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The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness
·
Florence Hartley
268
Of
late
years,
the
wearing
of
jewelry,
in
season
and
out
of
season,
both
by
matrons
and
unmarried
females,
has
increased
vastly.
It
is
an
indication
that
the
growing
wealth
of
the
people
is
not
accompanied
by
a
corresponding
refinement;
but
that
the
love
of
vulgar
show,
the
low
pride
of
ostentation,
takes
the
place
of
a
pure
and
elevated
taste.
The
emulation
with
fashionable
dames,
now-a-days,
so
far
from
being,
as
with
the
Spartan
women,
to
excel
each
other
in
household
virtues,
is
to
wear
the
largest
diamonds.
And,
in
this
ambition,
they
forget
fitness,
beauty,
taste,
everything
but
the
mere
vulgar
desire
to
shine.
To
be
gracefully
and
elegantly
attired,
in
short,
is
secondary
to
the
desire
to
be
a
sort
of
jeweler's
walking
show-card.
We
do
not
oppose
the
use
of
diamonds
and
pearls
altogether,
as
some
persons
might
imagine
from
these
remarks.
A
few
diamonds,
judiciously
worn,
look
well,
on
proper
occasions,
on
married
women.
But
young
girls
rarely,
or
never,
improve
their
appearance
by
the
use
of
these
dazzling
jewels;
and,
as
a
general
rule,
the
simpler
the
costume
of
a
woman
in
her
teens,
the
better.
Women
are
usually
pretty,
up
to
the
age
of
twenty,
at
least.
Consequently,
at
this
period
of
life,
there
are
few
whom
an
elaborate
attire
does
not
injure;
a
simple
dress,
or
a
rose-bud
in
the
hair,
is
frequently
all
that
is
required;
and
more
only
spoils
that
combination
of
youthfulness,
grace,
and
modesty,
which
it
should
be
the
highest
ambition
of
the
girl
to
attain;
because,
if
she
did
but
know
it,
it
is
her
highest
charm.
Instead
of
this,
however,
we
see
gay
females,
scarcely
freed
from
the
nursery,
wearing
enormous
jeweled
ear-drops,
or
sporting
on
the
finger,
a
diamond
ring
as
large
as
a
sixpence.
Sometimes,
too,
ladies
pretending
to
be
well-bred,
descend
to
receive
a
morning
visitor
of
their
own
sex,
glittering
like
a
jeweler's
case,
with
costly
gems.
In
all
this,
we
repeat,
there
is
neither
refinement
nor
elegance,
but
simply
vulgar
ostentation.
Female
dress
has
ceased
to
be
a
means
of
beautifying
the
person
or
displaying
the
wearer's
taste,
and
has
become
instead,
a
mere
brag
of
the
husband's
or
father's
wealth.
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