The herald., 1895-08-04
ARE BLOOMERS
IMMODEST :?
That Depends---To the
Pure All Things Are
Pure
SOME COLD FACTS IN THIS
Innocent Cocopah Indian Girls Who
Maintain Modesty With Scant
Yard Of Calico or
Even Less
SOME COLD FACTS IN THIS

met them hundred miles below
Yuma. where the Spaniards Red river
Iuns madly to the south-where Baja
California slopes down to the vcrmilion
sea.
In no country in the world can a more
primitive and more virtuous people be
found than the Cocopah Indians living
in the locality mentioned. The men clad
only in loin cloths and the women wear
ing scant remnants of calico, and in
many instances only girdles of shredded
willow bark, do no. know that they are
naked.
had followed lagoon that led ont
many miles toward the desert and tied up
my skiff at an Indian village. whose peo-
pl, were yet uncontaminated by store
clothes and religion. where modesty and
the nude go hand in hand, where yard
Of calico is trousseau fit for chiefs
daughter.
Such innocence had never before met,
such chastity even Diana may not dream
Of; and yet the bloomers and the under
riegings of one OF our new women woula
repssent more cloth than possessed by
dozen Cocopah Indian girls. The un-
written laws that regulate the cut of
womans sail and tie amount of canvas
she must carry in order to conform to the
local idea OF modesty are matters OF geog-
raphy-simply this and nothing more.
Surely the few scant remnants Of calico
tina. enable the Indian girl of the Colo
RADIO to maintain her chastity would per-
form the same sevice fcI my fine lady
rolling in her barouche over the fashion
able boulevarls in the large cities. 1t is
only matter of geography-an innocent
savage girl, pure as the icicle that hangs
from piana's temple, would be nulled for
indecent exposure if suddenly trans
planted to fashionable thoroughfare.
Clothes came with sin. and. contrary
naked, inst as Adam and Eve did prior
to the event Of the apple. Such must of
necessity be the case. as we have no evil
dence in holy writ thnt the Deity runs
cotton mill; Nowhere are we informed
that organdies. challies and Madras cloth
are supplied to the girl angels in the land
beyond the river. The artist Dore par
TALLY understood this. and in his illus.
tratIons OF Dante's Inferno the lost souls
wear no clothing.
not created by tae volume OF clothes
worn, nor would it be destroyed by the
entire lack of garments. other tnan those
demanded by the local laws of decency-
which in their turn are agsin matters OF
geography. To the pure all things are
pure. but as the sinless Adam ate of the
forbidden fruit simply because it was for.
hidden. SO men twist their eyes in the di-
yection of the low-cut corsage simply be-
cause Of the alleged concealmsnt. 1t is
the partial draping OF tho female form
divine as in the cases OF high-cut bathing
suits and low-cut ball dresses, that awakcs
the storm in animal ran. No moro
clearly have | seen this illustrated than
in the Indian village mentioned. The
modesty and virtue of those pretty savage
girls with their bare bosoms ana tawny
limbs guiltless of the spinners art. were
contagious found myself growing good.
The shapely ankle and the dimpled knee
cease to attract. The swell ng bosoms OF
marriageable girls. which in civilization
are considered to be u panorama of
eye; the magnet OF ofprohibition was gone
there was no inducement to be bad
There are no prudes so great as those
who have skeletons in their closets.
Those who declaim loudest ganst bloom
ers are probably actuated by the rattle Of
familiar bones. The woman who could
not BIZ modest in boomers would not be
so in a toilet lcosting q kings ransom.
AS religion and politics are matters of
heredIty. SO woman's gear is a question
of custom. Your Methodist parson, if
born on the Nile, would have been Mos
lem priest; men as rule vote as their
fathers voted before them. and the dainty
bride, clad in priceless trousseau and
decked with orange blooms. is no more
to be praised for modesty than is the
fatl or swap her off for five Mexican dol
lars and sack OF beans-tne same being
the marriage ceremony on the lower Col
orado.
Innovations in dress reform meet with
much opposition from woman's hitterest
enemy-woman. THE angular girl with
elbows like augers never forgives the
plump little lady with dimples in her
cheeks and with limbs like those OF Ve-
nus OF Milo. Again. from within the
ranks comes protest against bloomers
from women who. though they would
tate to ADOPT it lest they be made targets
for the jeers of the hooting rabble. Hoot-
ing rabble!y is q disc ase affecting civil
lied people only; it can be provided
against in the future by vigorous appli-
cation of the nursery birch to the thighs
OF the precocious small boy now in the
primary grade. If this malgrowth OF our
species were removed no lady would need
be in fear of inducing off-color comments
from the cigarette dude suffering from
high collars and paresis.
Six thousand years ago people wore no
clothes-I cite you Genesis. who told
you that you were naked?' said the Lord
to onr first parents. after the theft of the
sacred apple. With the garmenting of
the female form was born the Peeping
Tom. Among those people who wear
loin cloths, only this individual does not
exist. 1t is no sign, however, that a man
is wholly depraved simply because he is
willing to admire shapely ankle and
does so on every convenient opportunity;
but between gnileless admiration and in
sinuuting comment a gulf exists. 1t Is
an inherent trait in the male of our
species to be pleased with the sights of
the weaker vessels when not carrying too
much tophamper. and l doubt if this
trait can ever be removed from the ami
NAL man unless the new woman breeds a
rnn nf Itsxd Euvnn dxvfr1
Christian gentleman. with the death
prayer on his lips and the rattle in his
throat, will turn at the rustic of lingerie.
and If his gazing eyes rest on well-filled
hosiery he will battle with death for the
privilege of living a few moments longer.
Arc bloomers i'm modest? Ah that de-
nends; to the pure all things are pure
Rapid Transit