The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-03-27
Lent. an Improving Time.
Some Specuatons About the Woman of the uure--What
the Average Woman Needs.

classes and is asked to drop in as a
visitor ait "a number more. Being that
very common thing busy woman,
do not regularly belong ITO any classes,
although / 60 to several carrying a
bunch Of violets. to give the president
as a. sort OF ticket off admission.
In this way one learns an immense
amount. One learns how to listen with
one's eyes shut when tie Psychologist
talks about the meaning of the queer
hieroglyphics and impresses upon your
mind that Cleopatra was a very ordl-
mary looking little woman, with ram
hair and a Snub nose, whose chlel
charm TO the Egyptians WAS her good
complexion. That lecturer wonders
why his class rs so small the next week
and does mot realize until afterward
that because of this reference TO the
skim of Cleopatra woman, tickle wo-
man. lovely woman. has gone an a body
of ten or twenty to hear a beauty teach
er talk about "How to Manage lhe
Skin"
Then have learned to stare straGght
into VACANCY while THE woman OF the
present hangs a gavei and talks ABOUT
1.-The woman of the future. and can
he quietly enthusiastic ON the subject Oh
dress reform. | was not always So
There was "a time when to listen to the
dress reformers made my angry pas
esianS rise and | wanted to go up and
tell them wilat / thought. But now,
when some woman who mas been hV-
ing ON overdone beef, on too much
nsStry, on oatmeal eaten an Jumps o.
roo many preserves gets up ana tells
abollt a vell-fittfng corset being an i'll
ventfnn of the devil and a pretty gown
am impossibility as connected with
brains. simply smile and give myself a
satisfied wriggIe. which means THAI
there is comfort i'm properly made cor
sets
A. speaker of this kind invariably
meanders off and asks with much eX-
cIbemenf, What will the coming gen
Grafton he when the woman of to-day
is satisfied Ito be merely beaItsfulT' and
/ sit. there and think of DIR. Schenck
and of the fact that beauty rs hereo1-
tary. and / remember handsome fam
lilies like the Mays and the Cuttings
and the Works and the Carys, and there
come to me visions of the loveliest,
heaItbiest babies / have ever sseen~
balbies who inllerifed their beauty
f1cm their mothers, their bravery from
their fathers, while father and mother
IlHu SidCH GOlHbI1UUUtd UbNdii lllG
tellect. There lis untold joy i'm my heart
when the dress reformer talks She is
very emphatic. She Us usually the
shape OF a shingle and she damns
with a ID that is intense all corsets.
while she objects TO pretty underwear
and considers as special work of the
devil ~ well-fitting bodice. She is doWni
on womanis fhips. those curves which
are so essentially feminine and which
were made so broad and strong for the
purpose of carrying burdens
The dress resforner does not believe
this She thinks that everything ought
10 be strung from the shoulders You
are 10 endure NASTY, narrow tapes cut
ting your shoulders and making the
wearing of a low bodice AN impossible
ity, so that you can string pettieoats and
everything else that YOU wear from
them. Ugh. It's awful. i never made
a speech in my life. but every time /
hear THE dress refollner speak ] want
somebody to get up and say what i
tlTink-that is, that nature (the dress re-
former prefers to say nature, as she
COURTS God old fashioned) would have
made women with marrow hips and
broad shoulders if lit had been intended
THAT her burdens be carried from them
but it was mot. Consequently, her
shoulders are medium and her hips are
big, while man has no hips at all-that
Us. to speak of-4and his shoulders are
supposed 10 he broad enough TO beai
the burden of feminine heads when
feminine hearts are in trouble.
At q hotel where there M'as an alarm
Of fire, when we adj ran just as we were
without the slightest plea, / saw q
IA ~. N
but she was a sight! She GER
tainly did 1--we up to her theories. There
was no pretty nainsook, no frills. no
bits of lace and bows of ribbon. Oh, no.
That nigihtg0wn was made out of some
medicated material the odor of which
is best likened to sewer gas. and it was
cut as John Gilpin's buttons went,
straight up and aown," with every
suggestion of utility, but not a hint OF
ibeanlty
If the dress reformers would drop
dress reforming altogether and take up
eating, which lis my special fad there
would be a great deal more good done,
as far as the coming generation is con-
cerned. If somebody would have the
courage of her convictions and say THAT
women need less pastry and more mutt
ton, fewer fried and more roasted things
less cake and more good bread. ano
nothing fried, there would be a good
outlook for the people of the future.
The average woman needs better
bread and butter, especially butter and
less tea-howeyer, / mean less bad tea,
for good tea, properly made, hurts no
body. Then, too, THE average woman
wants to devote "a longer time to dim
ing and less to re4onning the world.
Her complexion will be better, her eyes
clearer, her hair healthier, and her teeth
will remain IN her mOuth longer if She
eats good -4oI properly cooked rather
slowly and chats merrily in between.
/. myself, believe in reformation. but
every proper thinking person believes
that reformfs, like charity, ought to he
gin at home. ne woman who wants tx,
keep % man Out of temptation Jim the
evening is much apter to succeed by
having good dinner beginning at Z
O'Clock and lasting until 8, than by All
the preaching in the world. After {,
O'Clock the average man who Ihas con-
summed a good dinner and is enioying
HIS smoke and a glass of cordial feels