WOMAN’S ATTIRE.
On this subject Mrs. Bloomer, in an elaborate review (only a part of which is here presented) of a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Talmage in which he had quoted Moses as authority for women not wearing men’s attire, wrote as follows:
“There are laws of fashion in dress older than Moses, and it would be as sensible for the preacher to direct us to them as to him. The first fashion we have any record of was set us by Adam and Eve, and we are not told that there was any difference in the styles worn by them. ‘And they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons’: Genesis, iii., 7. Nothing here to show that his apron was bifurcated, and hers not; that hers was long, and his short. We are led to suppose that they were just alike.
“The second fashion was made by God Himself, and it would be supposed that if He intended the sexes to be distinguished by their garments explicit directions would have been given as to the style of each. ‘Unto Adam, also, and unto his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them’: Gen. iii., 21. Not a word as to any difference in the cut and make-up of the coats. No command to her that she must swathe and cripple herself in long, tight, heavy, draggling skirts, while he dons the more comfortable, healthy, bifurcated garment. God clothed them just alike, and made no signs that henceforth they should be distinguished by apparel. And for long years there was little, if any, difference.”
After showing the character of the dress of different ancient nations, Egyptians, Babylonians, Israelites, Persians, Romans, Saxons, Normans, Turks, and Chinese, and that there was no essential difference between the dress worn by men and women, Mrs. Bloomer proceeds:
“With all the history of male and female attire before him, and with so much proof of the similarity in dress, how can Mr. Talmage set up the claim that men have a right to any particular style, and that if women dare to approach that style they break divine law and commit great sin and wrong? It is a presumption and insult which women everywhere should resent.
“It matters not to us what Moses had to say to the men and women of his time about what they should wear. Our divine entirely disregards the command of the ancient lawgiver by not putting fringes and blue ribbons on his garments. Common sense teaches us that the dress which is the most convenient, and best adapted to our needs, is the proper dress for both men and women to wear. There is no reason why woman should burden herself with clothes to the detriment of her health, comfort and life, while man adopts a style that gives freedom of limb and motion. There is no divine law requiring such doings. A hundred other laws and customs of the days of Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses are as binding upon the men and women of this day as the text from which he gives his lecture. Judging from the present customs, men have transgressed that law more than women.
“We do not advocate the same style of dress, altogether, for both sexes and should be sorry to see women dress just like men; yet we should like to see a radical reform in woman’s costume, so that she might be the free, healthy being God made her instead of the corseted, crippled, dragged-down creature her slavery to clothes has made her. No law of God stands in the way of her freedom. Her own judgment and inclination should be her guide in all matters of attire.
“If divine law or vengeance is ever visited upon woman because of the cut of her garments, it will be upon the wearers of the suicidal long, heavy skirts, instead of upon those who have rid themselves of the grievous burden. That sorrow and suffering are visited upon woman because of her clothes we know, and that her sin is visited upon her we know; and yet how dare she throw off the burden and the sin, when the clergy from the pulpit hold over her head the threatenings of divine vengeance!
“No sensible woman can sit under such preaching. Would that women had the independence to act out the right in defiance of such sermons, and in disregard of all laws that condemn her to the slavery of a barbarous age.
“A. B.”