THE TYRANNY OF FASHION. Mrs Lynn Linton, in the New York "Forum."

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 206, 4 June 1887, Page 2

THE TYRANNY OF FASHION. Mrs Lynn Linton, in the New York "Forum."

The martyrs to principle' have been many ; the martyrs to faslmou! are more. The savage and the civilised! "'run curricle , in their devotion to the fe#ch each creates and worships ; and, though each ridicules the idol of tho other, to the- philosopher, judging both impartially, there i» not much to choose between them. Where the savage runs a fishbone or a piece of wood through tho under lip, hanging thereto a huge disk, which enlarges the aperture and pulls down tho flesh, the civilised Darwinian bores a hole in the lobe of the ear, to hold a piece of wire heavily weighted with a stone,' which does the same thing. Where some careful parents, trouserless and tattooed, anxious for the future well-boing of their children, press their heads into an enchanting flatness, othei-3 crush their daughters' feet into an amorphous mass of pulp, which then they call " golden water-lilies ;" and others again found their hopes of ultimate good settlements on a waist of which the dimensions impede the circulation of the blood, paralyse tho liver, and play tho mischief generally with all the internal organs alike. ° Whore the savage anoints himself with rancid oil, or crowns himself with a pat of butter, the French line lady " exhibits " cold cream, and abjures water as sedulously as if she were a replica of Lot's wife. Where the savage makes himself " terrible and dear" with blue and red paint, the lino lady injures her eyesight with belladonna and her skin with rouge and blrmc de perle. If the savage twists his elflocks into a thousand fantastic forms, adding thereto all manner of hideous ornamentation, the civilised lady follows suit, and makes her head the crowning-point of her folly. A few generations ago she piled up her hair in tiers and towers, so that she could not use a coach, as it was constructed, but had to have the roof of it raised.

Fominino Folly. There is no monstrosity th.it women have not adopted for the adornment of their heads. " Horns," both double and single — the one like a unicorn, the other like a buffalo ; flapping frills and {stiffened wings ; tight-drawn cloths, hiding all beauty of hair and Ilesh ; floating veils and ponderous turbans ; buckram and artificial flowers; feathers and lace and sparkling gems ; structural caps and architectural bonnets ; corkscrew ringlets, had by the torture of paper screws'"; short curls and wavelets, had by that of crimping-pins and irons ; artificial plaits, cut from a dead girl's head ; tow-stuffed chignons, wigs, wiglets -there is no end to the list of artificial aids with which lovely woman has done her best to nullify her natural beauty by .substituting the follies of fashion for individual suitability. Other old fashions have been as absurd as " horns " and buckrammed turrets on the head. When the sleeves were worn so long as to need to be knotted, so as not to trail on the ground and gather up garnitures of mud and filth— where, then, was common sense? where the perception of fitae.-^ or beauty ? Of cleanliness we need not question. Anon, these skirts are so full of material and so heavily weighted with ornament as to be ruinous to the health as well as to the comfort of the wearer. Then they are supported and spread abroad by means of hoops and steels till every woman takes up two places, and furniture, chairs, and china suffer, like flies whisked off by lashing tails. Then they are made so tight and narrow that no one can take a full stride, nor even half a one, but all have to plait their feet as they walk, and look on a mild little fieldstile as a second Chimborazo. Under this reijime cracked seams or broken strings are of hourly occuirence, and the Calipygo stands confessed. When these skimpy dresses were fashionable, in our greatgrandmothers' time, charming women had themselves well camped so as to make the fabric stick closer, or were rubbed down with oil to make them sufficiently supple to slip into their pillow-cases. The men did the same with their buckskins, and in our own time chamois-leather has answered the like purpose. Fashion ever oscillates between two extremes. Before Queen Victoria came to. the throne shoit skirts were in vogue. Cut well above the ankle, to show the sandalled foot and open-worked stockings, and kept out by stiffening, they made the figure look something like a bell, of which the feet were twin clappers. All the strength of the designer went to the head and shoulders ; and the° little feet, though they could not steal in and out like mice, because the petticoat, was too short for mystery, yot twinkled in a bewitching manner when they " did their steps " in the lancers, set to partners in the quadrille, or flew with speed over the floor in Sir Roger de Coverly.

Cruelties of Fashion, As bad as the cruelties practised on ourselvoo are those to which we subject animals for the sake of our senseless fashions. Birds are especially the objects of our attacks, without the excuse that we have in taking the pelts of furry beasts or the skins of the smooth-hioed for our absolute needs. Birds are taken tor ornamentation ; and women who maunder about dogs, and would rather men and little _ children were bitten than that their pefc pug should be muzzled, do not scruple to make a of dead canaries for their golden hue, 01 of hummingbirds for their gem-like radiance. In America something is being done, by the Audubon Society, to check this monstrous apportionment ; but in England we have no restrictions, save a " close season " for such and snch wild birds whereof indiscriminate slaughter would be extirpation. But the worst of all is the unnecessary cruelty ; the needless slaughter of creatures taken for nothing but the vanity of a foolish fashion. The plumage of pheasants, say, even of partridges, is as beautiful as any other ; and these birds must be shot for food. But fashion repudiates adornment which would be utilisation, not wantonness, and rejects things which are both fitter and iovelier for others less suitable but more specialised, demanding for itself the right to destroy without corresponding benefit to anyone. We often talk of the need of educating the beast out of man. We have also to educate the savage out of woman. We write treatises and tomes on the principles of Greek beauty, and we emulate the Indian brave and refine on the New Zealander. Grace of line and symplicity of form, in which lie the essence of beauty, are the two things which we ignore.

" We won't go home till morning," they sang, as they turned out of their hotel soon after eleven o'clock ; and they didn't, for a policeman trotted them to the station, where they stayed till the middle of next day, George Colman, getting out of a hackneycoach' one night, gave the driver a shilling. " This is a bad shilling !" sp.id jarvey, ".Then it's all right," said George, with his inimitable chuckle ; " Yours is a bad coach." Bosweli complained to Johnson that the noise of the company the day before had made his head ache. u No, sir ;it was not the noise that made your head ache. It was the sense we pub into it. " * * Has sense that effect on the head ?" " Yes, sir ; on heads notußedto it."