Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1911-02-02
A Singular Dress
Parade
A Story Of the Future
By SADIE OLCOTT
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

1t was in the year 1920 that the mat
ter of woman's suffrage came to
head, woman agreeing to accept all du-
ties of citizenship the same as men.
A battalion of volunteer infantry
was organized by the government as
an experiment, under command of
major Trouble began as soon as the
matter Of uniform came up for con-
sideration. The brunettes strove for
a deep red with black facings, while
the blends favored either pale blue
or pink The matter was voted upon,
and, the brunettes being in the ma
jority, the red won. A pattern for the
suit was adopted, the trousers being
very full and reaching only to the
knee. Since the first decade of the
century, when women began to wear
hats of different shapes. independence
in this matter had been continually
growing. 1t was therefore found i'm
possible to agree upon a uniform hat,
and each woman was permitted to
wear any shaped head covering she
pleased.
The members Of the regiment were
ordered to rendezvous in camp. The
QuartermaSter, a man who had been
charged with the work of establishing
the camp, provided only such equip
ment as he had been used to DrOvid-
ing for men. During the morning of
the date of assembly the women sol
| diers came flocking in. the quarter
master receiving them and instructing
them in the uses of the equipment.
What was his CONSERVATION to see
vans. wagons, carts, without limit
drive up loaded with trunks. valises
and other articles of baggage. The
hat boxes alone. most of them prOdi
gious, occupied more space than the
belongings of regiment of men.
He telegraphed at once for 500 hos
pital tents, which gave each woman
one for her baggage. Fortunately the
| tents arrived while the weather was
yet fine, and no damage was done by
| exposure. A dress parade was ordered
| for o'clock in the afternoon and PEG
| pie flocked in from city and country to
see this popular military ceremony.
| When the call sounded and the line
| was formed it was plain that much
| must be done for uniformity. Here
and there a blond had disregarded
| orders and had her uniform made Of
| pink or blue. Some who were what is
commonly called spindle shanked had
| their trousers made to reach the foot
But the greatest irregularity was in
| the hats. There were small inverted
sugar bowl hats, Chinese conical hats
| hats with enormous crowns, hats with
small crowns, hats with brims as large
as cartwheels. Then there were feath-
ers plucked from every bird from the
| humming bird to the ostrich. The gov
| eminent inspector from Washington
| put on a pair Of spectacles. and as he
| cast his eyes along the line his brow
darkened But he had orders from
| the inspector general not to be too
rigid with the battalion. which from
| the nature of the case needed a great
deal of latitude.
The troops having been brought to
an open order and parade rest, he
walked down the front Of the line. AT
the first glaring breach of uniformity
| he reached he made a few remarks.
| He did not repeat them. The soldiers
whose apparel he had found fault
with began a defense which lasted
| fifteen minutes and was not even dis
| a inCnn0tOr
| on.
AS he passed along at the rear his
position might be noted by the woman
he was behind putting her hand to her
! back hair.
! Having gone through the inspection
perfunctorily he assumed his original
position, and the major commanding
was directed to put the battalion
through the manual of arms. Her first
| order was Attention." the second
"Shoulder armsw At the latter order
every musket went up and every hat
of extra size was knocked off and roll
ed on the ground. A brisk breeze
| blowing at the time carried many OF
| them away, rolling them over the pa
rade ground.
| The situation was very embarrassing
| to the commander. How to get the
| hats back on the women's heads in
volved a puzzle. To break ranks dur
ing a dress parade would be unmili-
tary. yet the hats could not be per-
mitted to remain the sport of the wind
| There were boys looking on who
might be hired to chase them and pick
them up, but only the women know
| their own hats. The crowd looked eX-
pectant There were some jeers. The
inspector stood in a soldieriy attitude,
with arms folded. Decisions among
soldiers cannot be long delayed, and
| the major was forced to act.
"Stack armsr'
"Break ranks and chase hatsr
There was a scurrying over the field
| by women who were fat and women
who were lean. tall women, short