Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-09-15

FIFTY YEARS AGO.
BY LILLE DEvEREUx BLAKE.

BY LILLE DEvEREUx BLAKE.
How few persons among all the throng
who daily pass through Pearl street, or
hurry across the Battery, ever give even
a fleeting thought to the people to whom
they were what Fifth Avenue and the
Central Park are to us. The beauties
who adorned the society of half century
ago, the wits who enlivened it, are un-
known to the present generation, and
remembered only by . few survivors Of
that time, who are themselves fast hasten
ing to the land of shadows. And yet it
seems sad that all that gaiety and life
| should fade, utterly leaving no trace of its
grace and charm behind that all the in
terest of the stories of the past should find
no chrenicier, and be lost beyond recall,
We have the dry details of the history of
fifty years ago; we have the biographies
OF some OF the prominent people Of that
day; but we have no record Of the heart
romances that made up the tragedy and
comedy of social life. no mention Of the
beaux and bellies who danced and fiirted
and loved in ''the twenties."
Let me try, then, with such poor skill
as possess, to describe, ere it be too late,
some OF the fashions of the long ago, and
the cloves of other days"
! In those years Pearl street was the most
fashionable quarter for private residences.
Where now stand ware-rooms and stores
were then the homes of the aristocracy,
substantial brick buildings, mostly with
''high stoops," wide halls, and spacious
parlors. Basement dining-rooms were
considered decidedly ''ungenteel," the
rear parlor or an extension-room serving
for that purpose. The adornments of the
walls and the ceilings were, in the best
houses, very elaborate, and the mantles.
though curiously high for our modern
fancy, were often elaborately carved.
But, alas for what seems to US an abso-
lutte requisite for comfort, these huge
chimneys offered no better mode of heat
ing than great woed-fires laid up on "and-
irons"
Very much as we of to-day accept "a
modern Improvement" the people of 1920
regarded the introduction of coal, espec-
tally of our favorite anthracite, distrust-
fully at first, incredulous of the merits Of
anything new, and for some time the ex-
treme difficulty of kindling it was consid-
cred an insurmountable objection to its
use. Alderman Benson, whose dry humor
will perhaps be still remembered by some
OF his cotemporaries, when asked what he
thought of the new fuel, replied: "When
the final cOnfagration comes, l shall take
my1stand on a lump of anthracite coal,
for | positively believe it will be the very
last thing to burn
We wonder now how the people of that
day kept warm at all. A hall stove was q
somewhat rare luxury, and an open wood
fire, cheerful as it may be to look at,
seems very inadequate means for heat
ing those spacious parlors. The style of
toilet for ladies, too, was, we should think,
extremely scanty. While cambria or
''mull' muslin was the only material used
for dresses, even in winter, no lady who
had any pretensions to ''ton," ever wore
anything else, except for balls. where COL
ored gauzes and silks were allowable.
These thin fabrics were made into short
wasted ''slips, with very narrow gored
skirts. These were never starched, as it
was considered desirable to have them
cling to the figure. and to secure this some
extremists actually dan:ped the dress after
putting it on. OF course with such fash
ion prev alent warm under-clOthing was out
of the question. One flannel and one cot
ton petticoat were all which the style per-
mitted under the frOck, even in winter,
and this wooilen garment was omitted by
ultra-fashiOnables. Embroidery was the
prevalent trimming for these white robes:
they were worn very short, "to the ankle
bone" being the dress-makers' rule, and
silk stockings and slippers were the only
stylish covering for the feet, even for
walking.
After the wedding of Miss Patterson and
Jerome: :Bonaparte, Mr.. Thomas Hogg, q
wealthy Southern gentleman who had
been present at it, was one evening at a
reception at Mr.. Lynch's, where he be-
came the centre of an eager throng Of
questioners. He described the brides
dress somewhat after this fashion:
''She wore an embroidered French mus
lin that was extremely transparent. very
low in the neck, sleeveless except for a
narrow band across the shoulder, and
very short in the skirt. In fact. think
l could have put all the clothes she had on
in my waistcoat pocket"
This style of classic simplicity, which
came in during the first empire, held sway
with various notifications for many years,
and woman blessed with fine figure
was under no necessity for concealing any
of its graceful outlines. One of the bellies
of that time described to me her walking
suit for one winter, think 1920.
Over the white cambria dress she wore q
crimson cloth pelisse, a long scant gar
ment with light sleeves, and small cape.
Her head was adorned with a huge white
hat of "coal scuttle" shape set off with
crimson ostrich feathers. A large boa of
white fur shielded her throat. and her feet
were Of course fashionably displayed in
thin stockings and kid slippers.
This last foolish and even dangerous alb
surdity of dress we find satirized in many
of the publications OF the day-a day in
which Miss Burney's novels were still
fashionable, Lord Byron was the new poet
and Sir Walter Scott's romances were
looked TOR as the literary sensations of the
season.
The fashionable promenade then was on
Broadway, as fara as the Hospital in winter
and on the Battery in summer. not then
as dreary as it is now. sbut neatly FePt,
and with seats under the waving trees.
from which one could look out over the
| r. -. ethap the fashionahla hall for halln