The evening world., 1913-06-21
Marguerite M00ers Marshall.


ROCHESTER,. Pa. June 21.-sew
up the slit skirt; purify the peek-a-
boo; petticoats and plenty of them;
call a halt on the hobble.
These are a scattering few Of the
war cries Of the New morality In
this little town, this town which 10
growing purer every minute. The
dewdrop, the driven snow. the Easter
lily have nothing on Rochester. Pa.
II you want to be an angel, 60 to
Rochester. You can't escape the
contagion Of virtue. The goodness,
the innocence. the healthful austen
ity Of your happy. happy childhood
will once more surround you, pene-
trating into the cracks OF your con-
science even as the soft coal SCOT
loses itself in the folds OF your decent
drapery. And that drapery will be
decent, unless you want to be ar
rested by one Of Rochester's three
noble policemen. See war cries.
The plain fact of the matter is that
while all the rest Of the country
has been talking about the dreadful!
things women do wear, Rochester
has up and said that her women
shan't wear them.
Burgess. Councilman. clergy. press
and police are all united In the
greatest little dress reform cam
paign on record. And when you re-
member that about every crime on
the calendar, from MASKING to MUIR
der, has been attributed by some
body to some abuse Of fashion, you
will see how exceedingly seraphic .
dress-reformed Rochester must be.
The timetable helped to break the
shock OF travelling from Broadway 10
Brighton avenue. the main thoroughfare
Of this town. Such way stations az
Economy" Freedom and Industry"
gave nudges to my sense OF righteous
ness and rebukes to my sceptlclsm. and
nary a slit skirt did I see all the way
up to the Hin to the ONCE of Burgess
J. NJ Cargo.
TWO SLIT SKIRTS STARTED RE-
FORM WAVE.
But It was slit skirt, or. rather. two
| OF them. which brought about the pr s-
| ent pearl-like condition OF affairs. This
Is the story of Burgess Cargo:
There were two young ladies. ! do
not know whether they were Of this
town. trust they were not" no be-
gan. disnpprov!ngly. He Is rather small
man. with Il militant white mustache.
And not once. but several times. they
| walked up and down our main stree.
| They wore skirts slit up to-er AT ove
| the knee, and-er-they walked In such
| way that-er-thcre was visible :. con-
siderable preporderance of limb. Its
hard to describe to lady like yourself
he broke on. apologetically. "But-I-
er-may say that-er-above the knee
er-appeared a silk-er-band and n bow
OF RIBBON. lt-er-attracted the atler-
| tion of the young men,
| "And then what happened?' prompt
| ed, for the good Burgess seemed quite
| overcome By the horror OF his rcco!lec-
tons.
| But he frightened up.
We'll, you see." he conhded. the
people Of Rochester weren't going to
stand for anything like that. Nor, stree,
We've got church of every denomi-
nation. about. that there Is, In this
town. and the ministers, they preached
against the immoral influences OF mod
ern styles. The Rev. A. b.. Finn. over
here at the Baptist church. he had a
word to say, and SO did the Lutheran
minister. the Rev. A. VI. MERRIAM. ami
the Rev. Frederick Cromer-he's Con.
gregat!onallst.
MINISTERS TOOK UP the MAT
TER WITH COUNCIL.
"AnA AAs ministers sad etAss folks