The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-02
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN
THE COLLEGE GIRLS OUTFIT NOW A
MATTER OF MOMENT WITH MANY.
ter of Keeping YOung-COming
Changes i'm Fashion.


Hart, in Golfers Weekly. The clubwoman
has the nucleus of the right idea, and so, to
lesser extent, because of lesser need. has
the clubman. The husband and wife who ex-
clude themselves from society and lead a
hermit's life, must necessarily weary of life
and each other. In a very limited time their
limited resources are Slapped, and they have
nothing from which TO replenish them.
Men and women, particularly in cities,
where the inspiring effect of living close to
nature is denied them, must have inter-
course-and plenty of it-with human be-
ings. The right sort of intercourse with the
right sort of people is character tonic. 1t
strikes like flint to sharpen the wit. expand
the mind. and multiply the resources. Real
companions and understanding fellows are
rare; but there is something for us in every
one, and the chances to CLEAN and appropri-
ate it, and also to find those rare compan-
ions, are heightened in proportion we
mingle with our fellow-men and women. To
this end the club has master possibilities;
but not under its present regime. Drink,
Dress gossip, cliques. classism, snobbish-
ness-these are the cankers that eat at the
roots of the modern club and nip the bud be-
fore its full Towering. There could be no
more important factor than the club in de-
veloping and binding the brotherhood of
mankind; but such club of lofty purpose
must be unrestricted as to sex or condition.
The club that announces it's own limita-
tons sounds its own doom for high posi-
bilities. What moral progress can be made
by the state when political clubs admit only
their own party who cherish and believe in
that partys weaknesses well Its
StrOngh0ds? What Of the higher education
in artists or authors clubs that admit only
their own kith, who sit about talking of
themselves or f1attering one another? (Would
that they might introduce red corpuscles
into the clubs system by listing few au-
dacfous critics.) And the actors clubs
would not a few conservatives give balance
to the ultra bohemian atmosphere? And
what of the churches-those mighty religious
associations of distinct and contradictory
charters-what are they doing, with their
conservative creeds and regulations, towards
the fulfillment of universal religion of one
faith, one God?
1t is not such a very big world and we
are all related and dependent upon each
other. Neither do we stop here long. What,
then, is the use of conservatism? 1t is slug
gishnesS, impeachment, decay. The ideal club
Is gathering together of men and women
for every better cause. Why limit its pur-
pose, why burden its membership with re-
strictlOnS? We fuss so much about our little
set and fume so much about our little feath-
ers! Why bother? There is law of moral
and ethical gravitation which adjust these
things The vulgar find no comfort with the
cultured; the ignorant take no pleasure with
the lettered. Only those who have sympathy
with us Will seek us and stop with us long
and those who do not cOngene are anxious
for radiance as we: We may Keep our eyes
wide open, we shall see only that which we
seek. We may open our hearts as wide, and
none will enter there who has not by natural
selection the right to a resting place.
Until the conservatism of sex has passed
out. the club cannot fulfill it's whole mission.
That part of its mission which is fulfilled to-
day Is gained at the expense of other obli-
cations. To get from the club all that ii is
capable of yielding toward the solving of So
cial and domestic problems, men and women
must affiliate and cooperate in their club
life. The first advantage in this will be the
obvious one of keeping together, and robbing
neither of rights nor time. Husbands and
wives can spend their leisure hours at their
club together. Another advantage will be
the influence which this grating of mascu-
line and feminine principles will have on
the characters of both: can fancy the scorn
of men at the suggestion to have women
rustling through their clubrooms and de-
handing continuous dress parade; and
fancy. too, the disguised look of women at
thought of smoke and stale beer Odors per-
meating their delightful clubrooms. But
these discrepancies I'm taste and opinion
constitute one of the main needs for the club
of both sexes. The initial jars which such
clubs must encounter, would prove their ne
ceSsity. Why should men and women, whose
lives must be so closely lived differ so es-
sentially in every tendency, habit, viewpoint
and standard? Are not these differences the
fundamental cause out of which spring dis
sensIon, disruption and heartache? Men and
women have not the slightest conception of
the motives and principles by which the
actions of the other guided. Men
think women petty and silly; women think
men coarse and unfeeling. 1t would not take
long experiment in cooperative club
life to find the masculine and feminine char
acters understanding, responding and merg-
ing. Women Will acquire the broad view by
contact with men and affairs, and men will
gain somewhat of gentleness and finer feel
ing. Women will attain the breadth and
pose Of men; and men will learn the subtle
distinction between brute force and that
strength which reaches its acme in gentle
ness and self-control.
Men lose patience most quickly with wOm-
ans narrowness. But centuries of narrow
living and narrow environment imposed by
man, must have yielded to woman the mar
row view the narrow means, the narrow
end. For the correction of which no method
can be truer than the cooperative club,
where man may find woman in the place
where comrades are sought, at the time
when they are most needed.
Perhaps the wOmans clubs have in them
more virtue than we think. They may be a
preparatory school for higher grades; fore
runner of the future; the shadow cast by
the coming event
College Girls Outfits.