Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-06-08

Our fair readers will see that these spe-
cimens run from the most expensive and
elaborate, to the cheapest dress that q
fashionable woman is supposed to wear
Besides these, there were the items of re-
pairing two silk dresses, S14 so; making
and trimming lace overskirt and fichu,
$50 So; making and trimming black silk
long dress, $144 20; purple silk suit,
1902 SO; retrimming a sack, $l02 25 a
Hermann suit, 1906 IS making and trim
ming white pique, $92 II, and lastly
flowers, 50 rs; box, 81 %; and hoop
skirt to spread all this richness on, 81.
The stronghold of Mrs. FIynt appears
10 be in "work on trimmings" What
''tits'' were 10 the quack doctor of whom
we read, what mastery inactivity was to
Fabius, what persistency upon one 'Inen
was to Grant, what protection" is to a
Pennsylvania politician, what damnation
is to an ancient Calvinist, that same is
"work on trimmings" to Mrs. Flynt, the
dressmaker. "Work on trimmings, you
see, was charged by the days per
djCDt-the girls keeping account in their
own little books. II was no doubt the
extraordinary plumpncss of the bill in the
item of ''work on trimmings that
warmed Coolidge up to imprecate the
dressmaker when her bill was presented,
and to vow that he would see the Flynty-
hearted creature in-well, anywhere but
Paris-before he would pay such a bill.
Hence arose the little unplcasantness
which furnishes food for the Boston
gossips. First there came the letter from
the dressmaker TO her customer an
exceedingly feminine document, abound
ing in chsrmingly nGiUe and ingenious
passages, showing that the fashionable
Flynt can turn an argument as well as a
tuck, rufile lady's temper as well as her
chemisette, and be quite as much at home
in rhetorical points as among point laces.
The bill was first referred to an auditor,
who reported in favor of paying 81, 263,
as, being an abatement of s647 80. This
satisfied neither party, and then suit was
brought. The lawsuit came ON, aud
has, as promised, been gotten up in good
style. The ablest lawyers were engaged,
and there appeared upon the witness
stand some fifteen or twenty women, only
three of whom were of the male sex.
They swore, severally, that the bill was
reasonable, and that it was exorbitant;
that the work was the best ever seen, and
that it was very poor botch OF a job.
One lady, customer, swore:
GAS dressmsker she has no equal in
Boston or New York; ] had dresses made
elsewhere, here and in Europe-Liyer-
pool; it is no comparison to her work; in
every way it is very superior to anything
l have ever SEEN"
swore of the 1869 Hernani:
''This suit is not properly made. Can
make and trim the whole thing in not q
minute over seven days; worth $50. The
style of these is very ordinary, l think.
The Hermann is the poorest. The rest
are well enough. Nothing but what you
can see on the street any day"
Showing that in dressmaking, as in
poetry, there is no infallible standard,
and that all must be settled de gltstibus
except the bills, which, if settled at all
are settled disgustibuS, as far as the
husband is concerned. The most inter
esting testimony in this case was that of
the Flynt herself, from which we Gull g
few pearls of information. The manner
of charging she explained thus:
NY rates are uniform with all custom
ers these have been my usual prices for
the past three or four years; my trim
mers are in two rooms together; every
girl has a small book like this Zone shown
to the jury; if she worked for lady one
hour she sets it down; in cutting dresses
it is the same; l have regular prices for
the plain part of the dress; | charge moth
ing for my time; am often up till II or !
at night; girl runs the sewing machine;
do not charge for her; every morning
my boOk-keeper collects the books, and |
can see exactly how much each girl docs
on each dress; when the dress is finished,
these items are collected in the item book;
l correct them, and my book keeper
charges them in the bill book.
Mrs. Coolidge knew that my price was 8
day while was in Avon place; at that
time she said she wished to ask me some
questions; she felt she could get her dresses
for less; she wanted to know how made
up my price for acCrtain velvet garment; |
said charged S. day; she said it was
satisfactory, perfectly; we talked over
the prices considerably; as to materials,
my rule is, if purchase at wholesale, TO
charge the retail prices; if buy at Stew
arts, and find that they are selling lower
here, l never charge a cent more
than they are charging here; ii
there is whole piece, | mark II
so much, as ! did with the secrsuCker; if
| buy here a: retail, it is for special
case.
As TO the silk for the long black dress,
ii transpnes that the Flynt picked it out
with her eyes shut" This being the
custom of fashionable Boston d?css-
maker, it will doubtless be adopted al
once as the thing to do in selecting silks.
We will communicate with Mrs. +. and
learn, for the benefit of our lady readers,
whether the same practice extends to
other fabrics than silk. 1t is obvious
that Mrs F. makes out her bills with her
eyes shut, also, as she testifies in
court that several of the items were
charged 'too little" No fashionable
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