BAD TASTE, BAD HYGIENE, AND BAD MORALS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 271, 5 February 1874, Page 2

BAD TASTE, BAD HYGIENE, AND BAD MORALS.

The following vivid picture is drawn by " Onexft th» Sex," ai.d its philosophy is worth reflecting upon .— I sat the other diiy iv a. street-car opposite miifchbur to a. brow n alpaca drew. It was a bright bro%n> bordering on the shades of butternut oil ; it was a cheap fcteff, flitaay ami coarse. L'pon this d) isa counted 10 bnglit, brown, oheup, and flimsy ruffles ; 12 flimsy, cheap, brown, bright kima; jw»d folds which faded into the ' vast abrupt' of the uncleanly utraw in which they diagged, beyond the rfcach of my arithmetical education. O'-er this dress an upper ilHetk ot bri^ht-gieen delaine fell cheerfully The upperidr'afli Wil 'Bnuhed* with four intrMite black folds,, .iu<i vui Uiu -in -e-vAlfcut black buttoua iv buttunless locations, dottadliither and thither like spilled huckleberries on a k>< lBa } field. A grey garment of the clak genus sui mounted tin*, fitted so closely as to reveal eveiy ' charm' of a high-shoutifirtd, long-uaisted, and flatchested figure. The sleeves of chu gavmeat wort wide, and ex poaod a bare, brown, bony wrtit.-surroundai wtti tumbled la< c, clapped with a g'.tta-percla Li«c%l«t^ %&& wferinkmg fiom the winter wind, which blew to the ViikAoV%Hrtl elbow sh irply. About the ueck of this robe watte ftQtfttnded a cherryrolonrort Bilk handkerchief, a neckUct akin to the bracelet), a giass-bead cross, of the sort called 'ctystal,' a fur tippet, a Uce frill, and a velvet string. Gutta-perch» earrings, whoso pattern wis a study for a journey, depended a few inch* above ; false CUris fell about them, and became entangled with them occasionally, to the serious endangerment of the outer lobe of the owner's car ; rows of false braids supervened, and the stuffing of 'rats' piotruded here and there. The whole was covered with a mansard-roof of black velvet, blue ribbon, pink roses, grey raspberries, bead fringe, 'imitation' lace, and green feathers, edged with several inches of talse ringlets sewed underneath the eavea, and dripping- fantastic icicles — upon the front which they adorned. Within this chaste combination of effect* was a woman all of fifty-two years old ; a Yankee woman, — lou^, lean, gaunt, red, grave. She carried a muff and two yards of white 'cloud.' When she rose, nhe tripped under her dress which trailed the ground.) When she left the car, she tripped upon her cloud ; the muff engaged her hands and her lace-bound uinvenßg wrists; at the car-door she tiipped again ; and tripping, still tripping, a ghastly parody ot maiden playfulness, she tripped herself out of sight. Ihe brother of this lady (a glance indicated the relationship) accompanied hei. There wwe bix feet of him; his elbows were sharp, his knee* were crooked, the fairily gjiuntness sat upon his cheekbones, the family redntss "on his nftck, the family griuiness on his every motion. Had they changed garments, but for the stubbed beard of the one and the leaser. stature of the other, they would not hay© been easy of identification. The plain pattern and solid substance of the man's drets became him ; the broad brimmed h.-vt softened the outline of the congenial cheeks, the dark ■severity of the mottled coat repelled attention from rather than attracted it to the inherited angularity , the freedom of hit warmly-gloved hands and unimpeded hmba bestowed a compaiative ease upon the native .twkwaidness In hu own clothes, the man was no Apollo ; but a fair-looking, uunoticeable man. In his giutei ahe would have been a hsvg. Dressed upon the principle on wh eh her brother dieesed, the woman would have presented an appearance of comfort, warmth, titne.ss, and got.l scnEt, which only positive deformity can render otheiwise than agreeable to the o\e. In her owu clothes, she was a (jorgon This description, she asserts, is not a caricature, but may be seen, with variations, at AL placea of public resort, aud observes : — Grace of outline, propriety of adjustment to personal peculiarities, delicacy in selection k ot colour, simplicity m i choice of ornament, iiluesa to uses and regard for the relatu»ns of quantity and quality, each and Jill outraged in the toilet of Medusa. jUrace, piopriety, delicacy, simplicity, fitness*, and proportion, are each and all outi aged m the it odeu which Medusa apes Surely il is oce of the simplest laws of taste m dress that it shall not attract undue attention from the wearer to the worn. The Girl of the Period, sauntering before one down Broadw»y, is one panorama of awful surprises from top to toe. Her clothes characterise her. She never chaiacterises her clothes. She is upholsteied, not ornamented. She is bundled, not draped. She is puckered, not folded. She struts, she does not sweep. She has not one of the attribute* > " nature nyr of proper urt. She neither soathes the eye like ? flower, nor pleases it like a picture. She weariesc s it like a kaleidoscope. She is a meaningless dazzle of broken effects.