The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-08-30
duet themselves in the home, al

| 1t was so in the days of Juvenal.
and continues to be a subject upon
| which we great big men like to shoot
our little diatribes and great big en-
/ athumac.
Just two hundred years ago Richard
/ Steele wrote the following essay to
/ the Spectator on the subject of the
vanity and extravaganza of womans
! dress:
Il look upon myself as one set 10
/ watch the manners and behavior of
my countrymen and contemporaries
and to mark down every absurd fash
! ion ridiculous custom, or affected
form of speech, that makes its appear
ance in the world during the course
! OF my speculations The petticoat no
! sooner begun to swell but | observed
! its motions The patches had
NOT time TO muster themselves before
/ / detected them I had intelligence
/ of the colored hood the very first time
/ it appeared in a public assembly. I
might here mention several other the
/ like contingent subjects, upon which
/ | have bestowed distinct papers. By
/ this means | have so effectually
quashed those irregularities whicl
gave occasion to them. that | am
afraid pOsterity will scarce have a
sufficient idea of them TO relish those
discourses which were in no little
vogue at the time they were written.
! They will be apt to think that the
7 50 1+taolyn1
some fantastic cOnceits Of my own
and that their great 'grandm0thers
could not be so whimsical as I have
represented them. For this reason,
when I think on the figure my several
volumes of speculations will make
about a hundred years hence, I con
slider them as so many pieces of old
plate, where the weight will be re-
garded, but the fashion lost.
Among the several female eXtrav-
| agencies | have already taken notice
Of. there is one which still keeps its
ground. | mean that of the ladies
who dress themselves in hat and
| feather, a riding coat and a perigwig,
or at least tie up their hair in bag
or riband, in imitation Of the smart
part of the opposite sex. AS in nv
yesterdays paper | gave an account
of the mixture Of the two sexes in one
| commonwealth, | shall here take no.
! tice of this mixture of two sexes in
| one person. | have already shown
my dislike OF the immodest custom
more than once; but in contempt OF
everything l have hitherto said, | am
informed that the highways about
this great city are still very much in
tested with these female cavaliers.
4 remember when | was at nv
friend, Sir Roger de Coverley's, about
! this time twelve month, an equestrian
! lady Of this order appeared upon the
plains which lay at a distance from
| his house | was at that time walk
) ing in the field with my old friend;
and as his tenants ran out on every
side TO see so strange a sight Sir
Roger asked one Of them who came
! by US who it was? To which the
country fellow replied: IT'S gentle
woman, saving your worship's pres
ence, in a coat and hat This pro-
| duced a great deal of mirth at the
knights house. where We had story
at the same time of another of his
tenants, who meeting this gentleman
like lady on the highway, was asked
| by her whether that was Coverley
Hall? The honest man, seeing only
the male part of the querist, replied:
Yes, sir; but upon the second ques-
ton. whether Sir Roger de Coverley
was married man? having dropped
his eye upon the petticoat, he chang
ed his note into, NO, madam
| Had one of these hermaphrodites
appeared in Juvenals days, with
what an indignation should We have
seen her described by that excellent
satirist! He would have represented
her in a riding habit as greater
monster than the centaur. He would
! have called for sacrifices of purifying
waters, to expiate the appearance of
such a prodigy He would have in
voked the shades of Portia and Luz
cretia, to see into what the Roman
ladies had transformed themselves
For my own part, am for treating
the sex with greater tenderness, and
have all along made use of the most
gentle methods to bring them off from
any little extravaganza into which
they have sometimes unwarily fallen.
| think it however absolutely neces-
sary to keep up the partition between
the two sexes, and to take notice of
the smallest entertainments which
the one makes upon the other. I hope
therefore | shall not hear any more
complaints on this subject | am sure
my she-disciples, who peruse these,
my daily lectures, have protited but
little by them, if they are capable Of
giving in to such an amphibious dress.
This l should not have mentioned,
had | not lately met one of these my
female readers in Hyde Park, who
looked upon me with masculine as
surance. and cooked her hat full in
my face
For my part. have one general
| key to the behavior OF the fair sex.
When | see them singular in any part
Of their dress, | conclude it is not
without some evil intention; and
therefore question not but the design
of this strange fashion is to smite
more effectually their male beholders.
Now to set them right in this partic-
ular, | would fam have them consider