Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-03-24
UNTOLD JOY IN HER HEART
When tho Dress Reformer
Talks, Bah is Happy.
THE FORMER IS VERY EMPHATIC
She is Usually the Shape of a
Single.
DRmns with "a ID That Ia Intense All Corr
sets, While She Objects TO Pretty Under
wear ann Considers rs = Special Work of
the Devii n Wril-GttinG I5Odice.

Special Correspondence of Gazette and Journal
New York, March IS. AS Lent In es
sentially an improving time. the average
woman inins certain number OF classes
and lie asked 10 drnp in Ms yisitor at
a number moro. Being that very com
mon thing. husy woman, | do not |
regularly belong to any classes, although |
| go TO several, carrying bunch OF |
viulets to give tho president as a sort |
OF ticket of admission.
In this way ons learns an immense !
amount. Ono learns how to listen
with ones eyes shut when the Egyp
tulogist talks about the menning of
the queer hieroRlyphirs and impresses
upon your mind that Cleopatra was a
very ordinary looking little woman,
with fair hair and a snuh nose, whose
chief charm to the Egyptians was her
good complexion. That lecturer wonders
why his class is 80 small tho next weak
and docs not realize until aftorward
that because of this reference to tho
akin Of Cleopatra woman, tickle woman.
lovely woman, has gone in body Of 10
| or 20 to near beauty teacher talk
about How to Manage the Skin"
Then / have learned to stare straight
| into vacancy while the woman of the
present bangs gavel and talks about
THE woman of the future" and can
be quietly enthusiastic on the subject
OF dress reform. l was not always go.
There was a time when to listen to
tue dress reformers made my angry
| passions rise and / wanted to go up and
tell them what | thought. But now
| when some woman who has been living
on overdone beef, on too much pastry,
| nm ~, tf,s,
preserves gets up and tells about well
fitting corset being an invention OF
the devil and pretty gown an i'm
possibility as connected with brains. /
simply smile and give myself satisfied
wriggle, which means that there is com
fort in properly made corsets.
A speaker of this kind invariably
meanders oil and asks with much ex-
citement, what will the coming gen
GRAFTON be when this woman of to-day is
satisfied to be merely beautiful" and
sit there and think of Dr. Schenck
and of the fact that beauty ia heredi-
tary, and / remember handsome fami-
lies like the Mays anu ths Cuttings
and the Works and the Carys, and there
come to me visions Of the lovelIest,
heRlthiest babies | have ever seen
babies who inherited their beauty from
their mothers, their bravery from their
fathers, while father and mother had
each contributed toward the intellect.
There is untold joy in my heart when
the dress reformer talks. She ia very
emphatic. She is usually the shape of
d shingle, and abs damns with ID that
is intense all corsets, while she objects
to pretty underwear and considers as q
special work Of the devil we'll fitting
bodice. She is down on woman's hips.
those curves which are 10 essentially
feminine and which were made 80 broad
and strong for the purpose OF carrying
burdens.
Ths dress reformer does not believe
this. She thinks that everything ought
to be strung from the shoulders. You
are to endure nasty, narrow tapes
cutting your shoulders and making the
wearing OF low bodice an impossi
bility so that you can string petticoats
and everything else that you wear from
them. Ugh! Its awful. / naver made
speech in my life. but every time l
hear the dress reformer speak ] want
somebody to get up and say what |
think-that is. that nature 1.-THE dress
reiormer prefers to say nature, as she
counts God old fashiouad) would have
made women with narrow hips and
broad shoulders if it had been intended
that her burdens be carried from them.
but it was not, Consequently her
shoulders are medium and her hips are
big, while man has M hips at all-that
is, to speak of--and his shoulders are
: Supposed to be broad enough to bear
the burden of feminine heads when
feminine hearts are in trouble.
At hotel where there was an alarm
of fire, when We all ran Just as we
were without the slightest plea, l saw
: dress reformer in her night gown.
Oh, but shs was sight, She certainly
did live UP to her theories. There wa.
no pretty nainsook, no frils, no bits Ul
i lace and bows of ribbon. Oh, no! That
t nightgown was made out Of some medi
, Gated material the odor of which il
4 hest likened to sewer gas and 1T wal
i cut as John Gilpin's buttons went
"straight up and down." with every
n suggestion of utility, but not hint Of
beauty. ...
, II the dress reformers would droI
dress reforming altogether and take W
/ eating, which is my special fad, therf
i would be great deal more good done,
30 far as the coming generation is con
cerned. Ii somebody would have thu
courage of her convictions and gay tina
a women need less pastry and more NUT
o ton, fewer fried and more roasted things
: less cake and more good bread, ant
d nothing fried, there would DO goot
9 outlook for the people of the future.
g The average woman needs bette
d bread and butter, especially butter, ant
d less tea-however, ! mean less bad tea
n for good tea, properly made. hurts no
body. Then, too, the average woman
wants to devote q longer time to dining
and less to reforming the world. He
0 complexion will be better, her eye
J. clearer, her hair healthier, and he
: teeth will remain in her mouth longe
d il she cate good food, properly cooked
a rather slowly and Ghats merrily in be
}. tween. l myself believe in reformation
a hut every proper thinking person be
d lieves that reforms, like charity, ough
J. to begin at home. The woman VIII,
wants to keep man out Of temptation
in the evening is much apter to SUGGEST
J by having a good dinner, beginning a
y o'clock and lasting until 3, than b.
W all the preaching in the world. Afte
:, 8 o'clock the average man who has con
sumed q good dinner and is enioyin!
10 his smoke and a glass of cordial feel
= so comfortable that he doesn't want Il
90 out, and woman must be foo
who can't entertain man who has hat
"A a good dinner. Why doesn't somebod.
i start a society for the propagation O
= good food? | would be willing to ioil
Ia and to work to make it success. and
- possess rabbits foot and hare's ear
n and am said to bring good luck.
4 futrint in ayeant whpD