Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, May 31, 1914, PART TWO EDITORIAL, SOCIETY, Image 22

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III AAnAl sxrtJIiAe
A Caviller Comm of Fl-CotqreJ Ttfett.
Wont l Hue w Prk
By tAy Daff-Gordofs.
ILL faaVdO htfc bfttetM favhltflt.
bttt&M-fashloBt b4"elr c I
la fais, Before tsUlag ya (
sosb fasotaatleg HM of tke'
Mft miwt describe two cotuMi wfclek
I nlw few wetks ago at the tm.
Tfcire wu Mi! At ai "UMy" about
4tU, w as.R was, ntM&el
vwyvv w ?Tfi raw
Ce f Um iMt fctUlttl tTS. ob
& Freaeh rtfte Vora'-'wfca I lisMtil
aly mmm4 a Cavallr cmUsss, It wu
b14t ,l ri taffetas, the eap, whleli
gave It Hs mjbc, betes; llne4 with ft atart
Mac M4k ftai wV( ro4Wdla. The bod
fck vu tlght-lttk affair,
timer" In fact. The cape had the
high collar which oaly tho woman
with a lone, slender nock should
wear.
I particularly liked tbo bat It
was Galnsboroush to effect, with a
wtda ribbon band or streamer com
lag from the under side of the
brim and drawn over to the oppo
site shoulder. The hat was a corn
colored affair, trimmed with pink
rosea. The streamer was pale blue
satin.
The black taffeta' and crepe turn
HP sown was very striking:. Tho
taale, was accordion pleated and
was festooned tn an unusual fash
ion. Tho graceful "open&co" bod
Ice had the h!gnollar effect -which
teems roost necessary this year, and
the extremely long sleeves.
The hat worn with this ohlo cos
tume was tn sharp contrast to tho
wide affair I have already described
It was black Milan, with a high, pointed
crown, and Its highest point topped' with
a black tan taste.
Oae strlklarfy pretty novelty Is she
ptaei&g' ef big pearl wkltt shells In the
. treat T a little white crape kat. which,
tor the reet. Is Just banded about with a
narrow black velvet ribbon held In a
frvmW Uttle bow at the bate' ef the aheil'
Ja fret ,
The, ftcafa, another white crepe bat
baa two ornaments which. In color and
shape d general effect, might easily
acd Actually be lobster elawsl As a &at
tar f tact, the likeness Is so dose that
they bitiet -needs have been medelled
frita theea particular and owhat pro
LADY DUFF-GORDON. U ftmou "La.
cite of London, nl forcm.it creator of
fashions in the world, write each week tlrt
fashion article for this newspaper, presenting all
that is newest and best in rjrles for well-dressed
women
Lady Duff-Cordon Paris establishment bring
her into close touch with that centre of fashion.
salo edibles, their actual composition be
ing, however, milk, subjected to some
now solidifying process and then deftly
colored.
By the way, these lobster red orna
ments are affixed to tho sides of the hat
by big sapphire blue pins, so that thore
Is patriotism as well as picture squoness
In the resulting color scheme of this
latest Parisian creation.
It would seem, indeed, that there is
to be a great vogue for white hats this
Summer, satin, taffeta, moire, arcophant
and crepe being he fabrics chosen for
the making of these cool-looking and
.charming -models, and touches of black
often figuring in their trimming. One
typical and very pretty thing in white
satin has a narrow black velvet ribbon
drawn round tho low crown and tied In a
p'rlm little bow at tho right side, though
it Is afterwards hidden from view by
a half-circle of full-blown pink roses,
above which rises ft' stiff row of
leaves in the shining -black patent
leather, which Is also being used to
model many rather weirdly marked
and colored blossomB7-pre",m-
aoiy anemones, or -poppiee tnoir
glossy blackness being hand-
painted with -splashes of white,
or browu, or tawny orange.
Three such strange and smart
flowers figure as a central
trimming on a little old rose-
colored silk hat
Thee, curving all along
one side, are seme wheat
ears of brilliant sapphire
blue shading! Truly the
ingenuity oc ne lasaion
makers is wonderful
and endless.
To go back to the
white hats, however.
M Tura-p r 4 "" A t
v W.e im ; . . J
The New
"Curler"
Coiffure
and the
Latest "
Frilly
Neckwearv
some of them arc kept spotless tnroughout
by Just having a cluster of white coquoi
feathers fastened at one side, though
even more fascinating, perhaps, is tho
arrangement of tho curling white plumage
all round the crown of a little satin hat
and the introduction of Ju&t two littlo ,
quill feathers of. the palest possible pink
or very daring this I one single strand
of scarlet
Many floral bats, too, then ere whlcn,
above young, fresh faces end naturally
'bright hair, will look charming. A
mass of ldttlo roses modelled in whlto
muslin and silk and just tinged In the ,
centre with faint yellow will thus cover
& small smart shape in white areophane,
with a brim bordering of straw, the only
thing to relieve end give height tf
the flat, compact mass of flowers being
a little yellow-plumaged bird -which has
alighted with outspread wings at one
side. Another and plateau shaped model
of pure white roses Is; left without any
further trimming whatever, though Its
sharp up-turning, at the. back brings nto
effective contrast a closely packed' mass ''
of roses' wbloh ere all black.
So much for the novelties of which
every one will have a full vjew. But
there are others, equally notable, whose
fascinations must needs be reserved for
the favored lew, inasmuch as thes take
the form of underwear and nightdresses.
1
Social Sanity Threatened, Says Our Foremost Psychologist
Prof. Hugo Mueiisterberg, of Harvard, Points
Out. in His Latest Book, the Modern Ten
dencies Away from Social Equilibrium, De
clares Old American Qualities Have Been
Lost and "That Imperial Rome Should Be a
Warning to Imperial Manhattan' r
By Prof. Henry L. Weston, Ph. D.
PnOFESSOU HUGO MUENSTERBEItG, of
Harvard Unlvrxatty, who is 'commonly
regarded as the lending psychologist of
America, has Just published a new book of es
nys "Psychology and Social Sanity" (Double
day Page Co.).
The distinguished psychologist appears to be
of the opinion that America Is rapidly wnnder
log away from social sanity. He sees grave
dangers in the universal crnzo for sensuous
dances. He fenrs that nil the best eloments of
New England Puritanism hare been perverted
or submersed. He finds that the whole country
is being flpbded with sex literature nud sex
plays and that the proposal to give sex Instruc
tion to young people U a grnvo menace to
modesty and morality. He even looks forward
to a time when dlsreputablo women will sway
the public life of America, as they formerly did
that of France.
He fears thut the Ideals that made America
great will be lost In the rising tide of socialism.
He i alarmed to rind- that a. large part of the
population la victimized by whm ho calls "the
Intellectual underworld," composed of seers,
mind readers and quacks, who prey on the
superstitions of the weak minded. In fact the
American nation muxt appear to the Harvard
Psychologist at times like a vast iunatla asylum.
The pew dances are the social phenomena
that the professor evidently regards ns most
disconcerting liot to way exciting. Here It must
be remarked Unit the tnngd and the maxlxe
acquire q new Interest When described by so
eminent a scholar.
"Can we deny," asks Professes Mueutterbsrg,
"that this recent .craze wulch, like a dancing
mania, has whirled over tbo country, is a slg.
nifitant expression of deep cultural ..change
which have -come to America? Only ten years
ago such a dancing fere? would have been im
poealble. People danced, but tbey did not take
it seriously. It was pet off from life and not
slewed to penetrate it It bad still essentially
the role which belonged to it In a puritanic,
bard-worklng society. But' the last decade ha
rapidly swept away that New England temper,
.wfclcli was so avf re to the sensuous enjoyment
C life, 8d' wUJcklons kept nn invisible control
oyHh the spirit of the whole nation. Symptoms
the ch,e abound; h&w U came about Is. an-
"Crtaljy. tie tecrease and tbe-wlde distribu
tion of wealth with its comforts and luxuries
were responsible, as well as the practical com
pletion of tho pioneer days of the people, tho
rich blossoming of science and art, and, above
all, tho tremendous Influx of warm-blooded, sen
sual peoples who camo in millions from Southern
and Eastern Europe, and who altered the ten
dencies of the cool-blooded Teutonic races In
tho land.
"They have changed the old American Sun
day, and they have revolutionized tho inner life,
they havo brought the operas to every largo
city, and the kinematograph to every village,
and havo at last played the music to a nation
wide dance. Yet tho problom which face every
one is not how this dancing crnzo arose, but
rather whero it may lead; how fur it Is healthy
and how far unsound; how far It Is healthy to
yield to It or further it, and how far wo ought
to resist To answer this question It Is not
enough to wutch the outside spectacle, but wb
must inquire Into the mental motives and men
tal consequences. Exactly tuts Is our true
problem.
"Let -us first examine the psychological debit
account No ono can doubt that truo dangers
are near wherever the dancing habit Is prom
inent The dance is a bodily movement which
alms at no practical purpose and is thus not
bound by outer necessities. It la simply self
expression, and this gives to the dancing im
pulse the liberty which easily becomes licen
tiousness. Two mental conditions help In that
direction; the mere movement as such produces
' increased excitement, and the excitement re
enforces the movement, and so the dance has
In itself the tendency to become, quicker and
' wilder and more and more unrestrained. When
gay Vienna began its waltzing crate in the last
century, It waltxed to the charming melodies
of Lanner In a rhythm which did not demand
more than about onarliundred and sixty move
ments In a minute; but soon camo Johann
' Strauss, tho father, and the average waltzing
rhythm was two hundred and thirty a minute,
,and finally the king of waltr, Johann Strauss,
the younger, and Vienna danced at the rhythm
of three hundred movements.
"But another mcutal pffoct Is still more sig
nificant' than thu Impulse (o Increase rapidity,
The uniformity of the movements, and espec
ially Of the revolving movement produces a
state of half dizziness and halt numbness with
ecstatic elements. Ye know the almost hyp
notic state of the whirling Pervlshes and the
raptures in the savage war dances; all this in
milder 'form is Involved In over? passionate
dance. But nothing Is more characteristic of
sueh hnlf-hypnotlc states than that the indi
vidual loses control of his will. Ho behaves
like a drunken man who becomes tho slave of
his excitement and of every suggestion from .
without. NO doubt many seek tho dancing ex
citement as a kind of substltuto for the al
coholic exaltation.
"That social injury must be feared if the
social community indulges In such habits of .
undisciplined, passionate expression heeds no
explaining. Tho mind Is a unit; it cannot be
without self-control in ono department and '
under the desirable self-discipline of the will In
Rnother. A period in which the mad rush of
dancing stirs social life must bo unfavorable
to the development of thorough training and
earnest endeavor. Tho fate of Imperial Romo
ought to be the eternal warning to imperial
Manhattan. Italy, like America, took its art
and science from over tho sea, but gave to them
abundant wealth. Instead of true art, it culti
vated the virtuosi, and lu Rome, which paid
three thousand dancers, tho danco was its
glory until it began lnglorlously to sink,
"Not without inner relation to tho inebriety,
and yet distinctly different Is the erotic char
acter of the dance. Lovemaking is the most
central, underlying motive of all the mimic
dances all ovor the globe. Among many primi
tive peoples the danco Is a real pantomimic
presentation of the whole story from tho first
tender awaking of a sweet desire through the
warmer and warmer courtship to the raptures
of sensual delipht. Civilized society has more
or less covered the naked passion, but from the
graceful play of the minuet to the graceless
movements of the turkey trot the sensual, not
to say tho sexual, element can easily be reo
ogntzed by the sociologist
"Hero again cause and effect move in a
circle. Love excitement expresses Itself in the
dauce, and the dance heightens the love ex
citement This erotic appeal to tho senses is
' the chief reason why the church has generally
taken a hostile attitude. For a long while the
dance was denounced as irreligious and sinful
on account of Salome's blasphemous dancing.
'Certainly tho rigid guardians of morality al
ways look sskanco on the contact of the sexes
la tho ballroom."
The professor shows a profound knowledge
of tbo dance and throws much new light upon
the tauses of the sensual dangers that are as
sociated with It
"The dance has still another psychological
effect," he continues, "which must not be dis
regarded, from a social point of view. It awakes
to an unusual degree the Impulse to imitation.
The seeing of rhythmic movements starts simi
lar motor Impulses In the mind of the onlooker.
It Is well known that from the eleventh to the
sixteenth century Europe suffered from dancing
epidemics. They started from pathological cases
of St Vitus dance and released In the excitable
crowds cramplike impulses to lmltatlve'jnove
ments. But we hear tbo same story of in
stinctive imitations on occasions of Iras tragic
character.' It is reported that In the eighteenth
century papal Rome was indignant over the
passionate Spanish fandango.
"It was decided solemnly to put this wild
dance under the ban. The light- of the church
"were assembled for the formal Judgment when
it was proposed to call a pair of Spanish
dancers in order that every one of tho priests
might form his own idea of the unholy dauce.
But history tells that the effect was nn unex
pected one. After a short time of fandango
demonstration the high clerics began involun
tarily to imitate tho movements, uud the more
passionately the Spaniards Indulged in their na
tive whirl, the more the whole court was trans
formed Into one great dancing party, Even
the Italian tarantella probably began as a dls
caso with nervous dancing movements, and then
spread over the land through mere imitation
which led to an ecstatic turning around and
around. Whoever studies the adventures of
American dancing during the last season' from
New York to San Francisco must be impressed
by this contagious character of our. dancing
habits. But this means that the movement car
ries in Itself the energy to spread farther and
farther, and to fill the daily life with increased
longlug for the ragtime. We are already ac
. customed to the du'nce at the afternoon tea; how
long will it take before we are threatened by
the dance at tho breakfast coffee?"
. The professor points out the Interesting fact
that the overemphasis' on dancing has usually
characterized a period of political reaction, of
indifference to public life, of social stagnation
and carelessness. When the volcanoes were
tumbling the musses were always danolng: At
all times when tyrants wanted to di vert v the
attention of tbo crowd they gave the. dances, to
their people. A nation which dances cannot
think, but lives from hour to hour. The less
political maturity the more happiness does a
national community show in its dancing pleas
ures. The Spaniards and tho Pollsn, the Hun
garians and tho Bohemians have always been
great dancers the gypsies dance."
The professor declares himself by no means
averse to all dancing, but his essay is plainly
more devoted to the dangers of the present
popular' form of it than to tho benefits to be
derived from rational and modest indulgence,
In his Interesting essay on "Sex Education"
Professor Muensterberg makes a bitter attack
on the policy of giving Instruction In certain
physiological facta to adolescent boys and girls.
He asserts that the mystery with which such
subjects were formerly clothed was the beat
protection of the modesty and innocence of the
young, and that such Instruction as Is given,
must arouse a desire to sin without suffering
the penalty. The professor admits that the
policy of Instruction has proceeded far and
calls on society to reverse It He calls atten
tion to some remarkable evidences of social
demoralization he has witnessed.
Again and again he declares that sex mat
ters are being overemphasized In tbjs country.
Perhaps the most novel passage in this essay
Is that in which he suggests that as a result of
the erotic state of tha public 'mind women of.
bad character may exercise dominating Influ
ence In American affairs, as they did at the old
French court and in other historic, periods. He
makes this startling suggestion In the follow
ing words:
"In this vicious circle of craving for sensual
life and talking about sexual problems' U)o
erotlo transformation of the whole social be
havior Is usually a rapid one. The Rocoqq age
reached many subtleties, which wc do not
' dream of as yet, buf to which the conspiracy
against sllenco may boldly push us. Read the
memoirs of Casanova, the Italian of the
eighteenth century, whose biography gives a
Ylvid picture of a time In which certainly no
one was silent on sexual affairs, and in which
llfo was essentially a chain of gallant adven
tures. "In the select American circles it is already
noticeable that the favorites of rich men get a
certain social acknowledgment. The great
masses have not reached this stage at present
which is, of course, very familiar in France.
But If we proceed In that rapid rhythm with
which wo have changed in the last ton years,
fen years hence we may have substituted tho
Influenbo of mistresses for the Influence of
Tammany grafters, and twenty years henco a
Mhdamo Pompadour may be dwelling not far
from the White House anfi controlling the fato
of the nation with her small hands, as she did
for two decades when Louis XV. was King.
History has sufficiently shown that these are
the logical consequences of the sonsuallzation
of a rich people, whose mind is filled with
Bexual problems. Are we to wait, too, until a
great revolution or a great war shakes tho
nation to lta depths and hammers new Ideas
' of raorallty into its conscience?"
This Is the effect the policy of discussing
.matters that were formerly hidden from tha
"young is now producing, In the" opinion of Pro
fessor Muensterberg:
"It means to fill the atmosphere In which the
growing ndolescent moves with sultry Ideas.
It means to stir up the sexual desires 'and to
teach children how to indulge in them without
immediate punishment. Just as in a com
munity of graft and corruption the individual
soon loses the finer feeling for honesty and
crime flourishes simply because every one
knows .that nobody expects anything better, so
In a community in which Bexual problems are
the lescona of the youth and tha dinner talk of
the adult the feeling of respect for man's
deepest emotions fades away. Mian and
woman lose the Instinctive shyness :ln touch
ing on this sacred ground, and as tho organlo
desires push and push toward It the youth soon
discovers that the barriers to the forbidden
ground are removed and that In thialr place
stands a simple signal with a suggestive word
of warning against some easily avoided traps."
The wisest policy, In Professor Muenster
berg's opinion, will be to strengthen the In
stinctive emotion of mysterious respect, which
makes the young mind shrink from brutal In
trusion into the most sacred relationship! of
life.
Among many other -Interesting observations
on socialism, Professor Muensterberg mukes
this forecast:
"The country has entered into a career of
progressive experiments; the traditional re
spect for the old conitltutlonal system of
checks and balances to the mere will of tha
crowd has been undermined. The real leKisla.
tive reign of the masses has Just begun, and I
. would seem only natural that such an entlrelv
new movement should be pushed forward h?
?!2h. l2 o?7mredrIcbZ
more fit than
that of any other land to allow the SnfnSS
ment of socialism This will Sot come day
or to-morrow, but that nnMu. 10 J9oay
b with us the day after mow "T. th
llity with which the flenSaToTse'rVem
W i MS