Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-02-14
I'll.
NEW
WOMAN
BIZ
ELIZA
,AReHARD
CONNER

s !s; 81
Truly speaking, there are and can be
no classes in society. The Almighty
created US all, and one soul is undoubt-
eddy as valuable as another exactly.
But mankind for purposes of their
own have established an artificial dis
tinction, according to the wealth they
possess, making the richest the so call
ed upper class, the next richest the
middle and the very poor the way
down low division. Fashions and fads
originate with the so called upper
class. When the middle rank adopts
them, the upper crust leaves them off,
to be different, not having any other
method Of distinguishing itself from
anybody else. By and by, when the
new mode becomes spread among the
low down people, then the middle peo-
pie leave it off in turn, so nobody can
mistake them for common trash. Now,
then, generation ago it was the prop
er thing for rich ladies to be very deli
cate. The consumptive heroine, Ian
gushing and dying, with lover and
friends shedding barrels of tears over
Camille sort of heroine faded off life's
stage-and good radiance to her-and
the athletic heroine came in, who is
now the fad. May she remain so till
Gabriers trumpet shall sound. Girls
of the so called upper and middle class
es pride themselves on their lung and
muscle power. They swim, row, ride
bicycles, play stiff outdoor games and
begin to know how joyful as well as
fashionable it is to be without an ache or
pain and able to throw stone and hit
q mark. But now, too, observe the fad
for delicacy among women has reach
ed its lowest depth before it is finally
kicked out of the world feminine. 1t is
at length the so called low class lady,
the scrub lady, the 200 pound wash
lady and the kitchen girl who pride
themselves on their physical inability.
II look strong, but amt; I'm mighty
delicate" is their complacent cry.
| Now that thousands of fashionable
as well as intelligent ladies have dis
| carded corsets altogether, substituting
| the various health waists and supports,
| it is amusing to note how like grim
| death the woman who performs man.
| ual labor for her living clings to her
| corset, boned, steeled and stiffened like
wagon top. A bouncing big colored
| woman, with biceps like a baseball
| player, but laced nevertheless as to her
| waist in sideboards tight as iron, com
| planned lately that she was too deli
| cate" to do heavy work. 1t made her
dizzy to stand upon a stepladder or to
sit out upon a sill and wash windows,
and she couldn't get down to scrub and
couldn't shake rugs because it gave her
ga pain under her lungs" What pity
she ever found out she had any lungs!
| A lady said to her, eff you would haul
! off that corset when you work, you
| wouldn't have any pain under your
lungs" "0h, dear me" said the color
ed lady, 81 can't go without my COR
| setsi If take 'em off for ten minutes,
/ have sich pain in my back, it makes
me crazy. All the colored ladies wears
| Them"
| Spanish is to become the most useful
language for business purposes of any
on the western continent | have many
a time urged young women stenogra-
pliers to add thorough knowledge of
Spanish to their business equipment.
When l was in Manila, there were
openings of a rare advantage for ste
nographers and typewriters who could
speak and write Spanish. The same is
| true of Porto Rico, Cuba and Mexico.
There will be constantly more and
more demand as time goes on. Ameri-
can girls ought to supply it. If you
have opportunity, learn not only Span
ish, but French and German, and learn
them thoroughly.
"What fools women are!" says GER
tain old bachelor. Oh, yes! Excepting
only men, women certainly are the
/ greatest fools in existence.
y e s.
| Let us strive in all things to go back
| to earlier systems of dress and living
in this glorious new century. In food
let us have few simple courses, va
| riety enough for good health and no
more; in dress not piles of clothing,
| but only sufficient to be comfortable
and so that we shall not be noticed
| for being too far out of fashion; in
draperies, curtains, cushions, etc. let
us have enough for comfort, not
enough to make them diabolical dust
| traps and contrivances for shutting out
Gods air and sunshine, which make
! alike the flower and the woman beauti-
full. Let us throw over this elaborate
ness of living. 1t is foolishness and
WEAKNESS to the flesh. Let us return
to simpler, more refined ways.
Life is more than clothes, though
come women have not found it out yet.
Some men are such old fogies on the
woman question that it is like visit
to the British museum to meet them.
T. ss e
1t took five years to get the French
parliament to pass an act permitting
women to practice law. A number of
French ladies, however, prepared
themselves for admission to the bar,
and when just at the close of last
year the desperately opposed permits
sion finally was achieved there were
II women lawyers ready to begin the
new century.
Rhod0dendrons For Easter.
Plants such as the white lilac,
genista, spirGa, deutzia, Harris lily,
etc, are commonly forced for Easter
decorations, and they all please every
ono hI,t n moro frauunnt i,cp of nlantc