The dress of a French peasant tells you at once of his place in
society. Throughout Europe the dress may be taken as the exponent of
the wearer's position. This is as true of women as of men. For good
reasons, the language of dress is not so definite and explicit in
America. But even here we may judge very correctly, in most cases,
by the every-day dress, of the position of the wearer.
The social character and relations of women, as a class, in any
country, may be clearly inferred from certain peculiarities of their
dress.
For example, we are in Constantinople. If, in a moment, we could be
set down in that city, and not know where we were, would any of us
doubt the language of that veil over woman's face? Would anybody
suppose her to be a citizen? Would anybody suppose she belonged to
herself?
Leaving Constantinople, let us visit an old-time fashionable social
gathering in Vienna. Women enter the ball-room. They are dressed in
gauze so thin that you can see their skins all over their persons.
Would any of us mistake the language of that kind of dress? Would
any of us be in doubt about their relations to men?
Come to America to-day. We attend a social gathering. Women appear
with their vital organs squeezed down to one-half the natural size,
their arms and busts naked, while their trails are so long that,
whenever they turn round, they are obliged to use their hands to
push them out of the way. As we all comprehend, at a glance, the
meaning of the veils in Constantinople, and the nudity of the women
in Vienna, so we all infer the position of woman in America from
these peculiarities of her dress.
I read thus: The compressed vital organs and the encumbered feet
mean, that women are dependent and helpless. Having but little use
for breath and locomotion, by a law of nature, they cramp the
instruments of breath and locomotion. While the nudity of the arms
and bust signifies a slavery to man's passions. No one supposes that
when woman becomes a citizen, and man's equal, she will compress her
lungs, fetter her legs, or appeal to his passions by any immodest
exposure of her person.