The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-08-26
EDITOR FRANK HARRIS
IS FRIEND TO LADIES

made :. 81 L. % ~ ItdN - Gilu FU-
ii I .sthrr ana fashioned il IN tho
best VA. s IN " how. woman's
drt IS h.. .,.n 'le constant subject
ii criticism on th part Of the MAZE
cnGer of creation
The balloon hoopskirts. worn b.
nc little tots and their mothers
wren We were boy oh" little tO.5
now grown to be grandmoIhersl was
the subject OF hostile criticism on
the part OF the pulpit and the press
The style was a dclectable dish for
thc wits and humorists OF that iy.
The hustle" and the "Grecian
bend in turn, met with the same
measure OF condemnation, and the
sheath gown was shattered from
stem to stern by the pretended fury
OF us male critics.
Now the 'hObble skirt and the
peek boo waists are anathema-
TIED with just as much fury as the
vide spreading 'soopskirts" We're in
the sixties.
lsmacl-like, every made hand is
raised against the fashion in dress
OF cur dear women in their efforts to
appear attractive and pleasing to the
members of the opposite sex.
The only time that we can remem-
Der when our mothers silenced the
newspapers and tied the hands OF the
preachers was when they wore long
trains" and their skirts dragged in
:hc filth and mire of the streets, and
became a breeding and hiding place
for .nnsumptive and other malie-
nant germs.
We heard an eminent bishop say
from the pulpit no longer ago than
last Sunday that the dress of some
Of our fash ionable women now seen
On the principal streets of some Of
our cities would be disgrace TO any
bedroom in christendOm.
But the women were made to bcar
aud fOrbcar and are compelled to
lcckly submit TO these severe and
hostile criticisms.
Perhaps when they are fully oman
cipatcd, are raised to the high plane
occupied by men. are given he bal
lot and are permitted to wear the
GESTURE of bishops. he critics. thr
wits and humorisis will he pm to
flight.
We remember when roller skai
Ing became a fad, and our girls cs-
saved to engage in its pleasures, how
| they had to run the same Yaunl less
q. unlricndly criticism. and whc.
she consented 10 stride Il bicycle
both press and pulpit al once pro
| claimed that she had deliberately
consented TO un,cN her sex, and tn,
nOdcsty, which had been her crown
jewel since creation. had gone 10 re-
turn no more forever.
| And, my. my when she began rid
ding cross saddle" what ii scanda
i, created throughout the land.
All mOdcsty now had gone. am
our girls and our women would ncv
el be girls and women any more
they would be without the strengi
and manlincss of men and the srac
and modesty of women.
Ali the world looked bleak an,
forbidding and We had indeed fallrl
upon evil times
But horror OF horrors Thos
things were as nothing compared +
their demand for he ballot.
Meeting. mingling and iost lin
with men would indeed and in trurI
unseN them, as if they did not meet
minsle and jostlc with the men a
the postotlicc. in theatcrs and il
churches. and in boarding house
and hotels. and in their attempts =
board trains.
Women exercise the right of IN
ballot in some of the tSatcS, and III
governors of those States. and other
IN authority. say that they sill De-
nave themselves as women and ,om
pei The respect and courtesy of mon
How well do we remember vhl
he shlriw1lst WAS first worn nov
everywhere recognized "a srra
boon 10 wcmanhood the world o,.
how il was proclaimed Ia an,
near that the women were irwin. =,
ape the manners of men and wrr,
straying away as far as possible from
their own femininity.
And the modest collar and he, XII,
mad to be worn at the expense of III,
usual pungent paragraphs
And the coat suit Nv. nv. how
II was ridiculed and rallied against
Women wanted to be men. The,
wanted 10 lose their womanl,