The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-07-25 00:00:00

VOLUNTEER COAST DEFENCE.

On Saturday afternoon a meeting of mayors and
provosts of the cities and towns of Great Britain was
held at the Mansion House to promote the objects
of the Naval Volunteer Home Defence Association.
The aim of the association is to stimulate local efforts
of seaports to defend themselves, and to raise funds
from the country generally to aid them in that object.
Lord Cowper presided, in the absence of the Lord
Mayor, and was supported by Admiral Sir John
Hay, Rear-Admirals W. Arthur and E. R. Freemantle,
Major - General Sir Andrew Clarke, Sir John
Whitaker Ellis, M.P.' &c. Sir J. W. Ellis moved the
first resolution: "That this meeting approves of the
objects that the Naval Volunteer Home Defence Asso-
ciation have in view, and pledges itself to promote
and develop a national movement in its support."
He said that the association was of the greatest
possible importance. They had suddenly awoke to
the fact that the whole of their coasts were open
to attack. It was a matter of astonishment that
there was no voluntary naval force in this country,
and that the ports of New Zealand were 'in a better
state of defence than many of thoso. at home.
Admiral Sir John Hay, in seconding the motion, said
it might be necessary that the Government should
provide guns, batteries, and a capitation grant; but it
was desirable that the localities themselves should
have boats and train men for the purposes of defence.
There were between 5000 and 6000 persons attached
to different districts, snch as pilots, lightermen, &c.,
who were desirous of serving the country, but who
could find no force to which to enrol themselves.
Captain J. C. R. Colomb supported the motionx.which
,was agreed to. On the motion of Sir C. XliPtit, a
further resolution was agreed to, which stated that it
was desirable that public meetings should'"bc &lied
by the Lord Mayor, mayors, and provosts of the
towns of Great Britain, with the view of,establishing
committees for raising subscription; and. for_warding
the movement,

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•5ai04411.4,V440',„ ii.i'Velf4e,l Age, -XIV AKI

GOSSIP ON DRESS.

A FASHION writer in the Lady's Pictorial mys: In
spite of the fact that the season of summer tales is
just now at its height, and that, a 3 a natural conse-
quence, some slight disorder must needs prevail, even
in tho best establishments, among certain of the
sufinner goods, there aro, ravertheles s, a tram ber of won-
derfully pretty gowns. 400 e of these will be simply
invaluable to thos6 who m meditating visits of any
length in the country, a hips to those gay conti-
nental towns, where thrti, = four changes of toilette
each day become a positive neressity of existence.

TIIE bzight July sunshine naterallv fills our minds
with tantalising visions of life va the river, and we
think with envy of those of our fends who are now
enjoying the sight of the sunlight gickering through
the trees, or the eeol shadows lying-pleasantly acrnss
the water, and while we anticipate the delights cf
the time when we shall spend long hours indulging
in the dolce far ni'eNtte, and revelling, in the beauty
of those "heavenly days that cannot die," our first
thought must be as by what we shall rear for our
river expedition.

AT one house I was shtwn an entire nolty in the
way of a gown, suitable fcr boating, yachting, or sea-
side wear, and for which r think it safe tc 'predict a
great success. A. deep flonnce of red and white wool
lace covered the front of the skirt, short smart-look-
ing draperies of the finest navy blue cloth, at once
light and cool, crossing the front, and falling prettily
over the baqk of the skirt. The bodice is very original,
being a zouave shape made in blue cloth, fitting closely
to the figure at the sides, but with a charming loose
vest in front, made in the fashionable red Indian
cotton, and having at the waist a most becomin-V-
-shaped band of dark velvet.

A MOST invaluable accessory to wboating costume-is
also to be seen here in the shape a° loose blouse or
sailor jacket of striped flannel, numbers of which were.
to beseen at Henley. These blouses are made after-
a very nautical and natty fashion, with a flat sailor
-
collar, and a jaunty outside pocket. Every lady who
knows how to handle an oar will ' appreciate the
enormons advantage of such a jacket 'as this, but you
must go- and see these blouses for yourself, if you
would understand that they are quite as pretty and
becoming as they are sensible and useful. Tailor-
made travelling gowns are to be seen in great perfec-
tion at this establishment, and when the material is a
fine cloth ors Scotch tweed, there is no manner of doubt
that a man's needlework is infinitelypreforable to that
of any female dressmaker in existence. The neatness
of finish wh;ch gives such a dapper and semi-military
air to the collars and cuffs, the tidy firmness of the
button holes, and the happy result of the hot-pressing
and ironing (the secret of which is never apparently
revealed to the outer world), all help to give a.distinct
character and style to a tailor-made gown.

A cEnvairr very loose light make of Scotch tweed,
eminently suitable for travelling gowns, has been pre-
pared for the forthcoming season. No bad weather
can possibly spoil this material, and its marvellous
lightness should be its greatest recommendation. Tile
weight of a tailor-made cloth gown has hitherto been
a very serious drawback to the comfort of the wearer,
but it seems to me that this now loose make of Scotch
tweed simply leaves nothing to be desired. In a
finer and closer tweed I saw some lovely tailor-made
short round jackets. The cloth was grey with-some
threads of red in it, and the•coat was lined through-
out with red silk, and trimmed with jannty-silver
buttons. Of the smarter gowns, I saw, of course,
numbers made in the white and cream Indian
muslins and lawns of which I spoke last weelcrall of
them being trimmed with deep flounces of white
Swiss work, and looking delightfully light and cool.
Another pretty gown of white Indian cotton, was
made with a narrow-shaped vest of galloon, in a
pretty shade of gold; galloon collar and cuffs, and
gold-coloured ribbons brought round from the side
seams of the bodice, and tied in long bows in front.

I AM glad to see everywhere that wide sashes of soft
silk are very much worn. Tied in a large loose bow
on the left side of the waist, they are extremely be-
coming. A sash of surah silk admits of possibilities
in the way of draping of which no other skirt adorn-
ment is at all capable, and this pretty new fashion
should find great favour in the sight of all who wish
their gowns to be fashionable, at the same time that
they are graceful and artistic.
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I SAW at another establishment one o?-the coolest
and prettiest boating gowns imaginable. It was made
in a cream-white serge, the front of the skirt being
draped with a deep flounce of a loosely-woven cream
wool lace, which gave a charmingly light appearance
to the whole. The edge of the lace was richly em-
broidered, in subdued tones of colour, while the long,
straight folds of serge drapery at the sides and back
were most skilfully arranged so as to give length and
elegance to the figure. This wool lace, which must
not be confused with the popular yak, will, I am con-
vinced, be one of the most prominent and pleasing
features in the boating costumes of the present season.
While I am on this subject, I must call the attention
of my readers to another excepticnally lovely lace,
which is used to great advantage in the making of
evening gowns. It is a broad ficslle, delicately em-
broidered in a kind of fine tinsel thread, and having a.
quaintly Oriental appearance.
I WAS able to judge of its e;fect in one very pretty,
evening gown, made of the softest satin merveilleux,
in a delicious shade of rose me. The satin part of the.
gown consisted of a bouillcAW petticoat over a pretty
foot-frill, also of satin; and then, partly veiling the
front of this, and draped most gracefully, were.
some soft-looking flounces- of this delicate flceLle- and
silver lace. •

ANOTHER. delightful, little gown, very appropriate
for a young girl's small dance or home dinner
dress, was of white silk Indian muslin (a fabric which
is being very generally used now in preference to the
easily crushed tulle and Brussels net), made with a
deep flounce of Valenciennes lace, across the left side
of which was tie& a graceful bow of white gauze
ribbon. For a girl in her teens such a frock of this
would be just perfection. A more elaborate evening
gown was in the palest rose-pink veNiiine, a delight-
fully soft and uncrusbable kind of silk, made with a
demi-train, arranged in long full folds at the back, a
graceful variation on the somewhat stiff lines of the
so-called "water-fall" backs of some seasons since.
The front of this pink gown was very pretty, being
draped from the waist downwards with soft cream
lace, closely embroidered with tiny pearls. A bunch
of pale pink ostrich feathers was fastened half-way
down the skirt on the left side.

I SAW also a pretty evening gown for an older
wearer, having a train of dark grey vdoutine, and a
folded front to the skirt of pale grey satin merveil-
leux, the pale grey being covered entirely with a pam-
pille net, sewn all over with glitterinng steel beads.
Another variety of net (which makes up charmingly
for summer gowns) has sprays of coloured flowers
upon a white ground, by far the prettiest design being
formed of clusters of the palest lilac blossoms. These
coloured nets are most effective made up on a foun-
dation of white oorah silk.

jIIST at the present moment the sound of the wed-
ding-bells is in the air, and all our thoughts are tuim-
ing more or less towards the Royal wedding, and the
garments of brides and bridesmaids generally. With
the end of the London season, there comes always a
great rush to purchase wedding garments, and this
being the case, I hope very shortly to give my readers
some useful hints as to theprettiest and newest things
in bridal toilettes. Meanwhile I must just toll you
of a pretty notion for bridesmaid's frocks, which
has just been carried out very successfully. The
dresses were of white book muslin, made very
simply with half-a-dozen tucks to the skirt. Round
the waist were broad pieces of soft surah silk,
tied on the left side in large bows, made with
long ends, reaching almost to the bottom of the skirt.
The novel feature in these frocks consisted in the
fact that each bridesmaid wore a sash of a different
colour, one being strawberry, one pale yellow, another
turquoise blue, and another rose pink. The variety
thus given to the colouring was novel and charming.
Some other pretty bridesmaids' dresses were in pale
cream canvas, with wide surah sashes of turquoise
blue tied down on to the skirt, and fastQp.ed in a full
bow on tin left F3ide. The frilling in the neck an
sleeves was en suite, being of cream canvas, with pale
blue spots in chenille.
I must especially commend to the notice of my
country readers one admirable system pursued by
one of the houses already alluded to. I allude to
their excellent plan of sending to country customers
artistic little sketches of various costumes, clearly
and prettily drawn in pen and ink or in colours, and
accompanied by a careful explanation in writing as
to colour, style, &c., together with patterns of the
various materials in which the costumes may be
made. It is impossible to over-estimate the great
convenience of this arrangement for ladies living at a
distance from London.