The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-05-19
English and american Ladies' Dress.

English and American Ladies' Dress.
Mrs. Scots -Siddons is quoted as hay
/ ing SAID An American servant viii
/ tie on her veil in natty, graceful way
that an English duchess knows nothing
I about +" Mrs. Siddons viii not be charged
with an over-strained regard for the
Yankee. or a wish to favor them at the
expense of her own countrywomen. In
thus placing the servant and the duchess
IN contrast she was simply emphasizing
a truism which was less fact at that
time than it is at the present hour. For
among all civilized people the English
women are the most addressed, and
seem to lack the natural gifts, the self
reliance and ability of choice and selee-
ton which are the Unborn attributed OF
American women. An English nursery
set off against nursery in this country
may be taken as type IN miniature OF
the taste in dress and all that the term
involves of the differences which charac~
terizes the women of the two nations.
In this country little girls find constant
satisfaction and congenial employment
in arranging and adorning their dolls
apparel. Left to their own intuitions,
and hampered by little CT no pupilage
from their elders, it must be owned that
play are often simply wonderful. An
English lady who passed thirty years OF
her life In her native land, and who has
lived in this city half of that time, once
said:-"The homes of American girls,
so far as am familiar with them, are
schools of art in dress adornment, and
whether their taste and skill are natural
gifts, or acquired by observation, l do
not pretend to say, but there is nothing
to compare with it in our homes In Eng
land" Consistent with this admission
is the almost universal tone of the
English press and of most travellers who
visit our shores from other lands. That
English women study comfort and
provide themselves with rich fabrics and
costly adornment In dress Is past dis
pute. A dowager or duchess arrayed IN
gorgeous silk, satin or velvet attire,
with the complement of green gloves
and yellow ribbons, and shod with
broad, heavy, loose-ftting boots, Is
hardly pleasant, though it Is con-
stantly recurring, picture of taste IN
dress among the wealthy classes in Eng
lish life. If the wearer has any idea OF
the contrast of colors, any perception OF
the shocking incongruities which the
tout ensemble of her costume presents
to a cultivated eye, nothing is seen of it
in the ease and self-satisfaction of her
/ demeanor. While the fact remains that
! American women are the best dressed
ladies in the world, it is also to be re-
membered that while they, with vast
majority of their sex, yield to the cur
rent of prevalent fashion, it Is not
blind or slayish submission they think
for themselves, and stoulty, on occa-
sion, assert their own individuality, and
refuse to succumb to the dictates OF
fashion, modiste or milliner. Their
natural or cultivated good taste, which
includes the lines of beauty, which Mr..
/ Beecher made himself merry over re-
Gently, is generally all-suficient IN doubt
and emergency. Their "giory" Is to
dress tastefully and becomingiy. Their
"hallejuah +" is the acclaim OF sue
cessfully consummated purpose. -Neso
York Evening Post.