The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1914-05-29
The chi Of I9l4
(By Laura Kingston

think ones duty and grow old; to die
and be buried; that is the total OF the
life Of man land Of woman) as lived fol
some thousand OF years at all events.
And yet, with all our knowledge. thru
all the ages. we have never yet agreed
upon the true right or wrong OF any one
Of them
suppose we shall always have vege-
tarians aud meat-eaters peacefully war
ring, teetotalers and deyotees Of Bac-
chus, Christians and Mahommedans
and pagans. And as long as human
life lasts upon the earth humans will
disagree. One. two, five thousand
years OF experience, OF example, oil
study, seems to make no difference;
and what is far more remarkable, no
general social custom in any of the
ages much excites or amazes us. Time
levels to its true insignificance what
contemporaneous thought raised ahigh.
All this is apropos Of the modern
girl. / find (among the awe-inspiring
pile Of letters awaiting me on my re-
turn half a dozen epistles which are
all keyed upon the one note. / am to
hang, draw and quarter the modern
girl -
Now let us have look at her.
She is accused OF being immodest,
lacking in respect, frivolous, selfish and
to put it in the widest term--fast.
Immodest, then. In what way is
she immodest2 In the way she is
dressed or dresses, | am told. You may
call me modern woman Cor whatever
else you wild, but in this / heartily
disagree. Occasionally one sees a girl
or woman dressed immodestly. That
individual would appear immodest in
any age and any cline, in day dress or
evening gowns, no matter what the
fashion. But generally-and, Of course
/ am forced to speak in generalities-
the accusation OF immodesty in modern
wear is founded and finds expression in
a mind OF by.gone period.
A woman's dress shows the outlines
of her figure, and maybe few inches
above the ankle. Very well. Now tell
ME is there to sane-balanced mind
any immodesty, any harm in that? At
theater you see 80 limbs in as many
minutes. Does it shock you? AT the
seaside men and women are splendidly
ashamed of their shapes. Does it
shock you? In the eager fray of this
sport or that, men and women are often
more 'immodest. Do they bring the
flush Of shame to your cheeks9
/ shalt be very straightforward with
you. All this talk OF the modern wo-
mans immodesty arises from a false
shame, an over-civilized seli.conscious-
ness OF our bodies. It is an hypocricy
which smothers the conception OF the
beautiful and substitutes distorted APP
probation of evil.
And she is fast-terribly fast-I am
told. Why? Because she goes out
alone, meets and talks with men on an
as comrade, as a friend.
"She knows too much, she is not
maidenly.
Well, noticed, as / was looking
over file OF newspapers, that man in
an English court Of law was asked if he
had any goods. Yes" he answered,
"a wife and two children" That is one
point OF view which you, my half-dozen
correspondents, will appreciate.
The modern girl knows sadly enough
that her life is shorter than a mans.
She demands to be mildly amused.
She desires to have that which is me-
cessity to the happiness OF every hui
man being-companionship. Beyond
this do not believe her morals are one
whit worse (if they are no better) than
those OF her sisters of the Victorian and
Georgian era.
She is said to be frivolous, but this is
because she seeks amusement and
amuses herself quite openly and spon-
taneously. She goes to THE pictures,
vaudeville houses, theatres and dances;
and let me suggest, the general tone
and behavior OF them all are far, far
higher and more refined than at any
other time in the past century.
Is she more frivolous than the Vic
torian maiden who was taught to sim
per and sigh and anguish, and to faint
at the slightest shadow OF provocation,
even without any reason at all9
Feast or Famine.