The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1866-02-22
yftistellaueuns.
Full Dress" in America,

The New York correspondent of
the London Spectator tells the fol
lowing pleasant tale :-"The same
woman will bo at the opera on one
evening in full dress in private
box, and if she does not own a
box, at the next performance in the
stalls or the parquet, with arms,
shoulders and head all covered.--
A lady whom | knew had rather
an unpleasant experience in an at
tempt, some years ago, to disregard
this tacit understanding among the
sex in regard to the dinner dress at
hotels. She belonged to an ultra
fashionable set, and having marri-
cd South Carolina planter, soon
adopted what we call plantation
manners" and affected no little
scorn OF simple hammered, reserved
New England folks. She was at
Newport, our great seaside water
ing place, and having just returned
from Europe, took great heirs upon
herself. One evening, at the tea
table, a gentleman sat down near
her, and the butter plate before him
happening to have no butter knife
by it at the moment, he, instead
of calling the waiter and waiting
for one to be brought, used his own
perfectly fresh, bright knife to take
bit of butter. He was man OF
culture and social standing, but a
Yankee, and one whose social pre-.
tensions she wished to hout. She
seized the opportunity, and calling
a waiter, said in an claborately sub
dued, but decided tone, " take
away that butter; that gentleman
had his knife in it." lie took no
notice of the remark, which drew
all eyes upon him and upon the la.
dy. But by and by she stretched
out her hand and took from the
plato some Clipped dried beef,
which stood between her and her
victim. This wac ',9H enough, Q,
e.arso, but he TUNED at once, and
calling a waiter, said, "take away
that dried beef, this lady has had
her fingers in it," In this encoun-
ter, such as it was, he was thought
to have had the best Of it, and she
did not forget nor forgive. So a
few days afterward-l should have
said that there was the slightest
possible acquaintance between
them-they being at dinner, she,
conspicuous in the full dress she
had adopted since her tour to Eu,
rope, and which was SO very full"
that it would have attracted atten.
ton under any circumstance, took
one from a dish of fresh figs be.
fore her, and putting it on a plate,
handed it to him with an EXPIRES
sion of complaisancc, but saying
in a tone of unmistakeable signfi.
cance, which could be heard all
around her, GA fig for you, Sir"
lie accepted it graciously, and Ia
king in his turn leaf from the
garniture of the dish, offered 1t to
her with ga fig leaf for you,
madam" She fled the table, and
kept her room until her intended
victim left the hotel. 1t was gene
rally agreed that he had done what
! a gentleman would shrink from do
ing /; but the proyocation was such
that he was held guiltless of Of
Tense, and applauded for his wit !;
and nobody, except perhaps a few
of the slaveholding friends, pitied
her. This is the last instance that
| know OF, OF a lady's aPpearingin in
lull dress at a public table, But |
am told that within the last three
or four years it is coming more in
fashion among the " tastesth sets
at the highth of the season at Sara
toga, and ono or two Others -four
| gayest wateringplaces. ~
40 Itis estimated that tho average