The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-15
THE WEATHER AND THE FASHIONS.
The Ne,V York Times of to. dav.

From the NetU York Times OF to-day.
Yesterday, for the first time in four weeks, it
was possible for pedestrians to walk the streets
without being covered with mud. cold north
west wind had dried up the whiting OF Broad
way, ana even the subaqueous crossings we're
tolerable. II was "0pening Dayn-that is, the
day when Queen Fashion permits her slaves to
have a glimpse at the new torture5 she has pre-
pared tor them. 1t was noticeable, however,
that her dPVotees we're fewer IN number than
usual, and that it would seem that there is
some ground for hope that there will be a
large detection from her ranks this season.
The first serious inroad lately made was in
the adoption of the new style OF dress-the
short overskirt pattern-of which thousands
have already been made, and seven-eighths of
them from the secondhand material OF the full
skirts with which the ladies were wont to brush
the sidewalks, or carry gathered like loose
grain-bags around their heels. If fashion really
has done at least one sensible thing {;
but ugly bachelors who have so long
been bothered with trails, and suffering
husbands who have paid their thousands
for the Old.iashioned street-sweepers, Will tell
you that necessity, ahd not fashion, is the
motive power. When houses rent for $4,000 q
year, and board is cheap" at twenty-five dol
lars a week IL is quite possible that silks may
be held at i've dollars yard for considerable
period without finding purchasers. But never
mind the cause; the reform is most acceptable
Women who have for years moved along the
streets without visible means of locomoton,
who nave swung up ana OOWu the pave mucn
as a cooper would roll tunnel-shaped tub, at
last confess that they have feet, and are not
ashamed 10 show them-wlth boots.
II this is a result of the high tariff on silks
let us hasten to ackno wledge that good may
come out of evil--that the toad has jewel in its
head. We should like to feel certain chat the
reform was spontaneous tribute to common
sense; but such theory is at least hazardous.
The connection between Commol sense and
fashion is not susceptible of proof-indeed, we
may almost say 1t is an impossibllity. For
Fashion delights in extravaganza, and
so soon as any one of her inventions
comes to be reduced within the reach of 'com-
mon people," it is no longer fashionable-she
Iepudiates 1t and sets her wits at work to invent
its opposite. Looking at the gay threng yester-
day, we felt encouraged to hope that the ap-
preaching season would redeem women from
some of their oppressive chains. The dresses are
already reformed; they are not Only neat but
convenient and comfortable, and Except in
som cases where forty or fifty pounds of glass
beads are dragging the victim into an early
grave) are so great an improvement in the way
of cleanliness and health, that we ought to give
puOllc thanks for the change.
Then the waterfall nuisance is disturbed-ctig-
mons are on the move. We saw yesterday lots
of them that had erawled up from the here
tofore resting-plaCe on the snciput almost to
the crown. 1t IS true the effect was ludicrous,
as the big bunch of some dead PERSONS or
natural back hair up so that the sufferers
heels hardly touched the ground, and her
shoulders were hunched up with manifest
evidence of pain; and what added TO the COM
micality Of the picture was that the little pancake
called chat" was pushed forward and hung
over her eyes just as Frank Chanfrau used to
cock his ''kady" in "Mose.n And so. tipped
over upon her toes by the rise in her chlgnOn,
and halt blinded by the hat forced over upon
the tip of her nose by the same aggressive CHG
nOn the sufferer stumbled along the street in a
stage suggestive OF extreme dizzlness. 1t is to
be hoped that these aspiring chignOnS will COM
plete their journey, pass entirely over head,
ana disappear with the chats" they are now
crowding out of place. As for the new devices
of Queen Fashion it is not the province of this
writer to speak. They are wonderful to be-
hold; but there is consolation in the fact, that
nothing could be worse, more expensive, more
ungraceful, more ridiculous than the fashions
Just gone or going out of date. There is every
reason to believe that we shall soon find that
women have not only feet but heads; and if it
shall also be found that those heads have half
as much brains inside as they have had horse
hair outside, the day of Jubilee will begin to
dawn.