570 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



ual labor, except such as is of a purely ornamental 

 character, — embroidery, crocheting, etc.,— and such as 

 is strictly confined to the use of the hands, without the 

 legs being necessarily brought into use,— sewing, knit- 

 ting, writing, painting, etc. The sewing-machine 

 should never be worked by a woman in skirts. The 

 gown and petticoats I would reserve exclusively for 

 women embraced in the above-named exceptions, and 

 for those whose office in society is to be ornamental 

 and useful in the various social relations of life. Cer- 

 tainly a great deal of the esthetics of a drawing-room, 

 a ball-room, or a dinner-table would be lost if the 

 women who attend them wore trousers instead of the 

 silk, satin, and velvet gowns that now add so much to 

 their loveliness. I can quite conceive that a man thor- 

 oughly imbued with the prejudices received from a 

 biased education, indisposed to accept new ideas, and 

 deeply endowed with a love for the beautiful, might 

 be reluctant to pay his addresses with a view to matri- 

 mony to a woman wearing trousers. Still, under the 

 influence of familiarity with the idea of a change in 

 the nether garments of the sex, and especially if they 

 be generally adopted by pretty women, it might rea- 

 sonably be expected that a change of opinion and emo- 

 - tion would ensue, and that perhaps in time he might 

 even be brought to regard trousers as filling more com- 

 pletely his idea of the beautiful than do skirts at the 

 present day." 



Our author is afraid that the ball-room and the 

 dinner-table will lose some of their "esthetics" if 

 women should jDut on trousers; but he at once admits 

 that the ''esthetics" of the dress question is wholly a 

 matter of habit, and may be completely reversed if 

 sufficient time is allowed. He continues: 



