The Washington herald., 1912-08-06
by JULIA, CHANDLER MANI.

| 4
A letter came to me a few days age
suggesting a contest upon 'the propel
dressing Of women in public" stating
that 1t is "a shame TO our womanhood
and a discredit to our motherhood, ths
way young girls are permitted to ap
pear @upon the streets with dresses sc
scant and short, and hose SO thin as
to afford no protection to the body"
II have seen perfectly indecent ant
inmentionable sights and 1 am only one
of the long-sufrering punic." my cores
pondent goes on to say. rs not the sac
rifice of those two little girls in New
York warning sufficient to older ones:
II women cannot right this great wrong
then the laws of the land should take
charge, as a Milwaukee Judge suggests
when such dressing only arouses the
worst in man as was attested by the
murderer Swartz.
why will our women still persist in
these things? Surely there are enough
sweet and pure Christian girls and wom-
en- to change these diabolical fashions
which can only degrade instead OF exalt-
ing womannood.'
You will doubtless remember that we
had last winter some very serious talks
along the line OF immodest, as well as
unhygienic attire for women; many
readers expressing their opinions, and as
many more offering suggestions for rem
edies for the extreme fashions followed
by some women.
Washington Girls Modest.
At the time 1 had a talk with Judge De
Lacy of the Juvenile Court who ex-
pressed il as his opinion that nowhere
in America do girls dress with greater
modesty, and better taste than right
here in Washington.
1t gave me a genuine thrill of pleasure
to hear this statement from one who
is in a position to judge so well.
OF course an evening stroll down
Avenue will reveal to one
many devotees of extreme styles, but
II one were to compare the number
seen here any evening with the number
of immodestly dressed women seen in
other cities of this size one would quite
agree with Judge De Lacy that Washing
ton girls are, in the main. modest in
their street attire.
The exceptions to this rule are de-
plorable. There is but one cure for them
and that one is in their own homes.
As my correspondent put the matter:
There are enough sweet, pure Christian
girls and women to change fashions
which degrade womanhood''
The fact that the change is not made is
due to the thoughtlessness of many
lect of the little girls God has given
into their keeping to mold into the wom-
en- they will.
Girls Copy Their Mothers.
To the woman-in- the-making her moth
er is her model. Her mothers ideas of
dress are absorbed from the time she
is able to toddle to the mirror and say
Pretty, pretty baby" Left TO her own
devices a little girl baby will invariably
amuse herself with the articles on moth
nr's toilet table, the instinct being to-
make herself beautiful.
The ideal of a beautiful woman is
in the mothers power toi
form. a little girl who is taught re-
finement of dress by her mother both
by word of mouth. by example. and
The discouragement of cheap finery that
extremes are vulgar, and that a lady is
marked by the simplicity and modesty
IF her attire, will not depart from the
lesson she has learned in childhood
when she becomes a woman grown. Re-
fnement of taste will have been de-
reloped; ideals of womanly beauty sol
we'll formed at home that even the out
side influence of schoolmates will mott
serve TO eradicate them, particularly
where mother keeps in close touch with
ler young daughter through all heri
school days, pointing out to her examples
# complete destruction of the charm OF
sirlhood by extreme and vulgar frocks.
1t will be a disgrace to American
IL the suggestion of the MIL
vaukee judge is followed, and our