Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-11

of one black silk dress, which served
our grandmothers as best" all the
| days of their lives, and with the
black silk went too, the cameo or
hair breast-pin, which with ring
or two made up her modest stock
of jewelry.
Ever since there has been a mad
whirligig of fashion with the styles
whisking in and out almost as of
ten as the wind changed, and every
! woman, rich or poor, young or old
plain or beautiful, tall or short, fat
or lean, striving to outshine every
other in the costliness and splender
, cf her apparel.
To be out of style was esteemed
worse than o crime. La Mode!
| Upon that altar women have stood
ready to sacrifice their homes, hus-
bands, children, happiness, virtue.
love, comfort, even their looks. And
a host of milliners, dressmakers,
| jewelers. and makers of cosmetics
| have fattened upon her vanity. She
has set the pace and the whole
world has danced to the pipings of
her extravaganza.
1t has been the cause of. some
| of the great political scandals of
Paris, of such financial debaches as
Mrs. Langtry describes in her life
| SIOISB MyScll anu OIuSTS IL mas
made New York what q well-known
humorist called it, "The City of
! Dreadful Debt" and the contagious
influence of these great capitals has
spread out to infect and poison the
people of smaller communities.
! Yet in the face of all this, [
maintain that woman is not natu-
rally an eXtravagant being. Her
extravaganza has been due partly to
4 lnx- nf F..l
! things, partly to her desire to please
more to the demands of Mrs. Grun-
| dy and the supposed necessity of
keeping up appearances, but most
of all to her lack of training in busi-
ness methods and business prac-
| tees.
The "cost of high living" as
James ]. Hill once expressed it, pro-
duced it's naturals result Young
men hesitated to marry on account
OF the expense. Fathers found them
selves unable to stand the drain their
daughters put upon the family in
| come. Woman was literally forced
into the wageearning vocations. She
had to learn that arithmetic of busi-
ness which Lamartine, one of the
most notorious of spendthrifts, stig-
| matized as the negative of every
noble thought"
And her aptitude for it is shown
by the fact that within a genera
ton the science has been mastered
| Ignorance of addition and subtrac-
tion is no longer regarded as lady
| like" 1t is no army of wasteful
canary birds that abroad has kept
the wheels of industry and business
going and the fields titled and plant
ed for the past three years, and
| here at home has conserved the
| food supplies, kept down needless
waste of all sorts, and has assisted
| so materially and with such busi-
! nesslike ability in the raising of
| funds for the government and for
! the various relief movements.
Thrift, calculation, frugality! Why
/ that is woman's long suit She is by
nature meticulous, with an eye for
detail, provident. 1t is man, the
| hunter and fighter, who never stops
to count the cost until his object is
attained. For the mere joy of kill
| ing he eXterminated the bison from
| our western plains.
From the beginning he has heed
| lessly wasted Natures resources. He
sees things in the large, he looks
cut over wide vistas for his game,
he is impatient of checks and re-
| straints, he cares only for results.
His is really the eXtravagant sex.
Thrift is simply order and wom-
an is naturally orderly. 1t was only
/ her fostered ignorance, that and a
spirit of competition-the desire to
outrival her era of extravaganza.
But the day of competition is over
An age of cooperation is dawning-
for nations, for business enterprises.
| for individuals - and woman will
yield to the trend of the time.
She will never go back to the
old conditions; it is idle to think
it: but those who fear economic
chaos after the war are shortsighted.
Each sex will settle down into its
own place with but little confusion,
and the work of the world will go
on better than ever.
Every successful firm has two
partners. the one n man of vision.
initiative and daring, the other
methodical, cautious and saving.
This as I conceive 1t is the eco
nomic future of man and woman,
equal partners. but each working
in his own especial province. He
will dream big dreams, but she will
make them workable and by her
arithmetic correct and supplement,
not negative, his noble thoughts"
And shall there be no more cakes
and ale mo pearl necklaces, or
Paris gowns, or embroidered lin,
gerie? Assnredly there will. Thrift
does not lie in scrimping or mig
gardliness, hut in gratifying every
reasonable desire that one can rea-
sonably afford, but only at a rea-
sonabie price always bearing in
mind Franklin's motto: Nothing is
ahoa n that do mt xuo NJ ~