Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-03-17
MEMPHIS. TENN. FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH H. 1876

cheap silk counter at Stewards or Ar
mold & Constsble's on a Saturday.
Plaids and eashmeSes, woolens and
serges, may charm With look, and tex.
tare, aud price, never 60 wisely-but
they are like chat before the wind, as
they pale before the Attrsctiveness Of the
cheap silk department.
Oh, how these women-buyers and their
consulting cabinet of advisers feel aud
rustic the silk. and hold il up to the
light, aud compare its thickness with
that which is twenty-five cents more
yard How they rattle over the favorite
names Of the different French manufac-
turers; how the mild.msnuered and obse-
qHious men,clerks 70 over their same
stock Of remarks thousands and thou
sands OF timesl How the candidate for
this article of 2 clothing compares silk
with silk, and searches down among the
roots Of things to 6nd out just which
adviser she can most rely onl And
then the blsck-silk dress is bought-"for
blsck.silk dress is always dressy you
know. dear; one always looks we'll in a
/
Always, says Mary, and out goes
the money from the husbands pocket
book. and married life is SO sweet for
the rest Of that dayl ,F,-
Now what, as a man, maintain about
this phase Of domestic shams is simply
this. The "black-silk dress idea,
which is the normal type OF American
women's dressing, is simply an attempt
TO be always in superlstive condition
of dress-Which is too commonly the
average American ambition.
Englishmen dress in woolens French
women draw their wardrobes from o
variety OF textureg-bnt our American
women, with this prevailing pillow sham
idea running through their lives, cannot
be happy unless they are continually, in
mud and rain in horse-cars and in trains,
at their social best. Consequently they
are arrayed in thin aud shiny silks;
cheap they may be, but at least they are
silks. t.E9 vha
But won't croak any more to-day, for
fear Of becoming hoarse and unpless-
ant. Lmight go into the domestic shsms
Of solid silver. ware, safe and paid for in
the bank, while we use the plated ware
in our cottage homes. | might 20 into
some Of the social shams OF the present
age, after the fashion of that little book
which is 50 old and so funny, Thinks |
to Myself" but let me forbear. No
doubt there is a true social instinct down
at the root Of things in our wives, and
mothers, and daughters; an instinct to
preserve the ideal and cherish that which
is best and most truly refined. o iaoo5
Let US hope this is the explanation OIL
it. Let us believe that we men are apt
to forget the power Of social sentiment
in the presence of that daily grinding
question, What IS the use? which
stares us in the face so continually.
Therefore let Us believe that man is the
possible and PRACTICAL and woman is the
IDEAL and the nnattainabls. This has ar
Emersonian sound. It reads we'll; i
looks as il it might be philosophical.
| But doubt whether this will satisfy u
the next time we come home for wei
come, and are met with the warning cry
Doe'tlie on the pillow shamsp'a
| Ifear, after all, either inwardly or out
wardly I'VE will say, as we hurl the nasty
things into the babys crib, that whicl
we have always said, /" Confound the pill
low.shsms, !" 4 49,. f