The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-06

Do the women OF Seattle, than whom
there Is none lovelier, have big feet. or
ugly feet. or-perish the thought sug-
gested By the envious East--web feet,
that they should everlastingly 60 about
the soggy streets OF this town with
skirts dragging the ground ana gather
ing all the surface Accommodations that
make the services Of a scavenger neces-
sary7 II they have not such unsightiy
feet, why should they fear to display
them? Surely nothing Is more beautiful
than a dainty foot, and there must be
thousands of them In Seattle. Yet they
are seldom seen. ana in their stead we
see only long dresses, touching the
ground in front and dragging several
inches on It at the rear--and the nastier
the streets the more do the women's
dresses drag.
And why do the women permit these
things to be sof We are informed, IN
fact II Is legend from our earliest
history, that women love nothing as
they love neatness, and yet II there il
anything on earth less neat In fact and
In appearance than Seattle woman
walking Seattle street ON q Seattle
wet day we pray that the sight Of it be
removed from our eyes.
Nor Is the dragging skirt any more
comfortable to the wearer or healthful
than It is beautiful. and 1t has abso-
lutely nothing to recommend It.
True, the women may say that long
skirts are the vogue now. and long
skirts may be the vogue, but even FASH
ion Is not 30 silly that she issues her
orders regardless OF the possibility Of
executing them. In this climate. pecu-
liar to the Northwest, the clothing peo-
pie wear must conform to the conditions
In which It is worn. A man might just
as well refuse to wear fur coat In
Alaska in January, because fur coats
are not the vogue in the mems fashion
plates. We have in Seattle and other
cities and towns of the Northwest a
great deal Of slushy weather between
October ana June--there are many days
when the streets are very nasty walk
ing, and still women, as well as men,
must be out In them. 1t Is good to be
out. It il heaithfui to be out. the snois-
ture makes pink skins and bright eyes.
but 1t is not required that women should
come out unprepared for this weather.
On the contrary. 1t Ii required that they
should, and their best preparation is
an attire perfectly adapted to the con-
ditions in which the wearers find them
selves. Directions are not needed as to
cost and texture and quality, nor should
directions be needed AZ to the style Of
street apparel but to any one seeing the
crowds Of dragging women on the
streets any day when it is wet there
seems to be more need to tell the women
how to make their clothes than of any
thing else.
At rare intervals sensible woman APP
pears in skirt which clears the ground
by three or four inches, and she looks
30 trim and snug and clean, and she
moves along SO easily and gracefully
and youthfully that the ordinary man
stops to look at her--not from curios-
ity, as the women suspect, but simply
to admire her fine good sense and to
wonder why, If one woman is that way.
all OF them can't be.
There are women who will not wear
the shorter skirt because they think 1t
will cause adverse comment, but II they
all wore short skirts the comment would
cease, because 1t is the women who do
the most commenting. 1t isn't neces-
sary to wear skirts in golf fashion, nor
bicycle style, for golf and wheeling re-
quire their own cut of costume. What
is demanded is modest, sensible walk
ing skirt that a woman can wear with
comfort and neatness. The Lord knows
Seattie's streets need cleaning badly
enough, but the women should not feel
that they are called upon to clean them
with their skirts.
If nothing can be done except by or
ganized effort, why don't the women
call a meeting of themselves and organ
lie the Sensible Skirt Society,"