Chapter 78—Extremes in Dress
We do not think it in accordance with our faith to dress in the
American costume, to wear hoops, or to go to an extreme in wearing
long dresses which sweep the sidewalks and streets. If women would
wear their dresses so as to clear the filth of the streets an inch or two,
their dresses would be modest, and they could be kept clean much more
easily, and would wear longer. Such a dress would be in accordance
with our faith. I have received several letters from sisters inquiring
my opinion in regard to wearing corded skirts. These questions were
answered in a letter which I sent to a sister in Wisconsin. I will give
the letter here for the benefit of others:
“We as a people do not believe it our duty to go out of the world to
be out of the fashion. If we have a neat, plain, modest, and comfortable
plan of dress, and worldlings choose to dress as we do, shall we change
this mode of dress in order to be different from the world? No, we
should not be odd or singular in our dress for the sake of differing
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from the world, lest they despise us for so doing. Christians are the
light of the world, the salt of the earth. Their dress should be neat and
modest, their conversation chaste and heavenly, and their deportment
blameless.
“How shall we dress? If any wore heavy quilts before the introduc-
tion of hoops, merely for show and not for comfort, they sinned against
themselves by injuring their health, which it is their duty to preserve.
If any wear them now merely to look like hoops, they commit sin;
for they are seeking to imitate a fashion which is disgraceful. Corded
skirts were worn before hoops were introduced. I have worn a light
corded skirt since I was fourteen years of age, not for show but for
comfort and decency. Because hoops were introduced I did not lay
off my corded skirt for them. Shall I now throw it aside because the
fashion of hoops is introduced? No; that would be carrying the matter
to an extreme.
“I should ever bear in mind that I must be an example and therefore
must not run into this or that fashion, but pursue an even and inde-
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