Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-06-19
DR1ss-GBrrING NPARxs,
The Follies, the Mysteries and Mis-
cries Of Its

NC u VBAAeos tuc MyStekn08 ana Mis-
cries Of It.
Gotve Logan in Cincinnati Enquirerl
Among the saddest features OF temporary
ire IN Paris are the wretched sufferings en-
99Tsd oy American women who come here
with more or less elaborate warTirobe Some
UNITS the less means only one dress or two:
sometimes the more means a score or so OF
noefa f ana GompIises besides coaks. hats,
paraphernalia OF fashionable woman's pet-up.
Merely to catalogue these things on paper
makes me groan. The spectacle OF hundreds OF
writing who are on mad search for them.
who neglect every thing In life In order to OBJ
tain them, and wh0 when they obtain them
are thoroughly dissatisfied with them, know
themselves 10 have been swtndled feel that
they nave committed wrong 70 their hus.
bands by squandering hard earned money in
foolish and skimped vanities, is a thing most
political economy would indite treatise after
treatise In the effort to show our countrywo-
men how wrong they are, In every way, to do
their shopping In Paris. IL is unwise; in the
long run It is costly; 1t is thoroughly unpa-
tr1otic. The English women. with the great
mart OF Paris at nine and quarter hours dis
lance from TIER doors. do far less shopping ON
the BouieYartiS and the Rue de Ia PaiN Than do
the Americans, who have TO cross an ocean in
order to bite this Dead Sea fruit
The ambition or the majority OF American
women being TO have Worth costume let us
follow an American woman who has arrived In
his rooms In her search for a Worth costume
In the first place, she viii be astonished TO fad
IN this Temple OF draperies, which she thought
dedicated to the scant few OF wealth, a surging
thIong OF humanity-men and women, COM
mon, vulgar, some much oyerdresSed, Others
shabby.
Worth himself never sees these people. nor
are any late styles ever shown this shifting
throng. But suppose that an American lady
wants certain dress and is prepared to pay a
round price for it. Very well; she gives her
~ nd fhCsf7 rn- fc 40 10.
ployeS OF exactly the same class who when In
business for themselves, charge from SIS 10 $50
lor making costume. Here, price for making
is something never heard Of The dress COM
mine has Just paid 5000. Quite half clear profit
IN all these cases is probably Worth'S proper
tlon. Meantime the anxiety attendant upon
the ntt1ng, the completion, the thousand and
one details, is something absolutely unpaint-
able as endured by Mrs. Nobody, from
America, who may require another dress ia
nVe years time and may not, and whether she
is pleased or veXed is a trifiing matter in an
establishment with such worldwide renown.
Mind you, do not under-rate the talent OF
worth himself He Is man who would un-
mad been taught to hold the palette instead OF
the Shears. His eye for color is wonderful, and
he has almost Phidean grace with drapery
but these women for whom he exercises his
genius must content themselves with that
favor and put every other consideration aside
The fact that these folds will crush like rose
leaves with once sitting upon them: that
yonder color will fade to hideOusneSs with one
afternoons sunlight, and above all and beyond
all, that the price Is to be something which
bears no real relation to the articles en-
ployed-all this must be forgotten. But Mrs.
Nobody, from America, does not want a cos
tune OF this kind: would not like to wear IL IL
she had it; desires something near her moneys
worth. Why then go to Worth for handsome
order? Many do not. The experience OF a
Lady who was over here a short time ago and
who went TO work differently was brought TO
my notice. She was lady OF restricted purse,
and the anguish she suffered about a dress
was only short of actual misery. She bought
the dress pattern which pleased her at the
great shop OF the LOUVRE The clerk who at
tended her spoke English, and from him she
hooves one to be most cautious In employing
persons so recommended, as 1T is obvious that
commission Is given by those who obtain the
from the stranger. But that would be a small
matter II the dress had been well-fittIng one.
In this case it was as horrible q botch as one
could see. One sleeve hung like bag; the
other was tight nearly to blood stagnation.
The figure Of the material ran divers ways In
the varying breadths OF the skirt 1t almost
seen ca like malice pIetense, so wickedly was
tears shed than those the poor American lady
shed. Il could have done so much better at
home" she said. My heart blede for her. She
had paid nearly 500 for the material, and now
hards utterly ruined
1t is no use thinking of disputing these
peoples Oils, either, for French law favOrS the
native. and has no justice for the transient
tourist. On par with that legal barbarity
which treats an accused person as IL his guilt
were already proven is the French article OF
the Code which understands the equity OF a
cast as that which French tradeSman de-
slit il TO be.
To many English women, as well as to al
most al Americans, it is my Stery how French
women dress well on comparatively little eX-
peESe. am not speaking now of PrinceSseS of
tie Gashihg world OF fashion, nor the enobled
countless thousands of women OF the interme
diste class whom one meets at the tables dhOtes
al the watering places, or sees driving In mod
carriages to the Bots or sitting in the StaIIes
&c EdlcOn at the theaterS.
These ladies are very saving of their cloth
II, 10 walk they take their promenade dresses
Off AID put on some pretty little robe de cham
bTr or other houSe-dreSS OF an inexpensive kind.
Almost every Frenchwoman keeps maid, too,
az accomplished creature who is forever furn-
ishiDg and rearrangtng dresses and bonnets
and keeping them up to the last level OF fash
ion. Very little money! is spent by Frenchwo-
men In travelling, costly luxury which all
An orleans indulge In with the utmost free
dom every year. An American lady who comes
to Paris frequently and employs first one dress
maker and then another, and is now pleased
and now dissatisfied with them, said TO me the
other day: "Well, say what you like, the French
are not half so particular about the making or
dress as We are" But, indeed, the French
are bodice made for French lady by a
dressmaKer who is not spoiled by Foreign Gus
tom, Is almost as carefully treated
as corset Every stitch is done by
merely run into castings at the seams; are care
fully covered with silk, and then neatly stitched
into the bodice at any and every point where
the figure requires them.