The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1914-04-27
The Faithful Girl.

Why be so exercised because one
girl in a thousand makes fool of
herself More than sixteen thousand
of us die every year and nobody is
unduly frightened One in thou
sand of US marry every few hours.
and it is still keeping up-we don't
seem to grow a bit more cautious
or wise and nobdy sounds an
alarm. We are really sorry for those
whose gaze Is so arrested by one
silly girl that they let nine hundred
and ninety-nine sweet, pretty. we'll
dressed girls get past without a
glance.
The fashionable girl is, nine hun
bred and nnetynine cases in a
'housand, the faithful girl The vol
dressed girl is generally the good
girl and she is invariably the we'll
trained girl. The fashionable girl
is usually the cultured girl.
Fine old Mother Nature is beneath
it all What on earth would we be
doing if pretty clothes. pretty looks
and pretty ways We're eliminated in
the great matrimonial game. Think
how the capricious. elusive glances
# pretty eyes. assist the great law
of natural selection. If, in our mas
culne mindedness and clumsy stu
pidity. we We're not first of all at
tracted by outer beauty. where could
we look for better guide to the
inner graces of which pretty ex-
terror is the infallible index?
Consider. Oh ye Mortified dragons,
We soured ones of poor compilations,
We steam rollers OF waistless figure
and heelless footwear, the profound
wisdom of the innocent tollies, the
wonderful usefulness of the purely
ornamental, the intense practically
Of mere flounces and furbelows.
Our clothes are the expression of
our state Of mind. Well dressed peo-
Die are nearly always mentally SUI
Derior and people who are always
dowdy. dusty. shabby, or show that
they don't care for the convention in
clothes. are nearly always either
mentally below par or are eeniuses
Of some sort. which is much the
same thing.
A few years ago, the mentally eX
citable ones Ito whom the existing
fashions were perhaps impossible}
predicted the physical degeneracy of
many garments and that too many of
them hung from the waist creating
a dangerous drag on the hips; and
dozen other things. Since then they
have had their desire. Superfluous,
bulky and unnecessary garments
have been abandoned and today
more hygienic, more suitable, more
CoilllOltdDle anu iiole poaulii vi
things to wear have been adopted.
The Charge Of Immodesty.
And now they raise another cry.
"lmmodest insufficency Of clothes,
clinging skirts and flimsy blouses-
No sleeves! and, Lord save us!
Transparent gowns"
Silence we termagants. Why on
tie; why shouldn't we have dainty,
diaphanous dresses; delightful-oh,
who, hopeless yourselves, will refuse
to understand.
We protest against the maudlin
suggestion that because some of
these extreme and freakish turnouts
may invite vulgar comments from
few OF the riffraff, all our girls are
to be accused of dressing themselves
in a way that arouses evil thoughts
etc, in the minds of young men.
The vast majority Of our young
girls and our young men are we'll
dressed, decent and well hammered,
and while the devil is at our ear
good deal we prefer decent, sweet,
pretty and beautiful things. and one
Of the best of these is our New
York girl, fashionable, pretty, dainty,
sweet, appealing to the best and
noblest in the young man of their
station.
OF course, there are those whose
morals are dead leaves flying with
every breath of wind. but must we
adjust our fashions to fit the dis
torted minds OF very small ma
jority Of people already depraved
and past being reformed by any So
called dress reform?
The charge of intentional immod-
esty, frank bids for masculine at
tention and comment, and careless
ness of the moral sense is ridiculous
y over drawn.
Is it so hellish to see pretty
gown that occasionally hints that
a woman is a two legged creature?
Is it so demoralizing to observe that
our sisters are beautifully as we'll as
fearfully and wonderfully made?