Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/231

Rh Among the women of the most civilized communities the idea of dress has only partly given place to that of clothing. The flowing and, upon occasions, even the trailing robe still persists. The hair is uncut and fantastically arranged with bits of shell or metal, and sometimes decorated with ornaments of shell, silver, or gold, or imitations of these. Feathers are still worn upon the headdress, and the headdress itself is purely for adornment, affording little or no protection to the head, and in inclement weather is sometimes left behind for safety or exchanged for a simpler kind. Upon the streets of European towns peasant women in the morning are usually seen with uncovered heads, and in America neighborly women are often so seen passing from house to house, but never upon state occasions. Furs are still worn by both sexes in winter, but much more commonly by women. The use of striking colors, such as red, yellow, blue, green, and purple, is still frequent in the dress of women and children, but much less so in men's dress, where the blacks, grays, and browns prevail. Survivals of the primitive custom of leaving parts of the body entirely exposed and unprotected are still seen in woman's evening dress, showing how little the idea of display has given place to that of utility. The use of rare metals and stones as ornaments for the ankles, wrists, fingers, ears, nose, lips, and neck persisted in the dress of women long after it became extinct with men. Rings in the ears were commonly worn by women within the memory of many of us, and rings and stones upon the wrists and fingers are still very common. For these purposes brilliant stones, such as diamonds, are much prized, but are not worn to the same extent by men as by women. Survivals of the neck ornaments are still seen in the various forms of pins and necklaces. Beads, so highly prized by the lower races, still persist to some extent in the bead trimming of woman's dress. The use of paint to decorate the person is now practically extinct with both sexes, but, as a means of decorating the face, was practiced by women within comparatively recent times. In respect to various powders and perfumes the evolution has not been so rapid, and they are still in use among women to some extent. Mutilations of the body for ornamental purposes are all but extinct, but among women certain mutilations, such as piercing the ears, unnatural constriction of the waist, and pinching of the feet, have persisted almost to the present time. In countries like China, where the last of these is still practiced, the practice is confined to women. In certain other trifling matters there is in woman's dress a suggestive survival of primitive customs. The dress of the primitive man was loosely and irregularly attached to the body, and was fastened with strings or thongs or afterward with pins of metal. Later these pins were attached to the