The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-22

w 90 SOilAClIC0 Wy Tic VI 1OldHu
upon the present counts grandfather
in 1748 for services rendered in the
Polish volunteer army. It is the GUS
tom of the family, when the head Of
the house has no son, for the title of
comtesse to be conferred on the eldest
daughter. In England this title is
merely acknowledged by courtesy and
not by prescription, as it is a foreign
one.
To some the title Of my article may
seem to SAVIOR of ambition, but my
short stay on this my first visit to the
United States has convinced me that
such message as feel myself
charged with should be delivered with
no uncertain voice. and that the sooner
American women are convinced that
there is reform waiting for them to
ADOPT which will mean so much for
their advantage the better it will be
Tor their health, their pockets, their
tempers and their appearance
During the last few days 1 have
given utterance to my opinions and
Impressions Of American men, and dur
ing the same period have been taking
my mental impressions and forming
my conclusions Of the everyday life
and status Of American women What
L have seen during my presentations
In New York at this season Of snow.
slush and discomfort has convinced
me that, provided one thousand women
OF America could be induced to give
the wearing Of boomers a trial, at
any rate, out Of doors for a short
time, their numbers would in a very
few weeks be increased a thousand
fold
Let me give briefly, before going fur
Their, the reasons which Influenced me
in adopting the bloomer costume
At the beginning Of the summer of
1895 I was badly bitten with what is
I find styled here, as in England, the
bicycle craze. Lady friends of mine
who had adopted the bicycle were
daily DINING into my ears the ease and
convenience of their steeds, not only
as affording vigorous and health-giv-
ing exercises, but also as a means Of
rendering ones self independent Of
walking or driving. I bought a bicy-
Gle, mastered it's management with
much less trouble than had expect
ed, and Immediately felt the keen en-
joyment of it's possession.
But in riding the skirts worried me.
Although my machine was equipped
with elaborate dress guards, I was al
ways finding small patches of oil stains
on my skirts, while on wet day, when
the roads were dirty the lamentations
Of my maid when she viewed the state
of my attire were loud and long.
HARD TO BEGIN.
After a not long experience Of these
discomforts 1 decided to give the
bloomer costume a trial, expecting, of
course. to use it only for bicycle rid
ing. I had bloomer suit made; it
came home and was. tried on, and I
remember that much to my husbands
discomfort 1 turned him out for spin
on the machines at 5 the next morn
ing, knowing that at that early hour
there would be few to witness my
debut in the bifurcated garments.
/ will be frank and admit that for
the first half hour the sensation Of
the unaccustomed apparel was. to say
the least of it, peculiar. The new feel
ing Of bodily, or rather 'legly," free
dom and the movement Of the legs
without having the drag Of the skirt,
first one side and then the other, gave
one the impression that some accident
had happened to ones skirt and di-
vided it at the middle. But in a very
short time this sensation wore off, and
before we returned from that ride l
had registered mental and vocal VOW
that never again would I wear skirts
while riding bicycle.
For some time / wore boomers only
while riding, but then as now 1 was
passionately fond Of shooting and Of
attending to my private menagerie Of
tame and trained pet wild animals and
dogs. In both these employments 1
found speedily that boomers were no
less useful than when mounted on O
bicycle, for in the first case skirts, even
when worn short, are most inconven1-
ent in field or woodland shooting, and
in the second they are most disagree
able both on the ground Of being easily
dirtied and also because the trailing
folds are soon covered with loose hairs
from the animals.
And thus, by easy degrees, 1 COM
pletely abandoned the wearing Of
skirts except, of course, at dinner, in
the evening, when receiving and pay
ing ceremonious calls, and was in the
proud enjoyment of my newly found
and absolutely comfortable costume the
whole day. I cannot say that 1 attain
ed this happy result without many
circumstances from lady friends, whose
worship Of Mrs. Grundy partook Of
the most object and thorough character.
The usual arguments levelled against
a woman who adopts what its oppo-
RS co11linn H7-oCG 0d-
vanced in my case, but without avail.
I had tasted the pleasures Of emanc1-
patton from the thraldom of inconven-
lent and unnecessary fashion and [
did not mean to abandon my freedom.
In the boudoir, in the kitchen, in the
kennels, in the menagerie, In the fields
and on the roads / was daily finding
fresh evidences Of the comfort and
usefulness of my bloomer costume.
POPULAR IN ENGLAND.
And my experience was the exper-
fence Of numerous other women in Eng
land. An evidence Of this Is found in
the records which I took Of the CO.'S
tunes Of lady bicyclists passing along
one road near Croydon, much frequent
ed by cyclists ON two days in May and
September, of 1896. On the day in May,
264 ladies riding bicycles passed a given
point at which 1 took observation be-
tween / and in the afternoon. OF
these az wore boomers and 221 were
dressed in skirts. On the day in Sep
TENDER, between the same hours 1913
lady riders passed, and Of these 237
wore boomers and only 81 adhered to
the skirts. On account Of my absence
from England for nearly the whole
of this year l am not able to give cor
responding figures Of similar obseTva-
items hut from what T have heard and