"There has been no innovation for a century in these particulars,
unless it be that a hat has found its way into Chesencook, not that
such a stove-pipe looking thing as that has any beauty in it; but the
boys of Halifax are not to be despised, if a hat is, and even an
ourang-outang, if he ventured to walk about the streets, would have to
submit to wear one. But the case is different with women, especially
modest, discreet, unobtrusive ones, like those of the 'long-shore
French.' They are stared at because they dress like those in the world
before the Flood, but it's an even chance if the antediluvian damsels
were half so handsome; and what pretty girl can find it in her heart
to be very angry at attracting attention? Yes, their simple manners,
their innocence, and their sex are their protection. But no cap,
bonnet, or ribbon, velvet, muslin, or lace, was ever seen at
Chesencook. Whether this neglect of finery (the love of which is so
natural to their countrywomen in Europe) arises from a deep-rooted
veneration for the ways of their predecessors, or from the sage
counsel of their spiritual instructors, who desire to keep them from
the contamination of the heretical world around them, or from the
conviction that
'The adorning thee with so much art
Is but a barbarous skill,
'Tis like the barbing of a dart,
Too apt before to kill,'
I know not.
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