The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1898-05-14
0STENTATI0N.


tom ancient as the primevai savage.
The desire to appear drawer, hand
somer, richer, stronger, better or
worse, and so on, than Others, or
than we really are, has been a uni
versal failing from remotest times,
and ever attended with unhappy con-
sequences. However, we shall not
here attempt to attack all forms OF
vanity, but would draw attention to
that particular one of vain show or
display which is the more general
mode Of ostentation. The Latin
"0stenfare" means to show often in
q boa sins masnsE, Anythizg. thsrs,
to dazzle Others, is of this character.
And it would seem as il all changes
of fashion prompted by vanity are so
many marks of this failing, for these
are at first adopted by the rich, and
by them forsaken as soon as they be-
come common. An old French NOR
alist, declaiming in 1886 against the
prevailing fashions, and especially
those of ladies carrying mirrors so
that they might constantly view
themselves, notices this course of hu-
man frailty. "Alas!' he said, Tin
what age do we live; to see such de-
pravity which we see; that induces
them even to bring into church those
scandalous mirrors hanging about
their waists. Let all histories, di-
vine, human and profane, be consult
ed; never will it be found that these
objects of vanity were ever thus
brought into public by the most
meretricious of the sex. 1t Is true.
at present, none but the ladies of the
court venture to wear them, but long
it will not be before every citizen S
daughter, and every female servant,
will have them ~
Nothing is more ludicrous than the
origin of these e8travaganees. In
Edward Wis time, a lady with a
wen on her neck covered it by a
patch. From that time patches be-
came the mode. A hundred years la
ter they were cut into all kinds of
fantastic figures: owls, rings, suns,
moons, and even a coach and horses.
A dauphin of France had a high
shoulder, This gave rise to full
bottomed' wigs. Long coats were
invented to hide the ''ill-made" legs
OF Charles the Seventh of France, and
pointed shoes a yard long to conceal
an excresccnce on the foot of Henry
Plantagenet of Anjou. When the
Archduchess Isabella wore the same
dirty linen for three years because
she had vowed not to change it I'M
til Ostend was taken, its colour at
the end of that time became fashion
able as az 'Isabeau," a dingy-whitishs
yellow. Another Isabella, she of Bas
varia, noted for her fair complexion
and her frail conduct, introduced the
of having the shoulders and
neck uncovered. The whims of fash
ion are shown by print of Henry
Wills time, representing a nude
holding a piece of cloth
on his right arm and a pair of shears
in his left hand, and bears this in
q II ami ain Rngiishman and naked / stand here
Musing in my mind what raiment shall were
For now will were this and now will were
that
And now will were can not tell what"
Down to the reign of William and
Mary, little children of the upper
classes wore wigs, but BARRIERS had
not then become hairdressers. These
were women, Verify there is no
new thing under the sun"
Comft boxes were great signs OF
ostentation, and were the rage in
France before snuf-boxes took their
place. All carried them on all occa-
sions, and when the Duke of Guise
was shot at Blois his comit box was
found In his hand. chaucer's per
sones Tale, in the chapter "De Su.
perbia," tells, as we dare not, to
what lengths pride and improperly
in dress were carried in his day, par.
ticularlyby the men. In France il
was bad enough. A modest Italian
could not travel there in the 18th
century, said an Italian author
without being shocked by seeing men
whose clothes rather exposed Their
nakedness than hid it," But in En-
gland it was afterwards worse, and
our countrymen gloried in their
shame.
The Queen Of Charles II introduced
the immodest custom of completely
barring the bosom and shoulders
But this was the reign of harlotry