The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-01-11

WOMEN or Looking out from
Union Square, as this oasis IN the desert OF
OF buildings is called, We get an idea Of how
interlninnoe Broadway crowd is.
About quarter Of amils feriher north Madi-
son Square relieves the confinement of the
street with fountains, grass, shrubs, and trees,
and between the two such a parade may be
seen on fine afternoons, especially Saturdays,
as no other city IN America, and few other
cities in the world, can show. The great retail
hcuses OF the Stewards, the Tiifapys, the Ar
nolds and Constables, and the Lords and Tay-
| ois, are concentrated within these limits or ia
| the immediate neighborhood, and woman in
her most elegant attire appears in quest OF
new additions to her already voluminous ap-
parel.
Woman out Of the house is always magnifi-
cent, and she is never 30 elaborate in her toilet
as when, with the plea Of nskedness on her
lips, she sa!iies out on a shopping expedition.
On such occasions she surrounds herself with
an atmosphere-or we had better say incense -
though which che looms IN proportions not
altogether her own; a spirit Of imperativeness
and supremacy invests her, and the men among
whom she mipgles drop into sort OF nebulous
inferiority. A masculine spectator is quite apt
to overlook the presence Of men the men are
there inevitably, but they wiggle helplessly nd
insgnifcantly in the feminine sea Of furbelows.
So much in the way OF generalization and
now to be more specific. IL Is the writer's un-
biased opinion, well certified by the comments
of others, that more pretty faces and exquisite
costumes are to be discovered between Twenty
third Street and Union Square on fine after
noon than months investigation will reveal
in any other city. This is not to be interpreted
as praise of any particular type of American
beauty. All types are aggregated in that fiut-
terng stream OF feathers and petticoats. The
locker on passes through copfiction of costa
sies IN the contemplation OF all the varieties
Coustancy becomes an imposibity when ell
that is dark and sensuously melting in woman
fits by in a compact brunette, to be succeeded
by all that is fair aud heavenly in spirituelIe
blonde--when Perfection seduces us che mo-
ment in the petite, and the next moment en-
bodies herself IN a voluptuous amplitude OF
rosy flesh.
Though all the women we see are not pretty,
an enhancing proportion are, and still larger
proportion are attred with a discriminating
liberahty of taste which employs vivid color
without suggestion OF gaudiness. Another
characteristic IS the vivacity OF manner and
the abundant nae of flowers, both natural and
artificial, az decoration. In the time OF vio-
lets and roses the air of this overheated city
street Is az fragrant as garden. Nearly every
woman wears a bouquet in her breast, and
perfect legion of sidewalk peddlers add to the
sweetness with small lunches held out for sale
in baskets and on trays
Most OF the commodities visible are those,
women buy. The dry-goods stores preponder-
ate, and after these are the glove stores, where
plaster arms display the monstrous absurdity
OF twenty-five button kids the stat;oners'
where the last fashion an note papers and cards
are revealed the fancy stores, whose windows
are filed with miracles of tortoise shell and
ivory carving and expensive ornaments for the
house and the person the photographers,
where pictures are sold OF the last idol OF the
hour and the confectioners, whose sweetmeats
are put up in the daintiest and most extrava-
CANT packages. Even the hawkers seem to
understand the sex from which they are to
expect patronage, and adapt their wares ac-
cordin8ly. An etfectual appeal is made to
woman's sofiness by the sleepy Spitz pups
which are temptingly held out in the palms of
fancier's bands, where they resemble balls OF
wood; and a stronger appeal yet ID made by
the one armed soldier whose barrel organ has a
hard time in making itself heard above the
noise Of the vehicles. Other vendors offer
pressed ferns, toys, plants and photograph
holders. 1t may DO imagined from the pres
ence OF the sidewalk merchant that the crowd
/ Is not par excellence fashionable and it Is
not; but 1t IL prosperous, gay, and animated
/ When the business OF her brief hour is partly
over or finished, the inner woman refreshes
after her OWE tVshIon and in her own haunts.
no man with grain OF proper feeling IN him
can be at ease in Purcel's during the women's
shopping hours. 1t is singularly and unac-
coantably unpleasant to see a room full of
women eating no matter how dainty the food
may be. At Maillard's mild infusion Of the
male element makes the sight more endnrable.
and there we may learn what stickler for the
minor elegances of life my lady is The plate.
the linen. the crystal ware are all dawless
The menu is on satin paper in gold and deli
cate hnts, wrought into suggestions of cherubs
and paradise.-Wilham II. Rdeing, in Har-
per's Magazine for January