Public Ledger

A Defense of Women's Toilets.

Margaret Fields gives some readable facts in the history of woman's toilet, as a defense of the tendency of women of the present day towards lavishness in decoration of their persons. She says: "It is utterly useless to try to make any thing of human ilk believe dress is not of primary importance, that beauty unadorned has the slightest chance, but because it is not true in fact, however excellent in theory. Let a pretty woman neglect the amenities of dress, leave all the accessories of hair, lace or ribbon adornment uncared for, and go around limp loose and dowdyish, with only her natural charms to counterbalance, and see how little chance she stands for admiration. A symmetrically cut, gracefully hanging dress; a bright knot, artistically disposed; a soft, delicate bit of lace, makes all the difference in the world in the effect a woman produces upon the senses. It is a remarkable fact, that while men make woman's folly in dress the target at which to let fly their sharpest criticisms, it is for man alone she indulges in these extravagances."