Labor Day is Coming

Welcoming Goose - by Frances Robson

Good evening and come on in the house for some iced tea. It is rather hot our there and I know you need something cold. I am about as tired as I can be today for I worked at the church food pantry this morning packing groceries. That is hard work, dear heart, but worth it for we helped over 60 families this morning. We also had a new volunteer and he was a life saver for he was young enough to pick up the bags and take them to the window. By 12:00 I was about ready to take a nap, and I did.

It is hard to believe that the summer is 'bout over. Most all the schools have started their new year in this area and that surely ends the summer. They began here today for due to cuts in the education budget, the system obtained permission to have a 160 day school year rather than 180. It is sad when the state has to cut education budgets to the point we have to have a shorten the school year. Hopefully it will be better next year.

It dawned on me yesterday that Labor Day weekend is almost here and I must get my wardrobe ready. Here in the South, if you were raised by a good Southern Mama, you were taught the fashion rules for the seasons. We have to put up our white shoes and white gloves after Labor day. Years ago, in the dark ages, we wore hats and gloves to church, teas, parties, weddings, funerals and other "dressy" occasions. These dress rules were strictly observed by all the Southern Ladies, Girls, and Belles. If not, the "fashion police" in your town would go "Tsk, tsk" and blame your mama for not raising you right or overseeing your wardrobe. You didn't want to bring shame to your mama!!!

Labor Day weekend is the date you put up your white shoes, white gloves, white dresses and any other white clothes. Way back yonder, in the olden days, you were also not to wear open toed or slingback shoes but your pumps came out until Easter. The brown, black, and tan gloves were brought forth and your dark color hats were unwrapped from tissue paper and fluffed and brushed. The time of dark colors has arrived and would be observed in your fashions until Easter.

Easter marks the acceptance of open toed and slingback shoes, white gloves and dresses but NOT white shoes. These are only worn after Memorial Day until Labor day. I know it's confusing but we all knew the rules and dressed accordingly. It was necessary for a Southern Female to abide by the fashion rules if we were going to be considered "Raised Right." This was and is terribly important to us for we want to accepted in "Polite Society".

Now these rules seem a little silly as I think about it but I still observe them. To solve this problem with the shoes, I rarely buy white shoes and that solves that problem. As for the gloves, I only wear those when it is freezing cold and I just don't worry about the open toed and slingback shoes. These guidelines are part of who I am and are ingrained into my mind and lifestyle, never to be removed.

There are other rules we observed such as not wearing sundresses to church without a bolero (little jacket), short shorts when you went to town, halters, except to swim, and panty hose with dress shoes. Even if you weren't a lady, you had to look like one- modest and pretty.

This sounds a little silly now but when I look at the way some women dress in public I wish the "old ways" were still being taught and observed. Many women dress like what mama would call a "street walker" when in public. Boobs, butts are hanging out everywhere and I am a little tired of looking at them. Some look pretty good, if you want to look at them, but mostly they look awful. They would look a whole lot better if some of what's showing was covered up. Modesty seems to have gone away for many women. What a shame.

So, I better go begin rearranging my closet and put the whites up and get out the darks. Not really for I don't worry about most of this at my age but I still won't wear my white shoes after Labor Day. Glad I don't have to worry about the gloves.

Ya'll be careful going home and thank you for dropping by for a visit. Now you ladies watch out for the "fashion police" for they will be out before long looking for white shoes and blaming your mama for not raising you right.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach and Southern Lady