The New York herald., 1921-04-10

1ibited naturally in dress. The canon of
fashion was no longer the becoming but the
outre Women in the evening decolletaged
themselves as they never had done before.
The skirt grew narrower and shorter. the
bodice lost sleeves And you know yourself
that a woman's arm all of it without any
covering at all, isn't often pretty, is it?"
Let us come back to the self-supporting
girl or woman of whom | very much prefer
TO speak. Her type is one that almost any
self respecting woman would do we'll to
initiate: her mental and moral standards are
high and the typical girl of this kind has
true ideal of life. OF course. she wants to
meet the right man and marry and that is
natural. as / said at the beginning.
But when it comes to dress and manners
all sorts of things lead her away from the
perfect thing. She sees the women in shops
or on the street dressed in absurd styles
and having no other guide. she initiates
them. 1t is the fault of the retailer or the
wholesaler that these styles get over. They
see Mrs. Snooks on her return from Paris
with a hundred gowns or designed espe-
cially for that particular Mrs. Snooks and
our manufacturers and department store
buyers see that these same styles in cheaper
materials will have a wide sale.
The men who come here to engage stenog-
raphers and other Office assistants very often
specify that they do not want one of these
so-called fashionable dressers, and when a
member of this association appears here in
that kind of garb we this argument to
help persuade her to dress more sensby.
These employers have various reasons. all
good ones. for their objection to the silk
stockinged high heeled and bobbed hair
type. They say that their influence in a
business office is not good, that 1t is. in fact,
demoralizing.
Shops Have Little to Offer
Girl Seeking Sensible Dress
But what can the girl do If no other
knd of rament is offered for her pur-
chase in the shops? What she does is to
buy three or four fiimsy dresses of inferior
material because she literally cannot get a
gooa woollen fabric made up in becoming
style which would last her two or three
seasons. What does the manufacturer
care? He isn't interested in putting out a
proper style but only one that will sell.
II have not said that these things about
which we are talking are foes, not sins,
because IL seemed to me this distinction be-
tween them Is carried by my words. The
girls and the women, too sincerely believe
are innocent in what they do and only need
an admoniton from the source l have indi-
Gated in order to change.
IAN that lis said in criticism of modern
dancing / fully indorse. At the ball / re-
ferred to the dancers were not dancing they
were unrhythmically, ii seemed to me- mark
ing time Here our dances are on the whole
dlgnihed. These self-supporting women ap-
point monitors chaperons of their own.
and If any improper dancing starts on the
floor the couple who try to get away with
IL are quickly called TO order. We never
see a couple dancing cheek to cheek here"
Miss Robinson Smiths guest asked a ques-
tion here II was this
MARRIAGES of frpuuent occurrence
among the members of the association since
the affiliation OF the young men?"
"Oh. indeed they are. But you should ask
Mrs Thomas Vinton, who is a member OF
the board and chairman Of the house activi-
ties AS | recall the number ! think that