Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-03-17
RATIONAL DRESS,
TBv Lady Cook nee Tennessee c. Claffin.1

|
much exercised just now because Of
some recent developments in woman's
dress. Female vanity and fondness for
| change Of attire have at all times sorely
tried their pious spirits. 1t would al.
most seem that Providence has specially
provided these crosses for their behoof
else where would be the occupation of
| that numerous class "who've naught to
do but mark and tell their neebor s
faults and folly" And so from remote
times, changes of fashion, especially
| female fashions, have been the cause of
many prayers and wrestlings, denoun-
ced from pulpits, and the butts OF
secular SCOTS and ridicule. Some years
ago a handsome, accomplished, and
well-dressed young lady-an intimat e
friend of ours-casually passing the
open door Of rural Bethel about a
mile or two from Penzance, ventured to
enter. Her fashionable appearance in
such a spot caused general sensation.
The Local Preacher" halted in the
midst Of his rustic eloquence, and gazed
for few moments at the lovely vision.
Then thrusting Satan behind him with
wrath, he extended the other, and
pointing to the delicate veil which
flowed over her luxuriant tresses,
shouted in stentOrian tones and with an
air OF apostolic fervour, ''Take off that
hell-ragn' If mere veil could have
produced such rude outburst of dis
senting zeal, what would he have said
had she entered in cycling knicker-
bockers? Our young friend left the
Chapel of this latter-day Boanerges
more rapidly than she had entered it.,
and with the visible sympathy of the
surprised congregation-for the Cornish
are remarkable for their gentle and
unobtrusive politeness. Nevertheless,
his character as severe. a.ld fearless
denouncer of pomps and vanities was
thoroughly established.
This reformer must have numerous
relations in Chicago, for we understand
that women are arrested there by the
police if they appear in public in
knickerbockers. And we have many
who would welcome similar course
here. Some newspaper correspondents
suggest it by saying that if they were to
60 about IN their wives clothes they
would be locked up. This is no doubt
true But then the ladies do not wear
their husbands clothes, but their own,
made specially for themselves. There
is no pretence whatever to pose as
males, and no one is deceived as to
their sex. Therefore the whole ques-
ton resolves itself into one of taste and
convenience. If woman feels that
she can cycle with less danger and more
ease without a skirt than with one. what
moral ri ght has any one to interfere so
long as she preserves her sex distinc-
ton? How would men like to be COM
PEELED to run and ride in pettlcoal?
Or why should women be denied the
free play Of their limbs, or even the
admiration due to wellturned pair?
AS Robert Burns wrote on The Rights
of Women":
For Right the third, our last, our best, our
dearest
That right to iuttering female hearts the nearest,
Which even the Rights of Kings in low pros
tration
Must humbly own-'tis dear, dear admiration"
t. &c, "A Eo4 ~ nd
women to sit astride. We ask, Why?
Until "Good Queen Anne" introduced
the side-saddle, the women Of England
always rode horseback astride like the
men, as the women of many countries
do to the present day. Physiologically
considered, perhaps it would be filter,
if distinction must be made, for men
to use side-saddles and women the
others. 1t is nonsense to connect
immortality with either mode, as it is
simply matter of custom, and when
the novelty of seeing a woman astride
has worn off, time will sanction both it
and knickerbockers, as it has sanctioned
so many other things.
1t is somewhat amusing, however, to
hear women who appear at public
functions in the most decollete manner
semi-nude, arm and shoulders, backs
and breasts bare to all beholders-
disparag1ng the modest woman who
only displays, to the extent of a few
inches, the shape of a pair of we'll
covered legs. Ladies of position have
long been accustomed to accompan
their male friends to cover and moor
shooting, habited in knickers and
leggings ,and little notice has been taken,
but the adoption of similar garments by
tile cycling community is quite another
thing, and requires police interference.
Mankind have been trying all kinds
of clothing, possibly 10 discover
rational dress, and have not found the
suitable one yet. We may still say, as
Chaucer in the Parsons Tale" ALIAS.
May not man see as in our daies,
the sinneful costleWe array of clothing,
and namely in to moch superiuitee, or
elles in to disordinate scantnesse?"
Among the superfuities was the ''length
of the foresaide gounes, trailing in the
dong and in the mvre, on hDrS and exc