Page:The Woman Socialist - Snowden - 1907.djvu/89

 The body is crushed in the tight waistband, the feet are cramped into small boots, the hair is dyed, the face is powdered and painted. To excite the passions of men they expose their arms and shoulders in the hot ballroom with a shamelessness which would disgrace a courtesan. They load themselves with jewels. Dead birds and the skins of tortured animals cling about their persons, whose blood, spilt for their adornment, cries out to them from the ground.

The woman Socialist will alter all this. She will not seek to attract her mate with jewels, which will have lost their value when they cease to be a mark of caste and privilege, but will do so by the beauty and simplicity of her manners and her attire. Her dress will be modest, graceful, of ample folds, yet not hindering her movements, nor straining and crushing her body. It will be rich in colouring and in texture, but not gaudy. She will not need to powder her hair nor paint her face. Nature's bright tints shall suffice. Nor will the social spirit within her permit the torture of innocent birds and animals for her comfort and the satisfaction of her pride, for the