New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-02
Fashionable Folly in New York.

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Fashionable Folly in New York.
The New York correspondent of the Chicago
| Tribune, speaking of the universal overdressing
| of the women of New York, says:
The costliest fabrics, fit for queens wardrobe
Or the trousseau of the Duchess de Mouchey, nee
Anna Murat-the extravaganza of whose bridal
array was scandal even in Paris-tind ready pur-
chasers On Broadway you may count hundreds
| of the once unattanable cancels hair shawls in a
five minutes walk, though their price is augmented
greatly; and velvet cloaks, which have, the past
winter, cost three hundred dollars, are so common,
and worn every day in our dusty streets, so grimy
and gray, that one gladly turns to the plain and
pretty English beaver, which the moth of use can
not corrupt. and whose beauty the gusty thieves
will not steal. The most bizarre and startling
fashions have decided, if brief, popularity and
| the eagerness with which the cheap iridium orna-
ments are bought and worn by all classes of
women is a sad commentary on the artistic sense
which inspires these toilets Pray Heaven the
wise virgins of Chicago may gently rebuke
! their wastefal and too profuse cousins of
Gotham in the name of sweet sim
piicty. For, as Hamlet remarks of the
popularity of his unce's picture, (Which, if that
depicting resembles any Claudius it was ever my
| misfortune to see. was amply amazing,) " There is
something more than natural in this if philosophy
could make it OUT and philosophy makes it ont
to be this: If we pay two dollars for every far
tastc nothing which q converted whm can hunger
for, when we have but one dollar to pay, which is
exactly the condition of large contingent Of this
proud republic, there will come day when very
bitter reckoning must be made. Having had one
jolly and grotesque dance of fashion, we must pay
the greedy piper, who was gay Bassanio while he
piped and fierce Shylock in the settlement. While
we send gold abroad as if the Hudson were the
new PactoIus, we have paper money, if as buoy
ant, aack, possibly az ugacious as the thistedown
Our over crowded city forces merchants to pay
enormous rents. The immense absorption of
costly wares by the women Of the land has stimu-
lated their importation, and the prices asked must
be enormous to sustain the dealers. Many bust
ness firms lean one against the other. The first
brick falling down tumbles the whole row. Old
and sagacious business men now predict panic
and much distress. 1t is, perhaps, on y individual
economy Which can make reform worth anything.
In Paris, societies have been formed in the name
of, Sainte Mousseline, the members of which
pledge themselves to wear only the simplest raj
ment. But one remembers how leagues were
formed here to interdict the use of foreign luxu
ries during the war. Ladies came to the meeting
voting with hands that flashed with diamonds. The
long line of costly equipages stretched half q
mile from the doors Of the hall. The convention
quaTelled about the terms Of the covenant, as
feminine conversations always do, (the nobler sex
versed in parliamentary law, and well read in
Chesterield's letters to his son, never calls names
or loses temper, which is proof that it alone is fit
to legislate,) and finally decided to pledge itself
manufacture which she thought she could do
without. You see what heroic abstinence, what
an ascetic selt-denial must have followed The
shopman never sold so many costly goods. the
ladies never made such dazzling toilets, and the
national debt steadily grew. After this little
sugar-coated pill of morality, the feminine world
shall have teaspoontul of Jelly, in the shape of
another item or two, concerning the modes. Soft
shades will be the most stylish-layender violet
and gray being de rigeMr.d III.
Flounces have made their temperance, one
wide one expressing the highest fashionable
knowledge on the part of the wearer. Basqunes
will give place to loose garments this spring. The
oldiashioned doublet, or triple palma, and short
sleeveless circular, are the favorite NODES A
French saeque, cut with sleeves, has appeared.
Except with a dress of the same hue it is very
ugly The empire bonnet is fast becoming thing
Of hateful memory. The new shapes are SMALL
close front andnarrow barroet Or curtain, with no
crown whatever and only fall of rich lace over
the thignon; the pamela, a grotesque something
between the aforesaid gypsy and an exaggerated
Mary stnarts cap; and q very minute and ap-
pang object, like a dolls soup plate called va
riously the parapa, the vatican, and the paysanne.
and fiaunt as ugly. Of these modes the croWnless
shape, being the only endurable one, is like to be
the least popular, the eagerness for the outre and
fantastic having become feverish.
What if Peter Stuyvesant could revisit these
b glimpses of the moon! Picture that frugal gen
tlemaan,s amazement at the brilliant llordes of
Broadway shoppers swept past him Sadly CON
scious that the great world had wlirled by, with
no room on its swift circle for his old time per
sonality and antquated notions, he would seek his
last yew tree to weep beneath its venerable
branches and find even them about to leave.
~'' -s---
AN EDITOR SoLD.-It is said that editors have
peculiar way of prying into other peoples bust
ness, and we are compelled to confess to a SELL
While in Chicago we had 0 desire to see Joliet
and got on the cars for that purpose. Passing
through the middle car, we could see no vacant
seat and was obliged to put up with part of one
with telloWtpassenger near the stove. He was
apparently about twenty years of age, and had a
large soldiers blanket thrown loosely over his
shoulders. On the opposite side sat a stout TO-
bustfellow, with dark hair and quick, intelligent
eyes, who turned them upon us for moment and
seemed dread our very thoughts, then sunk back
upon ms seat, and forget the past and future in
what appeared to be sound sleep. We then
turned to our neighhor and asked how far he was
ITO Joliet"
'Have you any friends there?' ra5 -vjH
"No; but have some strong recommendations
from prominent man in Chicagon t@ ,s'' III
"Ah!' we exclaimed; " from Whom?r ..
s,ssRecorder Van Buren,"
Indeed glad to hear it,n we contipued
Wishing to find some friends at Joliet, YOU. Der
haps, will basof seryiee.'' bsa gsaA.rsY 1880
Anything can do for you, I wll'' he replied,
we nervogsly asked -. '''o'
"Well, We recorder, taking into consideration
/ my youth, sent me for TWO years and a half to
learn the lapdary's trade, and as you are one Of
those prying ankces, poking your nose into
7 everybody bsiness if you had got your just des
tserts you wouldhave been there long ago. N
n The sheriff woke from feigned sleep and burst
into roarIof laughter, in which hewas joined by
! the other passengers. We arose from our sitting
I posture, cast one bewildered gaze on the funny
'he. then at the roaring passengers, and, like
II the whole conn f?l vanished from the scene.
have no more authority s -
" 'heart saying
ax-