Part 13 (1/2)

I never knew an instance of the trust confided to the Marriage Councils being in any way abused. None are selected for the office, who have not, after years of probation, shown themselves in every way worthy of the sacred trust.

A severe punishment would attend any deviation from the strict path of honour; the offender, condemned to wear ”the dress of shame,” would probably be degraded from his rank. After a time had pa.s.sed, sufficient to exhibit his punishment as a warning to others, he would, perhaps, be banished to a distant country. It should be understood that every other part of our world is less agreeable than Montalluyah.

The dress of shame to which I have just referred, is a common robe formed of one piece, and of sombre colour, on which dress are placed marks indicating the nature of the offence and the name of the offender.

Similar marks are likewise placed over his house, and are well understood by the people.

Independently of the deep degradation implied by this costume, the entire privation of his ordinary dress would alone be a punishment to the offender, for the people are very fond of dressing well. I encouraged the love of dress particularly in woman, for I thought that when properly regulated it was good, and heightened the beauty of the picture. With us the style of dress and the taste of its arrangement are thought indications of the mind within, but none are allowed to dress or wear jewels beyond their station.

After marriage ladies, according to their rank, are allowed to wear very rich costumes. The textures are beautiful and the colours very brilliant.

SUN SILK.

The sun gives l.u.s.tre to fabrics and imparts colours which can be supplied by no other means. In your planet such brilliancy is never seen except in the sun itself. We have, for instance, a silk of a very remarkable colour, which is highly prized by the ladies. Of this you may form a remote notion if you imagine a bright silver green radiant with all the vividness and brilliancy you sometimes see in the sunsets of your southern climes.

Some of our silks in the natural state are of a chalky white. This silver green is obtained by exposing the silk, when woven into the piece, to the rays of the sun during the half-hour after noon; no other time of the day will answer as well. If the silk were kept beyond the half-hour, the tint given would be unequal. The material is exposed to the influence of the sun in a machine, which has two different actions; by one, that lasts for a quarter of an hour, the silk is unrolled, and by the other, which is of exactly the same duration, it is rolled back, the two operations being so regulated as to finish in the half-hour two ”pangartas,” equal to about twenty of your yards, the quant.i.ty required for a lady's dress. The colour penetrates through the silk, but the side exposed to the sun is the more brilliant.

Our Ladies also wear a silk most beautiful in texture and colour, called ”Sun Silk.” To obtain this silk, the sun is made to bear on silk-worms at particular hours of the day, and the result is, that the silk of the coc.o.o.n is of a colour resembling that of a bright sun.

There are numerous other beautiful colours prepared in different ways under the influence of the sun, and, by the action of the same luminary, fabrics for ladies' dresses are endowed with the power of repelling heat.

THE ART OF PLEASING.

Women are instructed in the art of pleasing, and the handsomest and most gifted exert themselves to this end. They are required to attend to their personal appearance abroad and at home. The married especially are enjoined to attend to this as much in the presence of their husbands as before strangers. A different custom prevailed in former times, when women after they had been some time married, thinking that their husbands' affection was secured, gave themselves no further care to please him, though still taking pains to appear handsome and fascinating to others. It was for visitors and strangers that the most comely apparel and the most engaging manners were put on; the consequence was, that the husband often preferred the society of those who in appearance at least seemed to care more for him than did his own wife. This was the cause of much of the immorality which formerly existed in our world.

The example, too, on children, was most injurious; it schooled them in deceit and disingenuousness. My laws declare that those, whether man or woman, are dishonest, who wear a behaviour to each other after marriage different to what they did before, for they have gained the affections of their victim by deceit--pretending one thing and doing another.

XXII.

COSTUMES.

”The harmonious beauty of dress gives often indication of the mind of the wearer.”

While speaking of materials for dress, I will venture to interrupt ”the preparations for the marriage” by giving a short description, of some of our costumes.

As certain of our manners and customs, besides having a character of their own, may be said to partake both of your Eastern and Western usages, so do our dresses partake both of your oriental and cla.s.sical costumes.

LADY'S COSTUME.

The costume of the lady is loose and flowing. A jacket or bodice of purple tissue covers the right arm, and one side of the body to the waist, leaving the left arm, shoulder and part of the bosom exposed.

A small waistcoat, made of a crimson tissue, is worn underneath the bodice.