The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-08-18
Another Woman
| axes to [ rousers

Most women in their secret hearts
want to wear trousers. They may like
the grace of a long skirt for indoor
affairs, but when it is question OF
getting somewhere there is seldom one
who does not hate the cloth that flaps
around her ankles and envy men for
their freedom from it. ANY number
of women feel this way, but until last
fall DR.. Mary Walker and Miss Susan
Fowler were the only two who dared
act as they felt. But they have dis
.ciple, and a young, pretty disciple, not
long out of her teens and-what makes
it more surprising-just out of a con-
vent
Dorothy Poquette is the girls name.
the hills above West Boylston, in Wor-
cester County, Mass. BY way Of show
ing what trousers will do for a person
it is reliably stated that she thinks
nothing at all of cutting up a cord of
wood. That is just one of her little
amusements. She hunts, too: fishes,
walks a great deal, rides horseback
with or without a saddle, and automo-
biles-all in trousers. She has got the
long distance runners of the neighbor-
hood all beaten, so that none of them
viii run races with her any more. In
fact, she is an athletic young woman,
and she appears to have found the
secret of the joy Of life.
Miss Poquette's manner of taking to
mems attire shows a good deal Of cour-
age, as well as thoughtfulness, for a
girl. The fact that she lives in the
country makes her act the Drawer, for
conservatism dwells in bucolic haUnts.
Miss Poquette did not eschew skirts
hastily She thought 1t all over first.
when was in the convent it never
occurred to me that skirts were a
drawback she said to Tribune re-
porter. Perhaps if my people had
stayed in Long Island. where we lived
till last fall, I should have gone on
dragging yards of cloth from my hips
and never thought much about 1t. But
we moved up into this great, wide
open country, and the natural woman
awoke in me. 7 wanted to be outdoors
all day. But there were fences to
climb and stone walls to get over, and
the first fence I scaled I caught my
foot in my skirt and got a tumble. It
struck me, at the same time the ground
did, that skirts were silly things. Why
shouldn't I have my freedom as well
as a boy? I went home and read UP
on skirts. I started with the times
when men and women dressed alike,
and I followed the men in their up
ward career as they flung away a kilt
here and a. cloak there, and 1t seemed
to me that every time they discarded
a few yards of cloth they gained in
productiveness and general superior
fty. OF course, there have been changes
in women's attire too, but they have
kept their skirts-and look at the re-
suit. Just fancy what the world would
be If all the men were suddenly taken
out of tall the producing, managing,
inventing men. Could women run it?
They would get their skirts tangled in
the spokes at the first turn of the
wheel.
'I resolved that for myself I would
cease being centuries behind my period
in dress. I reformed. I went to a
mems Quitting establishment in Wor-
cester. and asked for a boys suit. The
clerk asked how large the boy was and
manage under the circumstances
that the suit was for myself. The clerk
opened his mouth, but then he shut 1t
again. could see that he was consid-
erably surprised, but he probably re-
Co AoA I. Il, g. sell ol@ hn4
I always buy my suits of that clerk
now, and never have any trouble in
securing what need.
From that day to this I've worn
trousers and a coat. When summer
came bought some sets of white over
alls and jumpers. They look like paja-
mas, but, oh! the comfort and the free
dom of themI I roam all about the
place in them, on the hottest days, and
feel as cool as possible"
Miss Poquette says she knows peo-
pie talk a good deal about "the girl
that wears trousers" and mostly in
critical strain, but she does not mind.
81 don't think there's as much stir
about my clothes as people say" she
went on. 1--WE heard that whenever
appear in the village-and I go there
every afternoon for the MALL cause
a great excitement. I haven't seen any
signs Of it. Now and then hear an
old man say. Here comes the girl that
wears pants and the boys stare some,
but nothing to hurt. The stir must
have been made by the gossips. One
tried to discuss my gar
ments with my mother, but she just
told him gently that the village wasn't
going to regulate her daughters
clothes. No one has ever preached the
subject to me. You see, mind my
own business: I'm not seeking notorfe-
ty up here in the hills; I'm just seek
ing freedom. And I get il.
eff 7 ever marry and have children
girls, I mean-I'1l dress them just
ike this And should dress the same