Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1871-12-27
SOCIETY AND GOSSIP.
A Satire on Fashionable CaIIs-4bsur-
dIties In observation-disclosures Chit.
Chat.
FORMAL CALLS.

/
FORMAL CALLS.
A writer in the Interior SAYS: II
there is any one thing more than
all others that is disagreeable task,
it is the bore of making a round Of
fashionable calls" Why, after hRv-
ing exchanged calls once, we cannot
take our work and go to the house of
q friend, spend the afternoon and
take tea as our grandmOthers used to
do in the good old times, is more than
can imagine. This having to fuss
and put on all your best clothes,
sashes, curls and furbelows, then go
out at regular intervals on tour from
house to house, gives you no satisfac-
ton whatever, and obliges those on
whom you call to go through the
same ordeal.
How pleasant you feel to ring the
bell Of some formal acquaintance, and
hear some one run out of the hall in
dismay at your importune arrival.
Notwithstanding you may wait a
moment, of course no one comes to
the door, and all you can do is to make
the best of ii, thank your stars you
"are not as other women are, "slip yeur
card under the door, and congratulate
Z yourself on thus summarily having
your list of calls to make lessened by
one.
Again, on calling at another house
you are shown into the drawing-room
with all ceremony by the servant,
who, with the assurance that Mrs.
H will be down in q moment"
leaves you to yourself. This call
requires great patience, and If you can
so control yourself, keep your nerves
calm and mind serene until YOU leave,
you may know 1t has been "good for
you to be there"
After waiting expectant for ten
minutes you lean back in your chair,
survey yourself in q handsome pier
glass opposite, and readjust your bow
or stray curl, and smooth your new
Alexandre's. At last you tire of
this, and begin to wonder if Mrs.
H will ever make her appearance,
for, OF course, you have guessed long
ere this she was dressing.
You wish you had not called that
day, but-you did. You wish you
could leave that house, but-you can't. |
The servant after ushering you in in
formed her mistress, went back to the |
dining-room, and it would never do
for you take French leave" All this |
time remember you are leaning back |
in the "e0Sy chair" in such a manner
that you cannot mess your elegant |
sash or rumple your basque overskirt. |
Ladies only know what fortitude that /
requires.
Finally Mrs. H enters, with an
elaborate apology for her tardiness, or
ignores it entirely, and you greet her
sweetly, make a few remarks and |
withdraw, satisfied that your list is
lessened by six, instead of two, for
want of time.
These, of course, are not what we
ladies meet everywhere, for some calls
are very pleasant, and lead to infinite
and faithful friendship. But such as
mentioned, and other instances as
disagreeable, do much toward making
formal calls bore. Let me ask
Will they ever be out Of fashion I?
Can we look forward only to the
millennium to be absolved from this
form of etiquette
AMERICAN ABsURDIT1Rs IN DRESS.
How shocked would those ladies Of
our first society" be, If they knew
that the torturing and ill-forming
shoes on whose stilt-like heels they
tilt and suffer, no Paris shOpkeeper
would ever offer to lady. For more
than two years American women,
young girls, have walked
the public streets, with conspicuous
chains and lockets, or Haunting bows
of ribbon attracting the attention of
every passing gazer, solacing them
selves by the thought that it was
" perfectly French" If so, it was
costume which no French lady would
wear on the public pavement. The
dress of the French lady is artistic,
simple, faultless-faultless often be-
cause it is simplicity itself. She may
wear brilliant colors in her drawing
room, and in her carriage, never on
the street. When she walks she wears
black or gray, and it never drags on
the ground. When she goes to church (
she wears the same colors, is always ;
attired in the same simplest manner.
This is true also of Italy. In the
Sistine chapel, Rome no lady can
enter unless attired in black, with no /
covering on her head but veil of the [
same hue. What a contrast to the
church attire of American women.
They are accustomed to think Of
themselves as perfect saints compared
with Italian and French women, yet {
they enter the house of God as they (
would a theater. They don their [
gayest plumage, hang on all their {
chains and lOekets, take off their kid /
gloves to show their diamond rings {
in the sacred temple just as in the {
Academy of Music. Worse, they stare
and comment on each others cos
tunes, and absolutely make the
church Of worship place in which {
to study the fashions. The same lack /
Of fitness in dress is seen in the utter
disregard to age, as well as occasions |
in the adaptations Of dress. The wo- '
man of thirty or forty may be as
beautiful as woman Of twenty, by
her own right, il there's no incon- {
gruity between her years and her i
attire. 1t is only when the woman /
Of forty dresses like the girl Of twenty
that she looks absurd. A French {
married lady never wears a round {
hat; an English lady only in travel
ing; an English maiden never at
church. Yet everywhere American
with faces lined and SCARED
may be seen with staring jockeys, set |
on their gray heads like helmets, be- |
howered and befeathered, and more
fantastic than the ones worn by their :
little daughters of ten. FLANNEL and ;
linen and muslin are worthy of their [
princes and princesses abroad, but
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