To a slightly less degree, the same thing may be said of men.
But as the people who set new styles and establish new customs, in a
selfish, materialistic age, are not apt to be guided by any great
reverence for the finer traditional feelings, there is little help to
be looked for, from this kind of influence. The immediate tendency is
all in the opposite direction. A woman's own reason might tell her that
it is more becoming to pencil her eye-brows and paint her lips and face
and yet, if left to herself, an inherited instinct might keep her from
doing so. But as soon as she finds that has become the fashion, she
hesitates no longer. Women of innate modesty are to be seen, exposing
their legs and bodies in public, drinking, smoking, gambling and dancing
in a sensual manner with sensual men--things which they would revolt at
doing, if it were not for the style. It matters not that the people who
set the style were devoid of modesty and prompted solely by material
considerations of self-indulgence and immorality.
Under such conditions, how can people who are headed in this direction
be prevailed upon by any amount of advice, however well-founded and
helpful it might be? They may feel that they would like to see others
doing differently, but until that takes place, their brains will not
give them sufficient inspiration, or sufficient determination, to make a
lone fight.
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