Year: 1867

There never was a time when women studied
more sedulously the art of dressing than at
the present time. 1t has been reduced to a
regular system, and the dressing of the body
IS just as much an art as sculpture or paint
ing 1t the women had spent half as much
time IN adornlng the soul as the body, they
would have been saints long since, leaving
the sterner sex in the back ground Woman
has a special mission to remove the rough
spots and smooth the uneven surface of man.
and make him love purity by presenting it
to him every day in her person. When
woman forgets her mission, and her habits
excite only illicit love- the result is social
and moral degradation. A young lady who
dresses in the fashion of the present day
does not dress as ''becometh women profess
ing godliness with works" A few days
since | was in the business part of Roches.
ter settling the accounts of the church. and
after leaving the banking house where these
things are done. | stopped on the front step
to look over the church bank book to sec
that everything was right While | stood
there overheard two persons talking, whom
took to be gentlemen-from their clothes
certainly not otherwise. | raised my eyes
to see what should cause such remarks, and
saw three young ladies, two of whom were





seventeen. They stood with their backs to
me, looking through magnificent store win
dow, where jewelry and fancy articles were
exposed to the public gaze. The elder one
stood in the middle, and when looking close.
ly through the window she leaned forward
you can understand what [ mean by this,
and the result was what heard said. Those
gentlemen were standing in front of Powers
Banking House, and they saw something
more than was becoming; something not in
accordance with strict rules of female mod
esty and propriety. That young lady would
have resented any imputation against her
modesty, either in act or intention; but the
question is, why did she thue dress herselfP
She was dressed in hoopskirt of very ex.
travagant dimension, and the result was the
remarks that greeted my ears That Young
lady would have been shocked and blushed.
had she heard them: But she is Just as re-
sponsible before God as "a drunken man who
has destroyed his reason is responsible for
his actions Now, there can be but one
motive in this fashion, and that is to attract
the opposite sex. l don't know that this
thing, strictly speaking, is absolutely wrong:
but young ladies commit an error when they
suppose by attracting attention they com.
mand the esteem of the sterner sex. There
is sufficient virtue left in man to force him
to respect and love women SO long as she
respects herself, and love modesty and
purity; but not single moment beyond
that. The Duplex Elliptic exposes more of
the person than ought to be exposed.


Low -necked dresses, thanks be to God. do
not exist to the extent they once did. Such
things are absolutely tolerable-gross in
decency.


There are certain things for putting and
padding which one cannot describe They
have but one purpose-to make a woman
appear what she should not wish to appear,
lascivious. 1t is very common thing for
a young lady to go into millinery store
and expend from twenty five to one hundred
dollars, and then issue from the door in such
a way that her own mother would not be
able to recognize her. They spend great
deal of money in making themselves appear
to the young gentlemen precisely what they
are not. A young gentleman said to me-
8 Marry; whom am to marry? You don't
know what they are. They can go into a
shop, and if you marry them, you
will find they are not what they represent
themselves to be-" This is one reason why
so many young men hesitate about entering
into the normal state of wedlock.