FEMININE DRESS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11483, 16 January 1903, Page 3

FEMININE DRESS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PBESS. Sir, —.May I express my pained sorrow that our local ladies have given their adherens to such a vulgar va_ary of fashion as that now prevailing in the tightly-fitting skirt, more tightly urawn abou l . the perM>n ?

Dress, and the manner of wearing it, fairly indicate the character. It is but just to assuni-? that many ladies have thoughtlessly adopted the prevailing fashion, but I fear in many cases that this "mode de Paris" so ostentatiously displayed is palpable evidence of a decadence of feminine modesty. It reminds one of the fashions of Greece and Rome before they tottered to -their fall.

Apparel Las a moral effect undeniably upon wearer and beholder, and immodesty in our dress will engender immodesty in tho 'iboughts and actions of others of and towards us.

The charms of beauty are best displayed by a cliafcte and simple dress. Let me urge my sisters to preserve that modesty which gives strengtih and beauty to all virtues. The strongest and most precious defence a woman possesses is the delicate sense of shame. She who heedlessly destroys this defence puts herself outside a veritable wall of fire. Better pluck out as useless appendages the eyelashes which guarantee the sight than consent to destroy tihe instinct of shame which guards the soul of purity.

In making .his plea to my sisters for their own .sake, I plead also for their brothers. The temptations we have to fa_e are strong enough already without our dearest friends—either knowingly or unconsciously—acting in such a way as tends to arouse unbecoming thoughts.— Yours, etc., T. M. FISHER. Tancred street, Linwood, January 13th, 1903.