The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-04-15
noyiy Warden mud the Ladscs-."h af
are Dolly y'arGcHs"

FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, April 11.-rih >ick
of Dolly NardcnS.
That is. I could stand it to have Mr..
Perkins live in Dolly Warden morning wrap
rrr,. wear occasionally Dolly Warden after
noon costume, and indulge in Dolly Warden
oprrp dresses now and then; But, when MrS.
Trrkils-;lsks me-to tp-e-a-r Dolly Warden
vests, Dolly Warden lnntaloonS, anu Don!
Warden shirt colaS--and DISKS me 10
change of my Bon .iOrchf cambria hanukcr-
chiefs. with the big monographs ON them, Tor
II square of exaggerated WindoW-curtln-l
sny when she asks me to wear Dolly \aroen
clothes myself, sleep on Dolly Warden sheets,
aud wipe ON Dolly Warden towels, then
say. like poor prosecuted Toodles, chang
Dolly Warden aforesaid.
What are Dolly FardcnS?'
This is how they came about: In the
spring of 1870, while Napoleon was fus$lng
with Benedict up at Ems, and Benedict WAS
flushing with old King William to drive him
into tie big war, the Empress Eugenle was
making up party to 70 to the Longchan!p
race. The crazy ladies of the court had eN-
Trusted all the recent fashions, and so the
Empress set about getting up u style for the
races which should be just about as crazy ID
fashion as old Nip, her husband, was Graz!
in war. Eugene sent for Worth, the man
millincr, and together they planned those
rose and sun-hower spanglcd Creto,ne SUITS,
and got I'D Leghorn 'shoo fly hat, with
velvet and daisies and dandeionS, and any
and everything which should look like Mrs.
Flannagan's weedy, hollyhock-bordered back
yard. 49, .,,.
insane specimen of window-curtain, and the
hats looked---well, looked just as coquettlsl
"a our Dolly Warden hats do now. 1t looked
as if it had been struck with whlrlWmd be
hind--or, in word, it was cooked hat just
ready to fly, but anchored down by velvet
strings.
swell, the Empress and the Court ladies
went up to the Longchamp races, and wore
these window curtain suits. Of course Paris
was crazy about it; but just then ola King
William slapped half million Dutchlnen
over into Alsace and Lorraine, which made
the Empress quit the races and run back to
Paris to look after the hospitals which were
full Of wounded Frenchmcn.'
"Who revived the crazy fashion,"
"Well, Mrs. b, of Fifth avenue, and
several Of our ladies brought back the Win
dow-curtain dress from Paris in the fall of
1870, and wore it ut the Jerome races,
very proper place for it. Last spring it be-
gan to creep out up at Saratoga. The
pretty Mrs. P-io was the envy of all the
ladies, for she had one right from Worth's.
They were lust the cheese for the races,
and did well for Saratoga graveyard filrta-
tons and morning breakfast down at Moons,
but now the ladies are becoming as crazy as
the fashion. They insist on wearing the hop.
vine, s,inflower pattern, all the time.
''rhey are cutting up their window-cur-
tains to make what they call now Dolly
Warden dresses, and the little forty-cent pal
metto hats made by the darkics in Florida
arc brought up here, cooked up Oh one side,
ballasted with $40 worth of Paris pansie,
and poppies and bachelors buttons, and sold
for $40. But don't they make sensation
It's all right-Dolly Warden was a crazy wo-
man; she did all sorts Of queer things; but
If Dolly should walk out Of her crazy Eng
fish grave and drop down OH Broadway, and
sec thirty-fve thousand insane American wo-
men adopting her lunatic dreSs-patterns and
cutting up generally, Just as Dickens said
she used to 'cut up Dolly would imme-
distely get up n grand fair to raise funds
to build u gigantic Dolly Warden insane
asylum.
These window-cmtain Creiwne suits are
only to be worn at the races. They are not
for morning nor afternoon; but now every
Biddy on four dollars per week is talking
about Dolly Warden for morning, Dolly VAR
den for evening, and Dolly--clrVy Dolly Var
den for funerals and weddings-for the pail
bearers and bridesmaids! seq EIi."--E4
Perkins, in Nc,o York Commercial.