Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-10-19
"DeCenCy il Dress"
CONTINUED from Page One.)

glass form of past years has been sup.
planted by the modern Venus de Milo.
The waist line has raced madly up
and down the human form, bus seems
unable to locate permanently.
No sane person vii deny that the
4 present day costume is enough to
provoke the c~artoonist to his widest
efforts. One does not need TO walk
many blocks to see dresoses that nave
crossed the line of decency.
~Schopenhauer says: "In almost ev-
cry age we find that if u thoroughly
wrong idea or a fashion or u man
ner is in vogue. it is admired. Those
Of ordinary intelligence trouble them
selves Unfortunately to acquire it and
put it in practice. The intelligent
man see Through. it and suppresses it.
Consequently he remains out of fash
ion. Without attempting to discrim.
mate between tie intelligent woman
and the one Of ordinary intelligence,
| believe 1t is q serious matter for
girls to wear present day styles.
Social settlement workers in New
York say that an a%larmingly large
number Of respectable girls had been
approached during the last year on
the streets Of the city by men who
mistoOk them for residents Of the
underworld because of their style Of
dress. Right here it seem to me is
the most alarming phase Of the whole
situation. Can any American girl
keep her high moral standard If she
dresses in styles belonging to wOm-
Ell Of low character? No matter
whether the girl herself is to blame
for donning such a garb or whether
her mother has been criminally neg
ligent for permitting it, the effect on
The care will be the same. Look at
he school girl Of today who affects
tae extreme STYLES OF narrow slit
skirts, displaying transparent hose
that are a rival of the peek-a.boo
waist. low cut dresses and hair in
skv terrier effects. We are told that
"nodesty is a matter of custOm-that
the South Sea Island girl thinks she
is modestly attired in her fringe of
grasses about her waist because she
conforms with the customs-that the
American girl will wear anything tlat
Fashion dictates, with no feeling OF
self-consciousness or immodcsty.
! believe Ruskins advice to the
English people regarding the educa-
ton Of their girls will apply equally
well to the American people regarding
the dress of their daughters. He
urges that the range of literature Civ
ell to girls be such as is calculated
to add the qualities Of patience and
seriousness to her natural %poignancy
Of tho"~' and %quickness os' wit, and
to keep her in a lofty and pure ele-
ment Of thought. He deplores too
much novel reading because he says
It renders the ordinary course of life
uninteresting and Increases the NOR
bid thirst for useless acquaintance
with scenes in which they Shall never
be called upon to act.
Note the qualities Ruskins en-
Observation-Disclosures lofty and
"ure element of thought. Can a girl
live up to such a standard if she is
attired in a. costume that subjects her
TO insolent stares and impudent re-
marks-a garb which she finds redi-
cnled and caricatured in every paper
and magazine-a dress that cannot
fail to make a girl self-conscious be-
cause she knows she is we con-
spiciOus attire? At the risk of be-
ing called Old-faslioned l am willing
to assert that a girl Of today dresses
to conform to modern styles cannot
keep the same high standard of NOR
atty as did her sister school girl OF
some years ago, who wore her hair in
smooth braids and wore dresses that
We're modest and inconspicious. Friv-
olous clothing is not conducive to
high thinking.
Let me quote from Ruskin again
substituting dress where he says
teach. He is criticizing the English
people for their lack seriousness in
training their daughters and COM
;nents as follows: You dress your
girls as il they were meant for side
board ornaments and then complain if
their %frivolity. Give them the same
advantages that you gave their broth.
ers-appeal to the same grand inter
ests OF virtue in them. Dress them so
that courage and truth are the pillars
Of their being. Do you think they
would not answer that appeal brave
and true as they are even now, when
there is hardly a girls school in this
Christian kingdom, where the chill
dren's courage and sincerity aare
thought Of half as much Importance
their way Of entering a room, and
when the whole system of society as
respects the mode of establishing
them in life-is one rotten plague of
and unposture-cowardice
IN no letting them dress except as
their %neighbors dress, and unposture
in bringing for the purpose of our
own pride in adhering to the de-
mands of fashion, the full glow Of the
worlds worst vanity upon a girls
eyes at the very period when the
whole happiness of ner future exist
depends upon her remaining I'M
1aZzled."
Dress reform has been a subject Of
constant agitation for the last sixty
years. In these agitations, however,
the object Of the attack was the u,,.
lvgienic character of wonlan'S dress
than it's immodesty as at pres
Il sought to reform the hig.a
leels. the long skirts and the restrict
breathing capacity. While few
adopted the bloomer or the.
style OF dress, or the Jenness Miller,
the agitation had good results.
With the disappearance of the small
waist len,o,,doI ~, ,,, L III