The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1915-06-03
Is Modesty a Lost Virtue?

bathing suit; the name of the young woman
was printed and it is evident that she is one
OF the members Of what the big paper society
writers call 'the best society,""
The bathing suit consisted mostly of neck
tie, very scanty, short skirt no sleeves, and
cap
Just how many of us, belonging to an older
generation. were shocked to note this photo
graph! And how many of us began to think
of the days when pictures Of this sort were
reserved for ''The Police Gazette" and like
publications? And the models were never
young women whom any one pretended to
know, and who most certainly never mingled
freely with "the best society,""
In the daily papers this sort of picture has
become SO common. it rarely causes comment,
excepting of the sort that IS called forth by
the beauty or nominees of the model Some
of the other pictures published of members in
high society, show them with other forms of
scanty ralment, and maybe this has accus-
toned the public. generally, for the almost
nothing of the bathing suits
Years ago, when travelling to Europe was
considered the final touch to the education of
young people, many startling tales were told
of the customs and manners of the French
people, especially at their watering places on
the coast of France. The one-piece" bathing
suit OF the French woman consisted solely OF
one garment, and no eyes saw her but her
maid and the women members of her family,
The French people do not battle "promiscu-
ously" the men have their part of the beach.
and the women theirs. What is known as
"bathing machines" really little houses on
wheels. are drawn to the edge of the sand the
French woman dons her bathing suit. the
wagon is drawn as far out as she cares to 90,
and she slips down the steps Of the little
1ptO hn CHI 1c
athletic woman, she sWims, and then gets back
into the little house; she has not made an ex-
hibit of herself, and the business Of taking
sea bath is serious one, with her.
With the women of the half-world, it is. OF
course. different; these are the women who
promenade the beaches in various costumes
that look like the chorus girls we have grown
accustomed to, and are no more to be con-
founded with the true French woman Of the
higher class, than our own demi-monde is to
be COMPOUNDED with the decent American
woman
This phase is cited, only to show from what
we Americans blindly take as our models for
dressing; to the American woman going to
Paris for the first time, the outlandish cos
tuning of the dressmaker's models, is a rev
citation, and when she has accustomed her
self to her environment, and is not. intent on
gathering up lot of dresses and hats that
will make her look like an actress in the third
act of problem" play. she will be startled
at the staid. sedate costuming of the true
French woman, of the higher class.
With their thrift, which has been an adage
for ages, there are very few French women
who could not afford to spend as much money
on their clothes, class for class, as the Eng
lish or American woman. But modesty has
been an innate French virtue, among the
higher classes, and the exploitation of the
human form, is as much new business for