As I have said but little of the "low neck and short sleeves," I
want to add a word in this connection. Many a modest woman appears
at a party with her arms nude, and so much of her chest exposed that
you can see nearly half of the mammal gland.
Many a modest mother permits her daughters to make this model-artist
exhibition of themselves.
One beautiful woman said, in answer to my complaints, "You shouldn't
look."
"But," I replied, "do you not adjust your dress in this way on
purpose to give us a chance to look?"
She was greatly shocked at my way of putting it.
"Well," I said, "this assurance is perfectly stunning. You strip
yourselves, go to a public party, parade yourselves for hours in a
glare of gas-light, saying to the crowd, 'Look here, gentlemen,' and
then you are shocked because we put your unmistakable actions into
words."
In discussing this subject before an audience of ladies in this city
the other evening, I said:--
"Ladies, suppose I had entered this hall with my arms and bust bare,
what would you have done? You would have made a rush for the door,
and, as you jostled against each other in hurrying out, you would
have exclaimed to each other, 'Oh! the unconscionable scalawag!' May
I ask if it is not right that we should demand of you as much
modesty as you demand of us?"
But you exclaim, "Custom! it is the custom, and fashion is
everything!"
If you could know the history of the "low neck and short sleeves,"
how, and for what purpose they were introduced, you would as soon
join the company of the "unfortunates," as to make this exhibition
of your persons.
As much as I desire to live, so much do I long, by this book, to
help my country-women to a higher and purer life. Cherishing this
hope in my heart of hearts, and knowing that nothing but truth can,
in the long run, prevail, I have read this discussion of dress over
and over again, and asked myself, and asked my wife and my sister,
if the statements I have made are quite true, and if they are made
in the proper spirit.
Upon reading the preceding pages upon "The Language of Dress" with
my wife and sister, they say:
"These statements are just and true, and greatly need to be
uttered;" but my wife says, "I think you ought to say very plainly,
that a great many pure-minded women dress with 'low neck and short
sleeves,' without an impure thought, and simply because it is the
fashion."
I have no doubt of it, and thought I had said as much. Indeed, have
I not been careful to state that I was discussing the language of
dress, and not the conscious purpose of each individual wearer. I
should never forgive myself if I thoughtlessly and unnecessarily
wounded the feelings of the thousands of young women who will, I
trust, read this volume.
But let me add, that I could not pardon myself; and the brave,
earnest women who may read these pages would not pardon me, if I
discussed this vital subject in a shilly-shally, easy-going,
disengenuous manner. If I can effect a sure and permanent lodgment
of vital truths in your minds, and, in my manner of doing it,
should, for the time being, provoke your anger, I am content.
This exposure of the naked bosom before men, in the most public
places, belongs not to the highest type of Christian civilization,
but to those dark ages when women sought nothing higher than the
gratification of the passions of man, and were content to be mere
slaves and toys.
Boston contains its proportion of the refined women of the country.
We have here a few score of the old families, inheriting culture and
wealth, and who can take rank with the best. A matron who knows
their habits, assures me that she never saw a member of one of these
families in "low neck and short sleeves."
In the future free and Christian America, the very dress of woman
will proclaim a high, pure womanhood. And that dress will be an
American costume. We shall then discard the costumes devised by the
dissolute capitals of Europe.
What a strange spectacle we witness in America to-day. Free, bravo,
American women hold out to the world the bible of social, political
and religious freedom; and, anon, we see them down on their knees
waiting the arrival of a steamer, from France, to learn how they
may dress their bodies for the next month.