The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-08-19

and the coarse in broad daylight during
| a promenade down town with her neck
and ever so little of her shoulders or bust
| exposed. She will appear in the even-
| ing thus clad, or unClad, without a Ques-
| ton as to the propriety of her costume,
but for so long custom has decreed that
| the high corsage and close tight collar
| is the only permissible day time dress
| that it is rather startling to see it defied.
| English ladies have to some slight de-
| gree adopted deCollete dress at afternoon
| teas this season, and the other day at
Newport | saw a swell she was one,
truly, for she rode I'm velvet-lined vel
vet-shod Victoria with the most solemn
foOtman and the most craven -imagy
| coaChman in the morning parade down
| Bellevue avenue and she wore a marvel
| GUS fluffy, foamy gown with tiny V at
| the throat and bore a name extremely
well known aver the length and breadth
! of the land
| Then the other morning / saw real
| lady down here at the market in a low
cut dress. The reason Of my certainty
| that she was a real lady" is because
she said so herself. She was scrapping
with the marketman about particularly
| hendish lot of Canteloupcs he had sent
her the day before. Il sympathiZed with
| her murmurings along that line) and she
| closed the subject with the decisive state
| ment: at amt right and you know It,
/ W NAFdN a ltlbN patron lllul WAY anu l.
| amt agoin to stand it no more"
| As ! was about to remark, she had on
| blue lawn dress and II was cut very low
| indeed in the back. The V effect being
| nice and cool, one would think l forgot
| to add that the CrOwning point of her
attire was a cheCkered sun bonnet which
| she kept twitching down i'm the back
| evidently with the intention, vain as it
| was of screening the eXpanse of plump
| shoulders.
| These TWO examples have been the chief
| ones which have come To my personal no.
| tice in the way of low cut street garb,
| II is rather safe to assert that the typo
| will scarcely become general as the aV-
| eraEc woman Is much like the New York
| child who finished her bedtime prayer
| with the addition, And o Lord, please
do make us awfuly stylish" Low
neCkcd froCks for street wear are Ger
tainly the reverse Of style No woman
| on the street can look anything but
| sloppy thus attiTed. The hiSh collar may
be uncomfortable and doubtless will ruin
| the neCkS of women for generations to
| come. but it surely is stylish, as no
| deCollete effect fG~ out Of door daytime
wear can possibly be, and the fastidious
woman will he rather slow to adopt SO
conspicuous a fashion.
Another question asked i'm the letter
under consideration is which Is the worst
for woman to show her bare neck on
the street or a few inches OF a leather
covered leg as in bicycle riding. As be-
fore stated, il isn't a question of worse
ness" ii is entirely that Of custom. BIZ
cycling, tennis, golf and the wholesome
tendency of the times to outdoor reCrea-
tOns are responsible for the short skirts
and what shocked us once is now SO
common as to be cminently proper AZ
in most matters, good sense has prevailed
and the ultra short skirt Is no more seen
among self-rcspecting women. The BIZ
cycle skirt can leave no opportunity for
criticism II is of decent length, and i5
well fitted and hung No woman need
make an exhibition OF herself unless she
desires to do SO, and the nice woman
| doesn't desire.
As to the bicvcle leading so many wo-
men astray which the query in this letter
implies as being somewhat generally
charged is beyond the province of this
| dissertation to declare. It certainly gives
an opportunity for dStanCing the most
wide-awake, sCrupulous and indefatigablo
chaperon ana possibly is the medium for
much laXity Of conduct among certain
classes. But the indiscTeet girl, the uu-
prinCipled man and the reckless woman
| found opportunities for running their
own and other peoples liyes before the
rise Of the bicycle and probably Will
| continue - do so after its fall. There
are always ways and ways for the weak
! or the wicked TO go wrong, If early home
training # inbred purity Of thought and
deed, # the influences Of religion and
morality are not powerful enough to pre-
| serve self-respcCt and nobility OF pur,
pose, the willy bicycle surely should not
be held solely accountable for all the bad
ends TO which fool people come.
saucy Ress, =