Modesty.

Manawatu Herald, 30 January 1894, Page 2

Modesty.

WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT'

By Lady Cook, nee Tennessee C.

Claflin.

One by one the old-world virtues are disappearing. Time was when chivalry was the crown of man, and modesty the diadem of a woman. Chivalry has given place to selfishness, and modesty to chic. Not that those splendid qualities can ever absolutely die, for there are, and always will be, noble men and pure women, but their diminution is serious and of evil augury. The past has only produced one other people resembling ourselvesaustere--, brave, masterful, enterprising at home and abroad, colonising and l'oadmaking all the world over, skilful in peace, and matchless in war. The Romans were the English of ancient times; the English are modern Romans.

13 us it is to be noted among the first signs of the decline of Rome, that her women, so famous for virtue, had become demoralised. Th.i national fibre had relaxed. Simplicity of life and manners made way for luxury. For duty was substituted self-gratification. Voluptuous pleasure after pleasure had palled upon the jaded tastes, until at length honour and decency were obliterated, and nameless horrors were of daily and common occurrence. St. Paul gave forcible evidence of contemporary manners when he represented his fellowcitizens as being " given over to uneleanness." If history has any value, it is by placing before us the wisdom and errors of the past, that we may adopt the one and reject the other. Aud if modesty wa& a cause of national decadence, then it would undoubtedly be the same again.

But; it nmy be said, what is modesty ? I will endeavour to point out what it is, and what it is nof;.

Words have varying values. They may stand for certain ideas to day, and for their opposifces in the future or in the past. Their signification is modified by the development cf intellect, of custom, and sentiment. Originally " modesty," borrowed from the French " modestie," and from the Latin " modestia,"' meant simply in measure — therefore, moderation or temperance as opposed to excess. Gradually it has become more refined and spiritualised, so that while it may in some cases be still used in its vulgar and primary sense, it now denotes purity of thought and feeling. The truly, modest, therelore, are alone "the pure in heart," and the nearer they approach to perfection, the greater ia the measure of their modesty. Such blessed ones become centres of purifying influences, and, like the fountain of Sahara, they cleanse and refresh the stained and weary wayfarers, and create in the . desert vast bases of verdue and beauty.;; ;; Prudishness is not mofieajy, for has not someone rightly s&i|;V the over nice are those of nasty ideas?" Chastity is not m^esty>;<for|mwiy who are chaste, are not io from choice. A person may be^kboth prudish and chaste, and yet?! not truly, modest. The downcast eye, the quiet demeanour, the maidenlike reserve, may often be its external, counterfeits, the mere coating of a " whited sepulchre." Concealment is not modesty, else would the Turkish women be the most modest, whereas they are the most depraved. Eve did not make the fig-leaf apron until she lost her innocence, thus her covering was her badge of guilt. Purity has nothing to conceal. Modesty, like love, •• thinketh no evil/ but, unlike love, it also subduW evil thought in others. I once observed some young women arriving unexpectedly in a gallery upon a group of 4l »ntwle'" statues. They gave one good look, then screamed and fled as if pursued by satyrs. The immodesty that alarmed them was not in the statues but in their own impure minds. It was an observation of the great Flaxman thai "the students, in entering the Academy where they studied from the nude figure, seemed to hang up their passions with their hats." Their familiarity with natural beauty led them only to inform their minds and to purify their tastes. When Mr Wallace, the gtsat naturalist was travelling on the "Amazon, he attended in a remote place at a dance given by the native Indians. All the guests, men and women, except himself, were

perfectly nude. He says the master of the ceremonies performed his duties with grave dignity, and the docorum of all present compared favourably with that of the mo3t - polished assembly in a London ballThese poor creatures went to dance and not to flirfe* They had never even hearo 1 of " Honi sdit gui inal y pense."

We pride ourselves on being more modest than these. Are we really so ? It seems to me that a naked Indian, thinking no guile, is anore blameless than a civilised belle who bares herself as far as public opinion will concede, who conceals only that she may excite, who disp'ays to the very point of expectancy. " The sister of St. Gregory of Nyssa was afflicted with a cancer in the breast, but could not bear that a surgeon should see it, and was rewarded for her modesty by a miraculous cure " (Mr Locky, " European Morals.") Miracles now-a-days are quite of another sort ; we generate impurity and are accounted pure. Witness a fashionable party ; white are flashing above the shoulders. The " modestybits " of our great grand-mothers are absent, and the necks and bosoms of all are bare as were those of the courtesans of Charles 11. Even the back is displayed about almost to the waist by a "gigantic V. Is it the initial of Virtue or of Vice ? We do not pity the old campaigners, the veterans of twenty seasons. But the young and innocent girls of seventeen, who have just left the schoolroom, whose passions are fresh and their imaginations strong — for these we tremble. How many of these will escape such an ordeal unscathed? And with what object have they been commanded to expose .thei'* budding charms to the critical eyes of bold aud observant man? Will it enhance a maidsn's modesty, or is it the first easy step to Avernus ?

The painting and powdering, the padding in all quarters, the deceitful " make-up," should be scorned by modest and truthful women, and should be abandoned as the devices of harlots, as indeed they were. No law, human or divine, forbid women to adorn themselves, but St. Paul said, " Let women adorn themselves in modest apparel." Short dresses are not immodest ; they are clean, healthy, and in use in many countries, but long dresses may be made immodest if they are worn only to be lifted suggestively, as the prevailing mode, to court the pru rient gaze of the passers-by. All these first breaches of modesty are like the drunkard's first dram ; they lead to othars and greater. , They assist in flooding our divorce courts, in infesting our streets with loose women, in filling myriads of homes with crime and wretchedness. All the poor, ever to be-pitied creatures marching steadily hellwards were modest once. Chaste, pure, and innncen.fc, were they, until their first immodest act or thought slew them. " For pleasures are like poppies spread You seize the flower, the bloom is shed."

Ah, my unconqnered sisters, do not scorn them overmuch, those who have fallen by the way. It may be they have snffered vicariously, and that your purity has been preserved at the cost of theirs. Let us determine, that, as far as in us lies, we will lift up our common sisterhood, and^will help to arrest the downward progress of our sex ; that we will combat every social evil until it be annihilated ; that no custom shall be privileged, no prejudice respected, no sentiment revered, no law honoured, that militates against our purity or our freedom ; but above all, that we inculcate modesty in its highest and grandest sense. Then will our children and our children's children bless it's, even though we should be enrolled among the " noble army of martyrs."