Evening Star Newspaper, December 30, 1893, Page 19

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 80, 1893-TWENTY PAGES. GOWNS FOR YOUNG MATRONS. GOWNS FOR NEW YEAR An All-Important Matter at This Time of Year. SOME OF THE RECENT IDEAS FROM PARIS. How They May Be Utilized by Washington Women TO FIT SMALL PURSES. ——»——_—. Written for The Evening Star. CCUPYING the fem- inine mind,along with Christmas and its mental worry and anxiety, is the all im- portant question of the New Year toilet. Although the prices lt of some of the finest materials tax the purse of the average woman, the field for selection is rich in cheaper though hard- ly less effective stuffs and it is this great variety which renders the question of what shall it be one of the most difficult of the season. The purchaser has laid out before her by the enterprising merchants of Washington an endless va- riety of the most popular designs and col- orings for evening wear. These include, in the less expensive goods, plain and figured crepes, China and Japanese silks, brocades, satins and silks, ranging in price from eighty-five cents to two dollars a yard. The last mentioned is something entirely new, having the appearance of brilliant colorings seen through a fine lace mesh, with a dash of the color made prominent here and there in dots and splashes. For those who are fortunate enough to be able to purchase without regard to prices, there are any quantity of beautiful and appro- priate designs and colorings to meet the requirements of all tastes and complex- lons. Moire Antiques. Fast returning to favor are the moire an- tiques, which are always rich and handsome. This new fabric reflects color as in a look- irg glass and in large waves instead of in the stiff water iines of the old-time moire. They come not only plain this season, but im striped and figured effects. A particu- larly pleasing pattern is the black ground with narrow satin stripes of yellow, pink, blue, lavender and green, which would be very striking for sleeves and trimmings of a black silk or satin. Watered velvets are alszo among the season's popular fancies, but rank with the expensive materials. The smooth surface is broken by zig-zag lines similar to the moire antiques, in which the amooth parts necessarily show in a lighter shade. For Evening Wear. For ball or evening gowns tulles and gauzes are extensively used, ribbon rosettes, laces, especially real lace, festoons of beads. looped up with jetted gimp ornaments and a cluster of ostrich tips, spangled nets. &c., are all used as garniture for evening frocks. An Iden From Paris. One of the la ner dress is of reseda camel's hair in com- }ination with watered silk of a darker tone. ‘The yoke top skirt of moire is fastened up the back with three satin ronettes. ‘The cireular skirt of the camel's hair is joined to the yoke without gathers and falis in full folds on the s Tre cloth | weist with seamle: open on a vest of silk over second on vet. jacket fronts Jarge tevers s of dark green yel- The st circular caps of vik and vei Pr are introdue- ing startling At present Into their dre: N as green, blue and yellow, 1 bright red. - all of which are far from being bh One very Frer lescripti¢ y¥ costume, as 1 of foncy v very da ‘eliow and ith thre: ikirt is at nal stripes, tdered with a band of waist and sleeves are et. which is fulled a Ht- * bust and caught with a iittle moire ribbon. The narrow and small cuffs are ack moire. and a sash of the moire encircies the waist and falis in loops and ends to the f m Another is evening toilet of deep yel- ¥ satin with & plain full skirt trimmed ° narrow bands of mink. below is a Hownce of Mechlin net. The rsage is covered entirely with y handsome Venetian point lace, and is ss the bust with exquisite t closely together. Over the re are bretelies of mink fur. » short balloon puffs of satin are Made m quile a novel shape and surmount- ed by pleated epaulettes of black Mechlin Bet. 40 -to-date evening gown is made of t Parisian ideas for a din- ; | } | | with ; forming a | well in this s: black satin spangled with jet and adorned with jet wrought embroidery. The trained skirt is edged with ruched satin, above which runs jetted embroidery, continuing some distance up the seams. Clusters of roses are tacked on the bottom. The bodice cut in one with the skirt has exquisite em- broidery describing a long basqued vest. Sleeves of coral pink velvet, have a bunch of roses on the shoulders and in front of the corsage. Am Attractive Evening Gown. Another evening dress equally attractive is of jonquil satin, white silk, muslin and embroidered muslin. The skirt of jonquil satin has a hem of white satin which is veiled with an accordeon plaited, vandyked skirt of white silk muslin. The bodice of embroidered muslin is confined at the waist by a@ belt of yellow satin,below which shows the point of the bodice. ‘he double bertha is of jonquil satin, while the balloon sleeves are of embroidered muslin. ‘The back of the bodice is rouna at the waist and with it are worn long white gloves. An exquisite combination for a ball dress is shell-pink brocade trimmed with magenta veivet, white lace and fur. ‘he trained skirt is slashed to the waist on the left side, revealing a panel of the velvet trimmed in three rows of mink fur. This !s caught to- gether a short distance from the waist with a rosette. ‘The decolette waist has an Kton jacket of the velvet with broad revers edged with fur, opened on the shoulders, showing plaited epaulettes of lace. Falling from be- neath the revers on the jacket ts a frill of lace. The finish to the waist is a simple twist of velvet. HOME REGULATIONS. The Use and Misuse of Routine in the Household, THE EXPERIENCE CLUB IN SESSION. An Open Discussion and the Re- sult Reached. SOME USEFUL HINTS. From Godey's. The “Experience Club,” which comprised twenty ladies, was assembled in Mrs. Ap- pleton’s pleasant parlors for its usual monthly meeting, and after some business preliminaries had been dispatched the dis- cussion of the above subject was begun. “I am a firm advocate for order,” said Mrs. Bright, whose talents and energy made her a leader among us. “I have rules for all the general affairs of the household, and I live up to them, and expect my fam- ily to live up to them, as far as possible. Of course, trom time to time I am com- Pelled to make changes in this method, as we find a different adjustment would give us more satisfaction. I don't think any rule ought to be ‘cast iron.’ As we grow wiser we ought to alter our conduct, but a Tule ought to be obeyed as long as it holds good—until it is replaced by a better one.” “Otherwise there would be what Goldwin Smith terms ‘a moral interregnum,’ when chacs reigns,” commented Miss Stuart, who is our philosopher, and who occasionally carries us a little beyond the practical lines to which it is our aim to confine our#ives. “Well, I have been more struck with the second part of our subject, the misuse of routine,” said Mrs. Appleton, her good- humored face settling into an expression her friends call “retrospective discontent,” for it is well known that her present easy life was preceded by a rather unhappy girl- hood, which she cannot forget. “I was brought up altogether on system,” she continued, complainingly, “and made to eat and sleep and exercise according to the clock. If my Aunt Sarah could only have made me think systematically she would have been happy. She regulated all my actions, but,thank heaven! my thoughts were beyond her. It was only the blessed privilege of day-dreaming, and what she called ‘mental laziness,’ that saved me from going crazy. I never would impose my ideas on another mortal. Let each person in a family have possession of himself, I say, and go as he pleases, eat what he pleases, and be responsible only to him- self.” A New Year Toilet. One of the prettiest figure models for a New Year toilet is of white and magenta striped silk. The long trained skirt is edged at the bottom with sable fur. A short distance from the waist a frill of jace is festooned in points, bordered with the fur. The round neck corsage, which is caught at the waist in small pleats and is adorned with a bertha of velvet, a darker shade than the stripe in the silk, which is cut in vandykes lined with the silk and outlined with fur. A frill of lace falls from the bodice, held by a girdle and rosette of velvet. Velvet dresses are in unusually light tints of pale rose, light blue and water green this season, as well as in the pome- granate red and brilliant cerise shades now so much in vogue. The Medici color is the novelty introduced for these exquisite gowns. This is a low waist, sharply pointed in front and back, and laced down the back, where it is finished with a wired bow of two open loops and short waving ends. The neck is cut down in a wide square, Teaching out to the arm holes. The moire fronts are drawn forward from the sides without darts and form two lengthwise folds opening each side of a V, covered with creamy laces, crossing in row after row, the upper row extending along the neck. Down each fold of motre is a slight vine of embroidery of appiique velvet, the natur- al green of leaves with veins and outlines of gold or silver beads. ‘hese embroideries accent the long-waisted effect, which is a feature of the new corsage. Small revers of velvet of contrasting color turn over at the top of the moire waist and others form epaulettes on slashed sleeves of moire that open to give egress to inner sleeves of lace. the quaint wired bow is of the moire em- brotdéred to match the fronts, and lined with velvet. ‘he skirt is a fuil train cut with godet tolds, while the front, repeating the motif of the corsage, has three long vines of the embroidery on the folds, open- ing each side of a panel of lace. Toilet for a Debutante. A simple evening toilet for a debutante is of white silk crepe, chiffon and velvet. ‘The skirt is cut circular, with pointed over- skirt trimmed around the bottom with white chiffon, edged with lace and caught to form shells. The same trimming Is used for the bottom of the skirt and is a very novel arrange- ment. The bodice is cut square necit, back and front tight fitting, and edged around! the neck with shell drapery. The huge bal-| leon sleeves are of white velvet. In the picture at the head of the article are shown two evening gowns for young matrons, which are strikingly simple and effective. The one on the left is of yellow silk striped with black, with plain satin bodice to match and trimmed with white lace. The bell-shaped skirt, cut clear to the ground ail round, 1s of striped silk or satin, | trimmed on the hem with two flounces of | lace sewed one above the other, and headed | yellow ruched satin outlined at both edges with black velvet. Another lace | flounce, at least a yard deep, itself trimmed | with a narrow fiounce, is sewed on above | the knees and headed with ruching. This| flounce is aimost flat on the front and sides | < to the qver- | % the skirt, while the fullness is drifted to the back. The closely-fitting bodice of) plain ve satin is bordered at the top with black | t, below which there is a motif of jet-| ted embroidery. Vest and balloon sleeves of white lace. Long white gloves and black | tan ¢ e the toilet. | Vhe one on the right is of pink muslin, | rned with lace and velvet. The finely | ated skirt of silk muslin is mounted on | selt-colored silk slip. It is trimmed with | two wide bands of beautiful white lace, | outlined at either edge with silk-musiin | frilling. The skirt is attached to a corselet | belt of dark pink velvet, which confines the back ef the bodice. The front is crossed | over the belt and gathered at the top with] several closely set runnings, the material frill above the gathers, The sleeves are capped with velvet. White | and other lizht colors will make up equally | yle. see “Is She Not Pa From Puck. “What rule was it that was so distasteful to you?” asked the chairman, with a smile at her vehemence. “Or did you object to order on general principles?” “I suppose you think I have a leaning toward misrule,”” Mrs. Appleton returned, not in the least abashed. “Well, I have. My Aunt Sarah's determination to have me practice at a certain hour, draw at a certain hour, and feed the canaries at a certain hour wrought me immense discom- fort. No matter what. was going on—if there was company I most wished to see, or some new and delightful fancy work to be done, or if I felt like going out—these miserable ‘duties’ detained me. Oh, don’t talk to me of rules! I made up my mind, when I married, that I never again would be a slave to a rule of any sort.” Only our unwritten law—never to say anything ill-natured—restrained Miss Stu- art from uttering a terse comment. She pursed up her mouth and began scribbling on the fly-leaf of her note book very indus- triously. “There are some natures that really have an instinctive prejudice against routine,” said Mrs. Tadema, our minister's wife, who is @ person of such sense and excellent judgment that we always listen to her ea- gerly. ““ You recoliect how some of our most gifted artists and musicians have fought against regularity. There are people who can only work under the spur of ne- cessity. They can give in to that, but noth- ing else can control their erratic tendencies, Now, I have a friend who is a beautiful needlewoman, but she hates to give her mind to the details of sewing. She puts off everything till the last day,and then makes up by excessive labor for her past indo- lence. ‘I am always trying to get ahead of the seasons,’ she tells me; ‘but somehow I never have any fdeas until necessity is upon me. An emergency brightens my wits.’ In the case of children, of regulating their study hours particularly, one ought to be very indulgent to their personal idiosyncra- sies. My little Horace, you know, stands well in school now; but it is only since his twelfth birthday that he has been able to bring his unruly faculties under any sort of discipline. He wants to do things when he feels like it. I have dealt with him in this way: knowing the periods when the mind is most inclined toward study, I have drawn his attention at those times to some- thing that interested him in natural history or geography, and, after a few minutes’ talk, set him to hunt up some fact. He is naturally drawn on, and before he knows it is studying. The habit once securely rooted in his life, he follows it unconsciously, and feels like a free agent at the same time.” “And then,” said Miss Stuart,with bright- ening eyes, for she is always in sympathy with Mrs. Tadema, “don’t you hint to him the great advantage there is in applying the mind to certain sorts of work at re- current intervals; how much more easy it is to command our attention at exactly the same time today that we commanded it yesterday?” “I have not yet,” returned Mrs. Tadema. “Children ought not to be made to reason too early; it interferes with their growth. But there is a good deal in what you say. Our tastes, it is sald, are the result of our ancestors’ habits, and we are inclined to- ward acts that they performed.” “Then the mind gets hungry at the times it is used to being fed, I suppose?” re- marked Mrs. Lewi “I don’t know but what there is a great deal in favor of com- pelling one’s self to be regular in every- thing. I find I always want to get at my mending basket directly after lunch, be- cause I drifted into a habit of doing that one winter. I feel quite lost if anything upsets that little habit.” “Well, what I want to draw attention to,” said Mrs. Kane, energetically, “is the use of routine with regard to our servants. I think It is of the very greatest impor- tance. One of the worst difficulties in do- mestic government ts the personal element. Servants nowadays hate to be ordered. They, too, want to ‘go as you please,’ but they cannot be allowed to, of course. So I Ht upon a plan which saves their feelings, and is favorable to order, too. I made a little schedule of all the housework—certain things to be done upon certain days and in such order, and appended the few simple rules of conduct necessary for propriety; and when I hired a new girl last month I opened the cupboard door and showed her the schedule pasted there, asking at the same time if she felt equal to doing the work. She thought she could, and I en- gaged her. I never had more reason to be satisfied with a plan. Everything in my house moves like clockwork. There is no scolding and no restraints. The girl knows her duties, and coes her wav without any friction or clashing of her will against mine. I decidedly approve of as much routine in work as we cin get into ft.” “You must have a wonderfully intelligent girl!” exclaimed some one; while Mrs. Evans spoke un rather quickly: “It may be all very well so far as you are concerned. With no one but yourself end your husband it is easy to eet along. But suppose vou had my five children. all under twelve. Each of them down to Tot has a decided idea of his own: as to what makes him comfortable and happy. I try to con- sider everybody's feelings. I don't believe T have any right to say that things shall always go on in my way. Irrespective of everybody's convenience. Unexpected hap- penings come and I have to accept them re- signedly. I suppose our haphazard ways would worry you, Mrs. Bright, but we are very contented with them.” Before Mrs. Bright could answer Mrs. Appleton leaned over and shook hands with Mrs. Evans, exclaiming, “You and I agree in this. Certainly, the thing to be consid- ered is happiness, and everybody must be happy in his own way.” “Well, I thought that in this day and gen- eration the general alm was toward higher methods of happiness,” observed Miss Stu- art. “It seems to me we ought to consider the final outcome of our acts. If you let children and servants and every one in your house proceed upon impulse, how are they to acquire any self-control, or be able to sacrifice a momentary pleasure to future good?” “Oh, my dear, if you find pleasure in or- daining that your digestion shall wrestle with beans every Saturday night through- out the year, and that you shall don your flannels on the first of October, and wear muslin in April, whatever the weather, I have no objection,” laughed Mrs. Appleton. “I don't do anything so irrational,” cried Miss Stuart, blushing. But here our genial old lady, Mrs. Merriwether, interposed. “My dears, there is one thing you have not mentioned, and that is the great sav- ing of time there is in an orderly manage- ment of ell our affairs. I find it the great- est comfort not to have to think of the lit- tle detaile of the day’s work, but to know that everything will go on without worry and excitement, that the meals will be at exactly such hours, and the china closets will be cleaned on Thursday, and the bak- ing done on Saturday, whether I am sick in bed or down stairs.” “Oh, I acknowledge that there is com- fort in a certain amount of system,” as- sented Mrs. Evans. “But I think we ought only to have general rules, not such ‘ icky’ regulations as interfering with child’s preference for play or our husband’ liking for a late nap on holidays.” “I was waiting to hear {if anything was to be said about husbands,” now put in de- mure young Mrs. Lawson. “I am anxious to know if they are to have any part in bron drawing up of the household constitu- tion.” “Most certainly,” laughingly. pee ae and the necessities of his nature, bot! soon. sical and mental, are the very basis of our plans. But when once formed they ought to be like ‘the laws of the Medes and the Persians.’ Order means security, and just so far as we bring all our affairs under a general law we know our possibilities and Bega ‘Knowledge is power,’ ' In the matter of knowing exactly what is going on in our little home province, and brie cannot know unless we have organiza- n."* “Well, I don't profess to enough knowl- edge to be able to lay down straight rules for other peopl said plain Mrs. Jenks, laims to be “an old-fashioned house- keeper.” “I am orderly enough to have a day for washing, and one for sweeping ana baking, and so on, but I leave the hours to take care of themselves. It seems to me that in housework ‘the best-laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft aglec,’ and I try not to set my heart on any particular plans.” “Nevertheless, I go the whole length, said Mrs. Bright. “I have a ‘method’ past- ed inside my wardrobe door to regulate my personal concerns. I go through my house early in the morning and see that every- thing is as it should be. Then I attend to my own room, do the marketing, give or- ders for dinner, and after that every hour has its special engagement. I make calls on certain days, and stay at home one af- ternoon in the week. I always know ex- actly what I am to do, and there is no flurry of mind over anything. In fact, 1 have become so used to a certain way that I proceed without even thinking about it: consequently, my mind is alw: at liberty to attend to what I want to put it upon, in- stead of worrying over plans. “You have led up beautifully to some- thing I wanted to introduce.” said Mis* Stuart. “We must consider the effect of things upon ourselves. Listen to this please, it is from Prof. William James: “The more details of our daily life we can hand over to the infallible and effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own -prop- er work. There is no more miserable hu- man being than one in whom nothing Ir habitual but indecision, and for whom every little act is the subject of express de- Uberation. Full half the time of such s man goes to the deciding or regretting a matter which ought to have been so in- grained in him practically as not to exist for his consciousness at all. There was a little silence, and Mrs. Ap- pleton looked skeptical and a few others half convinced, but the chairman said: “Now, ladies, to sum up evidence, It seems that most of us are that rou- tine in the household is essential to com- fort and the best interests of all, but thet regulations should take account of individ- uality, and only such rules imposed upon the family for uniform action in affairs affecting the general wel- fare." “Bravo!” said Mrs. Appleton. We then adjourned. ——_- -+ e+ POLITENESS IN ENGLAND. How Americans and Others Are Snub- bed—At Parties. From Harper's Magazine. If the Scotchman, who certainly seems re- served enough in our eyes, is chilled by the Englishman's manner, it is evident how much more the American must suffer be- fore he learns that there is something bet- ter to come and that the Englishman's man- ner is his own misfortune and not his in- tentional fault. The English say to this. when you know them well enough to com- Plain, that we are too “sensitive,” and that we are too quick to take offense. It never occurs to them that it may be that they are too brusque. If you say, on mounting «& coach, “I am afraid I am one too many, } fear I am crowding you all,” you can count upon their all answering,with perfect cheer- fulness, ‘Yes, you are, but we didn’t know you were coming, and there is no help for it,” and it never occurs to them that that is not, perhaps, the best way of putting it. After a bit you find out that taey do not mean to be rude, or you learn to be rude yourself, and then you get on famously. 1 have had Americans come into my roome in London with tears of indignation in their eyes and tell of the way they had been, ar they supposed, snubbel and insulted and neglected. “Why,” they would ask, “did they invite me to their house if they meant to treat me like at? I didn’t ask them to. I didn’t force myself on them, I ofly wanted a worc now and then, just to make me feel I was a human being. If they had only asked me. ‘When are you going away?’ it would have been something, but to leave me standing around in corners and to go through whole dinners without as much as a word,without introducing me to any one or recognizing my existence. Why did they ask me, if they only meant to insult me when they got me there? Is that English hospitality?” And the next day I would meet the with whom he had been staying and they would say: “We have had such a nice com- patriot of yours with us; such a well-in- formed young man; I hope he will stop with us for the shooting.” As far as they knew they had done all that civility required, all they would have given their neighbors or have expected from their own people. But they did not know that we are not used to being walked over roughshod; that we af- fect interest even if we do not feel it, and that we tell social fibs if it is going to make some one else feel more comfortable. It is as if the American had boxed with gloves all his life and then met a mah who struck with his bare fists, and it naturally hurts. And the most pathetic part of the whole thing 1s that they do not know how much better than their own the breeding of the American really is. It is like the line in the “International Episode,” where the American woman points out to her friend that their English visitors not only dress badly, but so badly that they will not ap- preciate how well dressed the Americans are. I have seen a whole roomful of English- men sit still when a woman came into her own drawing room, and then look compas- sionately at the Americans present because they stood up. They probably thought we were following out the rules of some book on etiquette and could not know that we were simply more comfortable standing when a woman was standing than we would have been sitting down. And it will not do to say in reply to this that these English- men of whom I speak were not of the bet- ter sort, and that I should not judge by the middle class. I am not writing of the mid- dle classes. “It was the best butter,” as the March hare says. ple A Magnificent Trainin, From Puck. Attendant—"That right arm of yours seems to be terrible powerful, sir, compared to your left one.” Bather—"Yes; you see, I've done the carving at my boarding house for the last seven years.” HORSFORD'S ACID PHOSPRATE Makes an Invigorating Drink with water and sugar only. Delicious. FASHION’S FRILLS. Glances at Some of the New Styles to Be Seen in Washington. DOROTHY'S NEW STREET GOWN. Dresses That Allow Freedom of Movement. OVERSKIRTS THREATENED. Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. OROTHY’S NEW street gown of French diagonal serge,in beet red, with chatelaine sleeves of mirror vel- vet, striped with dark mink, and three bands of mink, #0 dark as to be unmis- takably costly, on the circle skirt, is a howl- ing success, if envi- ous looks and back- ward glances are cri- terions, but alack and alas! The high miltary collar, with its con- volutions of gold braid that match the hus- sar knots down the front of the surtout, nearly severs the jugular vein, to say noth- ing of the abrasion of the cuticle about her swan-like neck. In self-defense she had to remain at heme two or three fine after- noons last week in company with an in- voice of lotions. She was feeling like a whole library of Foxe’s Martyrs, when Rose-in-bioom came dashing in from a tour among the Christmas shops, and flung into the lap of the victim of fashion’s folly the latest fashion magazine. “Whom did you see, Rose-in-bloom?” ask- ed Dorothy from the depths of her white silk muffler, “and what did they wear?” “I saw lots of women, and they wore sleeves,” was Rose-in-bloom's reply as she began to empty her coat pocket. Dorothy looked surprised. “Don’t they usually wear sleeves, little sister?” “M-m, y-e-e-s; I suppose they do, but it looks to me as though folks had gone clear crazy about sleeves,” asserted the twelve- year-old, as she divested herself of her coat and hat, and shook back her curls. “Now, there was Miss Winter. Why, Dorothy, the sleeves on her new brown boucle dress stood out like the wings to the Capitol! The puffs are of mink, and there was enough in them to make me a coat. I think it’s a sin to waste fur that way. She had one of those horrid grinning mink things around her neck, and the head of another peered down over the brim of her hat in front. I couldn't help thinking that they-were show- ing their teeth at each other, because they found that Miss Winter's nose is the sharp- est. Little Miss Marsh is almost lost when she gets into the sleeves of her new sealskin coat, and her arms are so short anyhow. And, oh, Dorothy, you know that fat Mrs. Dean. Weill, I'm pretty sure she has had bigger velvet sleeves put in her velour, for the last time she was here I could see the top of her bonnet when she stood sideways, but I couldn't today. It scared me at first. I thought maybe she'd come off and forgot her head. When I got your magazine Mrs. Gregory was looking at sleeve styles too. She is going to put black bengaline sleeves in her broadcloth redin- gote, and—but, truly, Dorothy, I don't re- member a thing; I saw but sleeves. I reckon I'll dreai bout them,” and Rose- in-bloom left Do>othy deep in study over a page devoted to sleeves. Sleeves on Top. It is even so. Every part of the dress is sleeve. The now subordinated to modiste mekeg) any material left $a cape or bre- and if there is telles, and then tells her customer to bring anythihg she pleases for™the skirt of the dress,’ Nobody thinks of glancing below the waist of a gown-anyhow. Some wise person once said that “there is but one way to wear a beautiful gown and thrt is to forget it." He did not live in this end of the century, however. The gowns the women wear today are more sumptuously elegant than ever before in the history of the werld and generally speaking are beau- tiful, but forget them—well, that wouldn't ve possible during this period of sleeve in- Mation. They occupy too much space in proportion to the woman for anybody to forget them. Just row it is quite swell for sleeves to slip clear off the shoulder and gather in a pompous fashion around the elbow. Sc-ae- times In one puff, sometimes in billows of them. Often a wide ruffle falls from them over the arm half way to the wrist. For straight, every day business the leg-o'- mutton has @he call. French whispers are heard to the effect that the plain, sensible, comfortable and economical coat sleeve will get here in time to be introduced with Easter bonnets. A few women are still spoiling the set of their shoulders by ungracefully hanging to the tails of over long street gowns, new gowns at that. The dressmaker who per- mitted it was a bad taciician, or a neo- phyte in her business, because swell dress- ers taboo trained street gowns. The very elegant carriage and evening toilet only show short demi trains that He on the floor two or three inches. Of course, brides cling to the abuiormally long train, but generally speaking, it is now relegated to the tea gown, and that, fetching as it is, in its soft silken frou-frou and lece frills, remains strictly inside the boudoir. There at least a woman may be as pretty and feminine as she pleases. Buia Uy An Evening Waist. Fashion is afraid to be sensible very long at a time, and now threatens overskirts. It is too bad that fashion is such a tyrant. Women, who have worn themselves to a frazzie fighting fashions that made them look like a pillow with a corset on it, have really taken comfort in the flaring skirts, round waists and voluminous sleeves, each and every feature of which tended to take away from the appearance of stoutness. The taller women have barely escaped being angels in their wing-like bodice garmiture. In the present style of dresses, women have had more freedom of limb than they have enjoyed in years before. Modestly short, comfortably loose and remarkably light in weight, the circle, umbrella, seven and nine | Sore skirts have almost emancipated women. | To be sure there has been a monotonous sameness in the models sent out by the fashion houses, which suggested a syndicate of ideas, but they made women look pretty, | end each invested the styles with an indi- viduality of her own which served to draw distinctions, and that was quite sufficient. So, I say, it is really too bad that women have got to go back to overskirts, which add weight to the petticoats and give no grace to the wearer. Besides all those tuck- | ed and puckered draperies with their shirs and draw strings catch dust and door-knobs —and ducats. Some horrid shopkeeper is at the bottom of this revolution. He has inveigied a modiste into advocating over- skirts so that he and his kind can sell more material. When overskirts were worn .be- fore, it took twenty yards of double width goods to cover a woman in swell stvle. It really does look as though the almighty dol- lar was back of this invasion of the rights of women to look pretty and be comfort- able at the same time. One of the attractive features of the pres- ent fashion of gowning is that unless a woman. is a born slouch she simply has to look neat in the present trim dress, but in overskirts! I predict an im- mediate rise in the ladies’ maid market if overskirts really do put in an appearance, for no living woman can keep up with her social. duties and the puckers in her over- skirt at the same time. tity and oniy need an occasional pat or pull to keep them in place, but the more you pat and pull refractory gathers in an over- skirt the more exasperatingly perverse they become. “Snow Image” nnd “Scarlet Letter.” I saw two girls last week who reminded me of Hawthorne's two books, “The Snow Image” and “The Scarlet Letter.” The Snow Image was divinely fair, but not di- vinely tall, She was as pretty as a piece of Dresden china—a real rose and lily blonde. She wore no masking veil, and I could tell at a glance that her matchless complexion was a gift of God and health, and not pharmacist. @ concoction of phy: and Her prettily waved and neatly fait hair had ‘the gloss of much broskine and the sheen of nature's coloring. She was gotten up regardless of se. Her gown was black Lyons velvet. no mis- quality of velvet, know. about two inches. At the foot was @ narrow band of ermine, Snow Image Girl. above which was a six-inch depth of Van- dyke lace. Her long three-quarter coat of black velvet had the umbrella back and was bordered with ermine. The big puffed vei- vet sleeves had three perpendicular rows of ermine, and were caught into a band of ermine just below thé elbow. From this band there fell over the plain velvet a deep ruffie of the Vandyke lace, and at the wrist was another band of ermine. There were no darts in the front, but the slight fullness was held down by a strap of ermine. A Worth collar of ermine finished the elegant wrap. Her hat was a Rem- brandtesque white velvet affair, with some willowy ostrich plumes, black, tipped with white,and wes turned up at the side and edg- ed with a full frill of black guipure lace. She wore black gioves and carried a tiny puffed black velvet muff edged with ermine. I know a place where she went to dispense charity for her mother that day, and the little sick girl wanted to know if she was God's sis- ter, because she was so pretty. The Snow —T girl made me want to go right off and help somebody have an easier time, she was so gentle and gracious, but the Scarlet Letter girl came along be- fore I got started and I forgot all my good resolutions. She look so perky and bold. She was gowned in red vigogne and fur, that imitated sable. The red skiri had three bands of the fur. She wore a big fly-away cape of the red vigogue lined with red and black embossed silk and bordered around the collar and cape with the fur. The toque she wore was a pert little scariet velvet affair with two scarlet tips standing up like curled ears and a lot of flashing jet around it. It was set above dark and painfully friz- zed hair and a face rouged to the limit. Her sharp dark eyes were preposterousiy outlined and it was quite impossible for the bit of lace she wore to hide the lamentable makeup. She was a caricature, so Mephit tophelean, as she tipped affecte’ly about in tan shoes, inspecting everything through an exaggerated iognette, that I felt when she fi- nally got out of my hi as though I had been taking quinine. really wished that I had not seen the Snow Image girl first. She left me with my faith in womankind quite secure; the Scarlet Letter girl made me style of | wish I had never been born. The Woman tn jack and White. Accordeon plaiting now has a good many votaries. It makes pretty ball gowns and is particularly effective on a skirt dancer, but it has its disadvantages. I saw a wom- an the other day who won't wear an ac- cordeon plaited dress shopping soon again. She was a black and white woman. That is, she was costumed in those two colors strictly. The part of her dress that could be seen below the inevitable seal plush cape was apparently black satin, rich and lustrous, but as she walked the accordeon plaits flew open, disclosing the fact that it was striped with white and the white was in the under fold. The effect was not as pretty as the quality of the goods demand- ed. A drizzling rain was falling and the wind was blowing a gale. im came tripping out of a big store to catch a car. She had in one arm one square, one round, one long and one badly tied parcel. In the other hand was a shopping bag and an umbrella. It also served to hold her hat, which was as broad as the law allows and insecurely pinioned to her head. The car stopped and max with a half dozen others, in the perverseness of human na- ture, having halted on the wrong side of the — had to hustle around to the other | side. Ma got there first, having chored her umbrella under jan her arm, w ‘people behind her and the backs of those jon the platform of the car. She raised her foot to step up and planted it firmly lon about four yards of white and black ‘satin. She took it back and tried the other | foot. The mass of muddy satin tripped hor jagain. A fat old gentleman who thought ; She'd surely make it that time rushed Jagainst her umbrella and she lost her | equilibrium entirely. She threw out her hands to save measuring her length on the | platform, and the one long, one square, one round and one badly tied? parce! flew in four directions. The umbrella under her arm | reared up in perfectly reckiess abandon and | sprig behind her. Her own wide hat, with its dismally wet plumes, adjusted itself over her ear as she landed on the squashy track with a jar that shook the car. While the men were gailantly rounding up her scat- ltered packages, mai picked that accordeon p arms, dumped the pa her umbrella and got on the car, clad ap- parently in a black seal plush cape and a remarkably plain black silk skirt with two lace ruffies and two bands of narrow red ribbon on it. a skirt that a year ago would have been thought scandalo: short. These accordeon plaited skirts are worn also with peplum over skirts—these hav: long points back and front, and a short point on the side, but they are open to the objection I have named. They make a wo- man look like # peregrinating pazachute, | alternately filling and collapsing. A Wedding Souvenir. I saw something the other day that was | really very pretty, yet open to the objection | that it might some day become a piece of | very embarrassing rubbish. It was a mar- | ringe cectificate, and the idea was original with the bridesmaid of honor—a souvenir of what should be the happiest hour in a wo- here it jabbed the stomachs of the damp | knocked off the silk hat of a spruce young | 2 tc it E Hi i i 8 if i F i i i i i i if i i i i i ! i fi i F Se ie se rf i | it it rf te i ti i li feat i i 5h} ili hit Princess May toll and coliete. New York and now aft i if i E tif ir woe!” Of course this is the men who do that other interest in life, yet decided what should be some from the comn i i i i & g ad 3 ; l jie Hi ii | of the tendency g i & ii Aittst | i i F Watch Them as They Pass a and See for Yourself. The vanity of Woman i an fact that has been the subject of icule on the part of the sterner appear to forget wi they Stones of this character that selves are not altogether without! fact, though little is said about quite as vain as a woman, and as open a manner, and, Kansas City Times, this can people but stop to watch the some well-dressed down the street or takes either in cars or on boats. shop window is as to @ man as to a w ways the youngest either, that seem to ex! enjoyment in regarding tion. Shabbily dressed old men before a mirror and with as much anxiet; beau starting out Wherever a mirror is be, if you will but m not resist gazing into it, sound like @ sweeping assertion, far more pocket mirrors carried than by women, and these play whenever @ man has time to spare. These statements not down the character the show that vanity lives alike in Perhaps, after all, it is not prompts men and women ages so carefully whenever is offered for so doing, innate desire to detect any, and rectify them they are discovered. actions that are attribu' which are only the look as well as possil and certainly this mended instead of duty to look as well study of our own reflection, an improvement on what we be nothing hurtful in such Therefore, when the preacher : is vanity” it might, perhaps, i i i i i? i : ! § i ! i ? ! | E i | } Fi 8 i : é fe) i i i i fils aide + ag ii 3 g a i i | Fy z i 5 E rH i Fi a i 5 i i i = y . f iif i 3 E R i BR i i | lated into meaning only an tention to the ae personal adornment self-love as a natural adjunct. oo i i From the “T never see a family of girls out dresses of the same sort without « deep wave of pity for them rolls over my soul, said a very intelligent and wealthy woman, as she noted a dress-alike family passing the street. “I remember when & was a little girl that it was thought quite | the correct thing to Gress the children alike; so a piece of goods was bought, the stereo- | typed number of hats, just so many sprays of flowers, just so many yards of ribbon |and material for the regular number of | cloaks, sacques or jackets, as the case |might be. Sometimes we wore shawis, | and oh, wasn’t that a delightful happening when, by no hook nor crook, could twe shawls be found alike! “One year we were to have shawis, but be- | cause there could be no uniformity, for the | reason that the assortment contained only | those differing widely in style and color,the |idea of shawls was abandoned altogether, and we were put into long cloaks of gray | Irish frieze, and oh, how angry and dis- gusted we were. There were two or three families in our neighborhood that adhered to this custom; others dressed as unlike as possible, and those ‘unlikers’ were the objects of no end of envy on the part of our little folk. I think it would be difficult for any person who has not been through the experience to imagine how desperately | tired we grew of our clothes, and equally tired, of course, of those of our sisters, for they were exactly the same. The only ad- vantage that I can now see, as I look back, | was that if the elder sister hadn't worn her | dress out, the next one could take it and | nobody know the difference. | "Scpnis was the only grace that T ever dis- covered in the left-overs and second-hand | clothes arrangement of the family. It seems to me little less than cruelty to de- | prive children of the variety and pleasure of original and pretty garments. I used to think as we sat In church that we resem- | bied a row of little brown jugs of assorted | sizes when we were arrayed in our somber garments. Pink, blue, white and scarlet are children’s colors, and it seems inju- dicious and unwise to do them up In dull tints like animated brown paper packages. | There are duliness and monotony and sober ness enough in life without them down Big sleeves once man’s life. This marriage certificate was into the dresses and bonnets of little girta™