The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 11, 1897, Page 17

SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY MORNING ved in all her | ve. The stramn glory, a week proved too mu simply could not wait . Her reg ago, and 1 1eelly believe e then bas been thor- sure every de- | some portion of the outfit overhauled, o be correct now that her ich a be: we m the ea sree with rth e me th irivolous an 1al ich a detail 3 as the sum- ing season. Easter week and ave been distin- | rar attention of | tive require- | the yea ered. Th rl are, of | ie American | ustrated | Girl has become a suffi to attain ct\.~‘ prints of the nd of t tution taikin what one aid upon her ell where the | and where the | u capitals | n Girls sason 10 sea- w up cur ndependent fuil bloom & well- - cares look | . ear creature | camein. 1| ] face, and ny mind up that she was diligently piling up ctions such a serious nest ous 1 rry for mes. 10 follow her exam- | s frivol s that v of—poor, deluded mor- titude was the re- ton of colors and ch other throngh ““Things have been fooled more can recail by forgetting those 1 guess we there, 50 what's the good of e I know some one is en't described den brow o green silk skirt b around tire bottom w black lace, giving that | r green sil 1ree NATTOW T effect that we find in all the new grenadine skirt has around the aband of green and brown ap- | over n:e | plique outlined with gold. The effect de- | fies deseription; the richness of the com- bi ation must be seen to be appreciated. "The skirt is five yards wide, with all the n the back. There is just a slight dip in the back to the skirt, givingita very gracetul hang. We are getting back 1o the bell skirt very rapidly, and really there have been no graceful skirts since | we cast the bell-shaped skirts aside. | Justlisten to me prattling atout what | we may expect in new skirts and laving ide my dear girl’s all important regalial | But vou know when a woman starts to | talk “dress” there isno telling when she will stop or where. The waist, under which milady’s heart wili beat with joy and contentment as she notes the envious looks of her less fortu- nate sisters when sheappears among them in all her gorgeous splendor, is a thing of beauty and 1 joy not forever, as the poet | says, but for a time. | This garment is, like the skirt, of golden brown grenadine over green silk. The two appliqued front pieces fall over a vest | of gold outlinea with chiffon. Tho sieaves | are tucked with a small puff at the top. | The girdle is of green velvet, in the center | of which is a large gold buckle. The collar is aiso of green velvet outlined | with caiffon put on very full. The chiffon in the neck and sleeves is white, studded with green and gold. Now can you blame the poor girl for rushing matters? A brown, coarse siraw, edged with gold straw, imitating lace, surmounts her April curis. Around the crown, which is | white fancy straw, is a band of green and brown passementerie, the rest of the trim- ming consisting of two large aigrettes and | & beautiful green rose. | The hats this season are to be small | flower gardens, ribbon being dispensed | with to a great extent. What a dazzling sight Van Ness avenue will afford if next Sunday is a pleasant day. erybody who is anybody will be on dress parade about noon. A Chinese procession on a festal day won’t be in it as far as color and variety of materials will go. And the Easter girl will head the processio; GLENN. The Only Woman Bank President: Mrs.W. M. Marsh of Groton is the only woman whose signature appears on bank bills. This bappens because she is presi- dent of the First National Bank of Groton, stitution which does a ver ness with corporations and pri dividuals whose operations are « In addition to performing the duties of bank president Mrs. Marsh is the head of the Groton Typewriting Machine Com- pany and treasurer of the Grotcn Carriage Compsny. She finds time to do all this and have that leisure which is necessary to 2 woman who enjoys the advantages of society. ‘The hustand of Mrs. Marsh was a capitalist and one of the business pillars of Groton. When he died, a year and a balf ago, people wondered how the large interests of his estate would be handied. Mrs. Marsh quickly solved the proolem by assuming the discharge of the duties which had devolved upon her late hus- tand. The business men of Groton, while | they deeply respected Mis. Marsh, were a | little inciined 1o doubt her ability to suc- cessfully carry on the role she had under- taken. The laly said nothing one way or the other, bat in a very short time demon- | strated to the entire satisfaction of the business community that she was fully capable of handling the business of the bank, the typewnling company and the | carriage manufactory. HOW A MAN WENT SHOPPING TO LEARN THE PRICES City has been ners arriving coast States have come to attend : wholesale ve been hold- | = business is variable concentration in a, the and Hc openings milline The wholesale phase of tk i sters. The houses of the kind on <t are all n S ncisco. Los Angeles, tb had one wholesaler who, after maint ness fo! San F millinery & so twice a year betwe who conduct for tow ining busi- ar, recently closed out. sthe presence of cts to the City 1 1500 and 2000 ladies | tail stores in the various | ns. 1t is a part of the edv tion of such milliners that they shall make these sen visits to San Francisco the gorgeous displays yed for them by the whole Once here, they flit from house to house in an ecstacy of excitement and deli lling the sweet- est of the entrancing objects which dazzle | their eyes and bearing off as trophies of | their trip these wonders of the milliner's art. | And wonders indeed are they. Into that piece de resistance of the belle’s cos- tumoe there is wound and threaded and pinched and plaited the handiwork of over half of Europe and Japan. From China come the straw braids which are turned into a cup with a spider-web rim. To this complement of bewitching effects, | wholly ng to susceptible mascu- | linity, ba contributes the ribboned fibers of her yucca palms and cacti; Italy | gives her fragil mentous straws; Per- | sia sends gilt palloons, gorgeous with the | rich tracery of her arabesques; while Paris | decorates all these with her incomparabie | art, her sparkling cut-steel cabouchons and polished jets, her Ith of artificial flowers so marvelo true in color and tone, in shape and size, that nature's cres fluou Then the silk laces and gauze, the rib- bon and chiffon, the si/k-wrapped wire for frames, this and more Paris gives to the season’s style, while heavier and more | solid nan luscious-looking | cherries and berries, with polished wiid | crabapples and all of the fruit-bearing blossoms. England sends stuffed birds, wings, spikes irom the plumed heron, and brings for us from Africa and New Guinea airy tuits from the feathery foliage of the bird of paradise. | All of these materials garnered from the East are brought into New York. Itisa fact, therefore, that nearly ail our own | millinery is foreign. America furnishes | but iittle. She gives mainly silks, ribbons, felts and feathers. Though Paris declares the season's styles yet the two dozen different hats which come from there are in reality but the monuments of the several types | which they present. Instantly they ar- rive in the United States there begins the most extensive variations upon them. They are modified, extended, enlarged, re- duced. ‘Tne whole gamut, from the apex jons, it would seem, are made super- | | though the Parisian artists hold to the base, 15 trilled wilh the exquisite | lightness and touch of a virtuoso, for al- | sway as yet the | tates, and particularly San Fr creative goddesses in millin United § Madame smiled on m e charn asce rtained my mission and said: “Ob, you men are so curious”; then, thrusting aside the sliding doors of a case, | she removed from its stool what I thought | the finery. cisco, contains an innumerable army of [ to be a pleasing sort of proverty fit; it | the most subtle and delicate goddesses of | seemed to be a feminine companion to the | beautitul; more beautiful, indeed, than it the demi sort, who po sess an indefinite | three-dollar Stetson which I have been | se faculty for manipulating whatever copies | may fall to their hands. Aund the cost of them! Ahl there is| where masculinity takes a hand. Pater- | familias is content with a $3 stiff brimmed | black, and if a favorable turn of the elec- | tion removes its element of cost so much | the better. But with the wife and daugh- | ter no bets go there. It is a solid, resound- ing plunk of the enviable piasters every wearing since November. Madame, as she balanced this affair on the tips of her fingers, “isn’t that just de- lightful?”” I admitted the appropriateness of the adjectives, and while I did not stagger with intoxication over the art effect, my liveliest feelings were aroused through curiosity to know what might be the price. ‘““ THIRTY-NINE DOLLARS AND A HALFE.” time April heaves in and August breathes out—this for a certainty whether there | occurs one or more middle-marches or not. Moved by the kindred sympathy which one suffering soul ever involuntarily faels | for another, I here append an estimate | which I was recently furnished by a prom- | inent Market-street retail milliner upon the cost of a hat of fairly good quality and | kind, such as the average Ban Francisco business man will draw his check for this season. “Price?”’ exclaimed the Madame, as though that were a wholly subsidiary consideration, “now ain’t you men curious for a fact. Well, let me see.” She turned over a white tag, which was strung to the thing, then she beld up the bat, looked at it, and, smiling Bt it again, she d in a nonchalant way: ‘Thirty-nine dollars and a half,” “B—but—Madame,” I ventured in mild remonstrance, ‘‘you—you must be mi: taken. I—ah, that s, I beg your pardon. ow, isn’t that exquisite?” queried | | each part of it ha= cost? For doubtless in | | ostrich plumes costing $5 each, or $10. | These are held with a cut steel buckle and | rhinestone ornament worth $3 50. It is | | | | posed in a hedgelike fashion. ly as she | Recovering my composure, and tipping | wife,” sh my own §3 affar, which seemed to swell | with indignation beneath my touch, I | aizhtened up and took another look at | I sald, “that is certainly very med to me when I firstiooked at it. Woulid you kindly analyze it for me, say, from the ground up, and inform me what such an aggregate there are elements of cost in each particular, are there not?” She smiled at me again and said “Cer- tainly.” You have no objection to my taking notes?" *“Certainly not.”” he began: “Now, the hatis made of Neapolitan braid, woven horsehair, and it never loses its stiffness. That comes from Italy and costs §5. Then this is an aigrette of three-dozen birds of paradise plumes worth $15, tufted with two small turned up in the back with a handsome | bunch of Russian violets worth $1 50. | Then there are iwo yards of applique lace, champagne color, for inside finish, worth | $1 per yard; that's §2. Then the trim- ming is $150. So, altogether, it is $39 50. I smirked. “But is that the cheapest you have?” I asked. “Ob, no,” replied Madame, still smiling; “we have lots cheaper tnan that, and very fashionable, t00; now there’s a red in a coquelicot shade on a shaded helio- trope fancy braid. You see on the left side violets and leaves are arranged against | the crown, and here at the back is a ban- dean upon which violets are massed to fall over the hair. Then there are violets | supported on wire-rubbered stems dis- Here on the right side is 8 chou of red velvet. It is a very pretty effect,”” she said, holding it up admiringly. “What's that worth?'’ “Twenty dollars.” 1 grinved. “Then egain,” she said, ‘‘here’s a fancy green straw braid that’s going to be the rage this season. It has a high crown, almost hidden under’a tangle of bluets. Its brim is medium sizeé, bent up on the left side, fixed under with a tall bunch of lovely blossoms. Toward the back and on the left side here bluets are arranged among loops of Nile green ribbon, with a rhinestone pin supplementing the trim- ming. Ithink the color harmony ischarm- ing, don’t you?” “What's the price?”’ Gighteen dollars.” «Certainly charming.” “Now, here’s a light green chip; the ! brim droops in front and rolls up at the edge of the back. The crown is high and supports & mass of small waite flowers and leaves—" “What's the price?” I gasped. “Twenty dollars.” ood-day !" “Won’t take anything to-day ?"’ “No, guess uot.” “] guess you bad better send your said, smoothing out her smile and dcawing her lip into a curl. OF EASTER BOMNNETS | all that is wrought by the retail trimmers, | itoften happens that nothing they have and twenty hats upon which la de Paris has written the syllables oi ‘ five I bowed my thanks for the suggestion, | done pleases the tastes of certain of their | her ereat authority. bat under my bated breath I was uttering | customers and these ladies give orders for | But notwithstanding these apparently the declaration “not if the court knows | hats specially designed afier their own | high prices, the millinery busiress is one hisself, and I think he do”—and 1 went away. These pattern hats embody not alone ideas, for every woman is a studentin mil- | linery art, andthere is nothing in the line | of attire that sinksdeeper in her soul than ne constant chanqing almost valueless the ing season, so as the | of many losses. of styles rend | roods of the pa s the set styles for the season, but all that | the phases and freaks of millinery fash- | term draws to its close the prices are cut is accepted in the new offerings of ma- terial which the ingenuity and taste of | ions. No only does Europe send us the ma- | often far below cost and goods rushed off to | be gotrid of. Indeed, many are he New the world is in competition constantly | terials of which femininity contrives her | York milliners who, unable to sell even at thrusting upon the great Krench center. | most astonishing effects in chapeaux, but | auction old shapes in frames, unable even These hats then pass into the enormous | she sends us also fashions. 7The great | to give them away, have had them carted workshops of New York and are copied, | birthplace of millinery styles is Paris. | to the nighttime to the bay and dumped. copied and multiplied by hundreds and thousands and are sent all over the East and Central West, rarely, however, to “NO; San Francisco, for this City being itself a great millinery center holds sweet com: munion direct with the exalted mistress of the modes and does its own importing. But after all it is not hats that Paris and the San Francisco wholesaler aim to sell 1o the retailer who siands between them and the consumer. The hatsare made up to display the new features in material, and itis the material which constitutes the great commodity of the millinery trade. The hats the retail milliners make (or trim) themselves, modifying the de- signs ‘as I bave said from the models which they buy. Indeed, notwithstanding NOTHING TO-DAY, THANKS. | Ah, Paree! what exquisite thrills the magic of the name subpenas when ut- | tered in th e contemplation of thought GOOD-BY.” upon millinery. There the deft fingers of the mam-mo-zells, their acute art in- net pot-grown in an atmosphere upon which is exbaled the art of the Louvre, of the Palais des Beaux Arts, of the splen- did architecture of the Tuilleries, the Luxembourg, there ladies employ their finely wrought up sensibilities in the in- vention of millinery designs. Six months before the openings occur in the houses of the San Francisco wholesalers the fiat has gone out in Paris what the season’s style shall be. To this imperial edict New York defers the supple hinges of the knee and obsequiously accepts the four or They must be got out of the way— space is too valuable. Thus thousands of dollars annually go to waste. But it can- not be helped. Fashion must not be kept | back, for while the dark waters splash in their gurgle and gulp of the novelties of a year ago, in dances gay and gaudy Paris with more colored plate:, more pattern hats, more to surprise and charm and stimulate. Then tie needles begin to ply, the machines begin to rattle and the ra- diant things tike butterflies fit into the open to greet the preity smiles of lovely women faces whose charms they shall serve to magnify. J. E. B, e e A New Parisian Fad. A table-tipping fad has takei possession of Paris. Occult influences cause the fur- niture to oscillate. Mysterious raps slowly jar out words of messages from famous persons long dead. These things occur in the most fashionable families. No one has yet attempted to expose the method, if such a thing could be accom- plishad. All this is the wonder of the hour. If hatf what is heard is true Napo- | leon I is thoroughly up to date on the af- | fairs ot the world, and Louis XIV knows just what is taking place in republican | France. So firm a hold has the new idea taken that invitations to table-tipping parties | have become as frequent as a reguest to join a friend at dinner. Any day one is | likely to receive this sort of a note: Mousieur and Madame request Mon- | steur to pass the evening of with | them. There will be table turning. | The invitation is accepted, of course, for | it 15 decidecly unfashionable to refuse. Entering the salon, one is instantly ime | pressed by the air of mystery which is over all. The light is delicately shaded | in just tho fashion that obtainsin the apartments where the psychologist un- iolds to you the mysteries of what is to come. There are several tables in the salon. About these are seated a number of persous, varying from three to eight. There is a hush, a solemn silence, that even the host and hostess seem disjn- clined to break. Scon the guests have al | arrived, and the tapping of the table pro~ ceeds. SUSE Dipsomaniaes in Sweden, when put under restraint, are fed almost entirely on bread steeped in wine. 1In less than a fortnight they loathe the very look and smell of liguor, and when liberated gen- erally become total abstainers. In Rus- sia a similar treatment is followed with good resulta