SERVILITY IN DRESS. 533 



precisely the part which, during the last year or two, the malice 

 of modistes has concealed with every ingenuity of structure. 

 Vertical humps have been placed there, contrived so as to make 

 the chest look as narrow, the shoulders as high, and the neck as 

 short as possible. 



The serious part of this is, that the immense cost of women's 

 dress leaves nothing of value behind it. Sables are positively 

 the only purchase that can be looked on as a safe investment. 

 The most thoughtful selection and design of other materials is 

 sure to be soon stultified by the imperious caprice of Monsieur 

 Worth. By no means can the sorrowful folly of this thralldom be 

 brought home to one more forcibly than by a visit to the cases in 

 the British Museum, containing the little funebral figures from 

 the tombs of Tanagra. The exquisite grace of raiment, the deli- 

 cate hair-dressing, varied to suit each different cast of features, the 

 care with which beauty of form is accentuated instead of being 

 wrapped up or distorted — all convince one of the cruelty of the 

 modern system which robs our eyes of legitimate delight. How 

 would it be with us were it the custom to lay in the tombs of our 

 departed ones little statuettes, representing them in their best 

 clothes ? Should we not shrink from the criticism of posterity ? 

 It must be confessed that women would stand this ordeal better 

 than men : still, a modern ball-dress, with corsage cutting hori- 

 zontally across the bust, is a terrible violation of the natural 

 lines of the figure, especially when, by means of long stays, the 

 cincture is thrust away down where no sculptor would dream of 

 placing it. In the name of common honesty, whence comes the 

 mock delicacy of forbidding the form of a woman's legs to be 

 seen ? Are they more suggestive of unlawful thoughts than 

 arms and shoulders ? Shall Diana be accounted less than chaste 

 because her statue in the Vatican shows her with tunic girt 

 well above her bare knees ? The Spartan virgins were not the 

 less reverently regarded because the graceful chiton, being open 

 on one side to allow freedom of movement, flew open as they 

 walked, and got them the name of <£aivo//,77pi'Ses. It is utterly un- 

 just that, because some women have indifferent legs, all should 

 be compelled to wear long skirts on all occasions. If it is desired 

 to see which is most becoming, compare an Ayrshire dairymaid in 

 work-a-day attire of short pleated petticoat and the linen jacket 

 called a bedgown, snooded hair, woolen hose, and serviceable shoes, 

 with the same girl figged out on Sunday with a flyaway bonnet on 

 her head, a travesty of Paris fashions on her back, trailing skirts, 

 and high-heeled Balmorals. Of the two, the first is not only the 

 more pleasing, but infinitely the more modest in aj>pearance. 



Marie Bashkirtseff, in composing the most self-conscious jour- 

 nal ever penned, was in the habit of subjecting her own actions 



