Evening star., 1924-11-30
MODESTY REQUIRED.
H|DDENF|NGER TIPS
Dress Customs of Different
Races Are Guided by
Location.

"A Chinese woman would not think
of exposing to the public gaze her
bound feet, lady OF Yap would
never be seen promenading down the
mud-hut boulevard Of her native viii
lage without her woven necklace OF
hibiscus leaves. though her grass
skirt was her only garment. and the
ago would not be seen without her
veil
''Modesty, has geography all Its
own" says a bulletin from the
Washington headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society In connec-
tion with the Winter fashion DEGREES
from Paris.
Alexander Won Humboldt, who
travelled extensively over the world
known In the eighteenth century.
recorded In his travels that some of
the central Asian peoples are re-
luctant to let any one see theN nm
ger tips. A traveller who visited the
Alaskan coast In the same century
found that native women. after he
had persuaded them to remove an
ornament which made the lower part
of the mouth protrude two OF three
inches. were greatly embarrassed.
CIother Used as Ornament.
originated out of the desire for orna-
mentation rather than for warmth.
Arabs of the hot deserts OF Arabia
and Africa are fully swathed In fow-
ing garments, which only In part
serve as protection from the heat,
while the Patagonians. from the cold
est portion OF the South American
continent. wear only the skin OF one
animal as kind of windshield. Our
word ''modesty" came from the Latin
'modus," meaning measure Of standard,
and the clothing which was GUS
tomarily worn therefore became our
first conception of what was the
proper or modest thing to wear. Each
of the worlds peoples consequently
has its own standards.
The explorers who first came to
American shores found that the
Carib Indian women. who simply
wore embroidered girdles. often ap-
peared without this single garment,
but they were never so remiss as to
forget to paint their bodies with an
natto. a. red or yellowish-red dye.
This constituted their idea of woman
ly modesty. One explorer reported
in his journals that a woman of
tribe in Brazil. whose custom II was
to go unclothed, had in some mystic
rious manner acquired petticoat
which she put on for special occa-
sions, but 1t seemed TO have the ef-
feet of making her thoroughly i'll at
ease.
Women Wear Trousers.
"The Chinese women are among
the most demure and modest in the
world, but they wear trousers. And,
furthermore, some Of them would be
Mortified at the immodesty of a skirt.
The beaches Of American seaside
resorts would pain the fine sensi-
biities of the Sumatra and Celebes
savages who consider it highly i'm
proper to expose the knees.
'In one of the New Hebrides Is
lands in the Pacific a married woman
can be modest only by being snag-
gle-toothed. Part of the wedding
ceremony consists of relieving the
lady Of her two middle incisors by
sma shing them with rock.
Some OF the Mohammedan women
of the Sahara region will tear off
their last garment to cover their
faces upon the approach of a strang-
er. The demure Breton maiden wears
a cunning little close cap, because
it would be dreadfully immodest to
uncover her hair. Sturdy German
peasant women paddle around their
homes and fields in dresses that just
escape their knees, but they would
be shocked at the idea of wearing
a dress which was open at the neck.
"In the Tonga Islands a man
would consider himself thoroughly
to appear before his fell
low mortals unless he was tattooed,
and the Marquesans follow much the
same practice. the amount of the
decoration varying with the rank OF
the individual, but the legs are al
ways tattooed from ankle to thigh.
Warriors have themselves done in
seometrical designs with squares and
inverted triangles on their faces, and
the women are ornamented In pat
terms which resemble fine lace work.
Some of them wear loin cloths and
girdles OF tapa cloth. a fabric made
from the bark OF the breadfruit tree
IAN American lady of 1924 Is not
at exposing her arms
and shoulders in the evening, but
she would be shocked at wearing a
decollete gown to breakfast or lunch.
Our demure grandmothers. who rep
resent to US the personincations of
wore their, sleeveless and
neckless dresses all day"