Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1895. SLAVES OF FASHION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4924, 12 January 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1895. SLAVES OF FASHION.

h' must be apparent to the most ] lasual observer what abject slaves '' ive are to fashion, From the cradle 1 to the grave we are haunted with ' 'fashion." Baby h R3 to submit tc the fashionable feeding bottles, tc the fashion in prams, ■ hoods, robes, ami booties/- There comes a time in the life of a schoolboy when he finds himself at bis wits' end to keep in touch with fashion, for "marbles is out and tops is in," and get a top he must at all hazard, The larrikin has bis fashionable pranks, practical jokes and horse play, .his bell bottorn pants, high heeled boots, slouch bat, his slang and coarse language, The politican is a slave to fashionable caut phrases, his chimney-pot hat and perpetual deceit. Tho lawyer dotes on his wig and gown and six and eight pence, The clergyman would he nowhere without his white choker and black cloth coat, and so it goes through all tirades of society, and all classes of .the community bow down to the fetish of fashion, There js.a. fashionable time for suicide, and a fashionable mode of com-1 mitting tho deed, Now and again some enterprising individual makes his exit in a sensational manner, bnt the fashion of destruction by knife or pistol, by banging- and by drowning js slavishly followed. It is the same with marriage. Darby and Joan negotiate, it may be for months 01 years,. in the same old styles, yet "ever iiew and fashionable, and ratify the torms about Christmas time/ ,The 'Xmas holidays aro prolific in weddings; take up a newspaper from any part of the Colony and the eye rests on the announcements .of several of these happy events at .this timejof the year; ;It is fashionable, bo in the fashion. .-Action ,tiis .Honor totes 1 his seat on the Pencil' of 'tho' Divorce: Court,' he" hears.the,saiiie,old story]

from plaintiff, from respondent and co-respondent, and divorce is claimed on grounds over fashionable. When death stalks around, tho romains of the loved one has still to be kept up to fashion. The hearse, the mourning, the wreaths, and everything else must be in strict accord with the demands of fashion. The stern Goddess shows no mercy, and from the cradle to the grave she must he worshipped. .

But if the wbito races are swayed by what is fashionable it is none the less so with the coloured races. Take marriage, for instance, each race slavishly follows a fashion of its own. It is highly fashiouable. in the Loo Choo Island for the bridegroom to go round to ,all his friends' houses and permit them to dress him up in any ridiculous style that they may fancy, Sometimes tho happy man is arrayed in a gaily painted overall, the sleeves of which are tied up with a string, laden with bells, ; toys, and trmnpet.s A mask is then put on and a red coloured hat, the rig out then being completed by an empty kerosene'tin, which rattles noisily as he walks along. In tho Ukraine, Russia, fashion demands that the women shall do all the courting; when she falls in love with a man she goes to his house and informs him of the state of her feelings, if he reciprocates all is well, if, however, ho is unwilling, she remains there hoping to coax him to a better state of mind, and his only remedy, if fully determined not to marry her, is to go away from homo. With one of the Arabian tribes, it is fashionable to be married for so many days in the week—usually four day's in the week-the wife, during the oil days, being looked upon as an independent woman who may do what she pleases, Among the Tartars, it is very unfashionable not to give tho wife a sound thrashing as' a daily reminder of Tartar affection. Among the Basques it is fashionable on the birth of child for the husband to go to bed and receive the congratulations of friends, while the wife returns to her household duties,

The Master-ton Borough Council has to decide whether Thursday or Saturday shall be the statutory halfholiday in Mastcrtou, and a suggestion has been made for taking a poll of those more immediately interested in tho question in order to determine the choice. We expect to see the Borough Council select the (lay which is most approved of by the burgesses generally, to whom Councillors are responsible, and not that which employers and employes only may desire. Very many burgesses do not take much interest in the question, but if those who do asked the Mayor to call a public meeting to consilient, the Council would have the benefit of a formal expression of opinion from tho burgesses, and this we take to be (lie fairest way of coming to an issue on the point.