The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-10-09
ENGLISH WOMEN.
Their DOwdiness from an American
stand point.

standpoint.
An American or French woman, land
ing in England, finds infinite food fol
mirth and amusement in the dresses @
the English women, not only of thos,
of the middle and lower classes, but
| those OF the highest aristocracy the
| parrot beaked and purple-ehecked dow
! ayers that are to be seen at the opera IT
! Hyde Tark, and their comeIy young
! daughters. There is a depth Of inge
nuity, an inveDtiveness, so to speak,
abOut English bad taste which is per.
fectly marvellous. Not content with
| following the French fashions, they
cOntrive sundry fashions of their owu
which are simply amazing. For in
! stance, few years ago the upper ten
| at the opera adorned themselves to a
woman with snowy gilt ooronets,
! not unlike the diadem of a stage
! queen. In the matter of couture
il must be confessed that they excel.
Long after the set, stiff, horse hair
! stuEed chignOn had been replaced in
| France and America by the graceful
| low-drooping lpoped braids which have
been succeeded by the high nRuds of
| the present style, English women still
were wearing chignons of portentious
| vi L4CoSg cNA4N l. OAtCo Ek1N Il 1HilF WHO
wore two chignOns, both of immense
| size, one fastened at the back of her
head, where such ornaments are usu-
ally appended, and the other pinned OF
the top of her cranium-a sort Of two
story chignop, the effect of which was,
to say the least of 1t, odd. I have also
vivid recollection of an old lady, a
lady somebody something, who was
staying at the Langham hotel when !
was last there, and who occupied table
next to that # our party. She used to
come down dressed for dinner, with a
large, long-stemmed flower, either a
rose, a tulip, or a cluster of smaller
flowers, planted at the junction of her
huge chignon with her head, and stand
ing stifiy erect to the height of about a
foot. Then there was q young ladv
who used to wear a black silk apron,
trimmed with an old-fashioned set of
HOuiton lace (collar and sleeves), the
collar being so placed as 20 mark the
outline of the damsePs abdomen, while
the sleeves were tastefully disposed on
each of the lower corners of the apron.
Nor can [ forget a lady who came IN
great state to the hotel TO make a call,
and who probably thought she was
dressed IN mourning, her toilet consist
1A4b VI a DOLADAGiliC OE0BS, INC WnOle
skirt nearly covered with broad band
of Grape, black Grape bonnet, a velvet
jacket trimmed with guipure lace, and
pin and earrings of bright yellow gold.
| Then they have no idea of appropriate
ness or the relative fitness Of things.
Straw bOnnets and velvet jackets are a
very common combination, while if
there Is 8 costume that the English
6OErgeOiSe loves beyond another, it is a
hght-cOlOred OTgaDdie muslin worn over
dark Worsted balmOral skirt. Thus
atbired, with a cotton lace shawl and a
black net bonnet adorned with cheap
and gaUdy flowers, our Anglaiss consid-
ers herself &" dressed"
Eyenthe best bred English ladies have
not yet learned that thin dress should
be worn over petticOat as long SIS itself,
and have seen fair danes at fetes and
tiOWer shows, Rttired In costly toilets Of
Vaienciennes lace and transparent mus
lin, the delicate dress sweeping the
ground, while beneath appeared short
petticoat of glazed muslin and a pair of
stout English feet arrayed in substau-
tial and shapeless walking boots. Eug-
lish boots are generally extremely ugly,
being broad, fiat, and heavy, and have
sometimes thought that American
chaussures might have robbed the pedal
extremities of the British female of
half their reprOach. Cinderella herself
would not have been able to display a
pretty foot had she bought her glass
slippers in LO, don. Perhaps it is by
reason of these ugly boots that short
walking dresses have never become pop
ular In England; nay it is not so very
long ago that saw in the Queen, among
the queries of correspondents, tn
question as to whether IL was proper to
wear a short dress to church. But If
English ladies desire amplitude and
longitude of the lower section of their
garments in the daytime, they do not
object to curtailing the upper half of
it's fair proportions In the evening. As
they have magnificent busts and shoul-
ders, the effect Bstherically is good
morally, it might be considered the re-
verse. Nor can I forget the criticism
of a disgusted old gentleman who,
while railing at the exposed charms of
decOlJete damsel, was gently checked by
his young daughter with the remark,
"But, papa, she has sUoh q beautiful
neck" eyes, my dear" was the an
swer, cher neck and shoulders are we'll
enough; but her stomach IS devilish /
ugly"
I have met English ladies travelling in |
rough cloth jackets, worn over dirty |
ball dresses F; and once encountered a /
party who for costumes de UO3Iage were /
arrayed in old riding habits with the /
skirt out Off and battered |
high beaver riding hats. Nor can I /
forget the accomplished Lady X,
whose habitual costume when she was /
at Niagara Falls, in the broiling month /
of July, was black velvet gown and a /
white opera-hat with q long white
plume. But the Ioveliest English toilet /
that I ever did behold was worn by a
LADY about fifty years of age whom I
met while travelling IN Germany, and
whose travelling attire consisted of
dirty crushed skirt Of white puffej
tulle, en- India shawl, and a black straw
round hat Her appearance IS she 4
sailed down the platform of tie Carls-
ruhe station, with a wjsp Of soiled tulle
dragging at her heels, was decidedly /
for she was tall, stOut and /
horid, and showed of her peculiar cos