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

lady who writes charmingly and ex-
presses herself as being an admirer Of
| Saucy BeSs (of course that's Charming)
asks for a cardid opinion on several
matters that to actually give a candid
| opinion about over ones own signature
would be simply to invite "a riot in ones
vicinity or a box of liked chocolate
| creams in ones mail.
The fact is this fair unknown Corre-
| spondent wants to know about "A lot Of
| things-low -neCked dresses on the street
| high -skirtcd gowns on the bicycle and
other questions of propriety which must
| be left to the individual taste. Now that
| phrase sounds well. individual taste
| just as Mrs. Rorcr would speak of enough
salt and pepper in the salad dressing.
| The truth is that if individual taste could
| once upon time be depended upon, that
| condition no longer exists. 1t has been u
| somewhat generally accepted tradition
| that no woman of really refined, good
| taste can go far astray in the matter Of
| dress; that her natural intuition will
| teach her what is unSuited to her style
| or what is outre in any sense. No more
| mistaken notion ever existed. Good taste
| may be assured in language, in thought,
| in gesture, in cOmpaniOnship, but in
| dress the whole system is largely mat
| ter of environment.
| Robert Louis StevensOns wife was a
|
| ture, but even she. afar from the in
eentives of civilization, within the en-
| CirCling purple peaks of Samoa grew care
| less In her toilet, wore single loose
! outer garment unCOnfncd at waist and
| ungraCeful in cut and folds. She forsook
| that test of daintiness the smart shoe
of fashionable life and wore loose and
| ugly If comfortable moccasin-like foot
| coverings. Once when an invitation to a
| dinner at the distant commandant $
| home promised a certain diversion, the
pleasure had to be accepted COnditionally
| on my wifes finding her other shoe,
| as the great novelist wrote in eXplana- .
| tiOn. Where there was no particular en-
! COuragcment to dress, the burdensome
part of this necessary daily routine was
| fOrswOrn for ease, DliSstul communion
| with a kindred soul, and unconvention-
! ality. If Stevenson himself had noticed
the difference between costume Oi
| sackclOth or a stylish one from Paris his
wife would have been perfectly familiar
with the exact location of that "othcr
shoe" and all the paraphernalia Of So
city life.
There are probably some women
| who would dress for dinner if that
function took place on a desert island
and consisted of rain water and a few
dates a la mode; the dress" being COM
posed Of a half dozen extra feathers
| to be strung on a string round her waist
! in lieu of a trailing skirt. There are
women who, if afar on that desert ISL
and, would match up tones of feathers
and shells to harmonizc with the brown
of their cheeks and tho sheen of their
hair after their "other clothes" had
worn out. That sort of good taste is in
herent and individual and is indeed rare
gift The good taste which impels the
average woman in society, or on its fringes
to wear skirt that clears the ground
when all her friends, and what is still
! more important, All her enemies, ar'
trailing gowns that drag up the filth OF
| the town is still rarer, for ii hasn't been
discovered. Like Miss Harris, "rhere
amt no such person" as the woman who
will absolutely refuse to yield to fash
ions whims no matter what her good
taste may dictate.
No refined. delicate minded woman, II
she consulted her good taste, would pa
rade along the beach with a dress above
her knee, ard which when wet must cling
so closely to her figure as 10 be indeCen',
that too, for all the world of summer
iders 10 see, and yet that very thing,
are the incest, most fastdious women of
| the land doing this very day at every
| fashionable ocean resort, and they can
not but be conscious of the remarks made
by the onlookers on the defects or attrac-
tions of their forms, So that II can read
ily be proved that personal standards of
good taste have really very little TO dc
with feminine modes of dress and that
custom has everything to do with them
| MY unknown friend asks what about
the propriety of wearing low cut dresses
| on the street as she says so many ladies
are doing. Now I'm reply to this II = lesn't
seem that very refined lady will care
to be stared at by the vulgar, the rude