Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-05-11
"And didst thou see the dwellers of that land9'
HOOKS AND EYES.

A Brief Chapter ON these Domestic
ArtieIes-Their Real AEission-Bung.
Iers at Best-ssTig htness'' the Neces-
sary Condition to Their Use.
1 do not know the precise date of the In
yention of these articles, but fancy they
must have come into use before buttons
were known, 30 rude and primitive, as a
means of fastening garments, do they ap-
pear, even In their most improved state.
By French dresSmskers they have been
tabooed almost entirely for many years. A
Paris modste ALWAYS maintains that dress
fastened with hooks and eyes, especially
down the waist, never looks "fnished"
and never fits perfectly. l think she is
right. Clever dressmakers always leave
them to those bunglers whose best work is
but botched job. To fasten dress down
the front of the waist with hooks and eyes,
coucealing them by some clap trap of use
less buttons or ornamental trimming, is a
clear confession, on the part of the maker,
of lsziness or inability. For to make good
button hoIes-hutton holes fit to be diplayed
10 all the world on silk or satil-is an art
in itself; and when we'll done such work re-
ouires considerable time. This is more
than made up, however, by the superior
finish and durability given 10 dress fssten-
ed neatly with buttons and button holes.
The fit is always improved thereby,
while hooks and eyes are capable OF impair
ing the beauty of the best fitting waist that
ever was made. In one respect they may
be classed among the inventions OF Satan.
We must acknowledge this when we re-
member that they flourish most when 1t is
an impracticability to fasten dress in any
other way. When it is the fashion to have
the waists of robes so tight that only hercu-
lean exertions can make both ends meet,
then hooks and eyes are in their glory;
for you cannot button dress that is too
tight. Button and button holes refuse to
lend themselves TO any such de-
vices of the enemy. Tightness is,
indeed, the only condition OF
success in hooks and eyes. The strain is
required TO keep them fastened. They are
worthless for any loose garment, which is
plain confession Of their more than utter
uselessness, of their injurious tendenc es
from a hygienic point of view. They are
Away coming unfastened or bursting on
at critical moment and catching at things
which they have no business to NEEDLE with.
They are the deadliest known enemies
of lace. If there is a bit of lace trim
ming in the same room with pair of hooks
and eyes, you will surely find it in their
clutches before very long.
The injury that has resulted to dresses
trimmed with costly lace from hook and
eye fastenings is greater than any other
sort of damage. And when she remembers
the rents in her point and guipule from
this cause, L think any lady would be
justified il dismissing a dressmaker who
would send her home lace-trimmed
garment of any sort fastened with hooks end
eyes, since it cannot even lie in drawer
without the lace becoming entangled with
them, and then the slightest unwilling
movement tears hole IN it. The same
remarks apply to fringes, and any soft,
porous, or yielding fabric, with which hooks
come in contact. This is not to be won
dered at, since hooks were made expressly
to catch at things, as their names imply.