Forest City Courier, Aug. 4, 1938
Women’s dress has undergone striking change in detail since antebellum days. Those voluminous skirts must have been hampering and uncomfortable not to speak of the expense entailed when it came to the purchase of yards and yards of cloth to make them. The clothing worn by civilized people of today is the result of long ages of development. In England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, both men and women of fashion wore those stiffly starched ruffs about the neck. A gentleman at the court of Queen Bess was a much-padded man. His sleeves were puffed out until no one could tell the shape of his arms; his hose were padded from thigh to knee. The whole suit was made of rich satin and velvets of many and varied colors. Later the style changed to short breeches, foppishly trimmed with fringe and ribbons of many hues. Gradually they begun to discard their powdered wigs, and the short breeches became the modern trousers. Woman’s dress of twenty-five years ago called forth severe criticism because of features that violated the principles of hygiene, such as high heels and tight stays that restricted the breathing, and long skirts which collected dust and germs. The interest that the modern woman takes in athletics and out-of-door sports has helped to bring about wholesome changes in the matter of dress. Common sense regarding dress has ceased to be an oddity, and any woman may wear clothes that are comfortable, without being an object of ridicule. Fashion has yielded to the outcry against the restricted stays, and it is inconceivable that there will ever be a return to the “hour-glass” shape of a few years ago.
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En route to a town in the northern part of the state to visit my daughter and her husband, I realized how productive our state is. From the train window I could see great expanses of farming land, verdant pastures dotted with grazing cattle, rich bottom land of tasseled corn, fields of fertile cotton and acres and acres of tobacco ready to be cured. Why seek far-away pastures when our own are the greenest? In the old North State we find almost everything that will bring us that elusive dollar we are always seeking.
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Are we wrapped up in our own families and home life to the absolute exclusion of every other interest and everybody else? Perhaps we are in a rut and need to get out of it. Of course our own families are our first consideration, their welfare and comfort come first, and the love and devotion we hold for them is uppermost in our hearts. All this is as it should be but we must remember that the greatest psychologist in the world said, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” so why not broaden our fields of happiness by doing more
