
them, for don't ride the wheel, but
can't see that well-made short skirt
is in the way. Mrs. Mckee wears the
regular tailor-made bicycle costume,
with the knickerbockers and skirt, and
she tells me it is not necessary to go
without the skirt. Whenever I see a
woman on the bicycle wearing bloom
ers l wonder how she can bear to make
herself look SO awkward; that is, if she
cares at all for her appearance. I
really haven't seen pair of boomers
that were becoming or attractive
enough to be worn by woman with
any claim to style"
Mrs. Cornelia K. Hood. president of
the Brooklyn Woman's Suffrage Asso-
citation, said:
"Some boomers look very we'll and
others look dreadful. 1t seems to de-
pend ON the quality of the material and
style in which they are made. and also
ON the physique of the person wearing
them. AS far as this costume is con-
cerned. it is, like every other costume,
becoming to some and unbecoming to
others. Nationally considered, it
seems unnecessary to oblige women to
continue wearing skirts or any other
dress that is inconvenient and uncom-
Portable for the occupation in which
she is engaged.
"It is historically known that skirts
as first worn by women were badge Of
shame and were an adaptation Of man 8
costume. Men discarded skirts as
being combining and uncomfortable, and
if women find they are more safe and
suitably dressed in bloomer costume
for any pursuit there seems no reason
why they should not wear them as
modestly as men do their present Co.'S
tune"