Morning journal and courier., 1883-05-03

boasts of not having single foreign hand. Now that Dame Fashion has decreed in the most autocratic manner that an abundance
 of artificial flowers shall be used not only for
 bonnets and corsage bouquets, but as trim mings for dresses, both dinner and evening 1 toilets. the question arises how and where to \ get the prettiest cheapest and most appro- 1 priate flowers. Modjsska was the first to set the fashion in favor of flower garniture. Last winter, in the first costume worn in | "GamiIle," the fiounce of the lower skirt, a I pink satin was headed by a generous wreath ! of blush roses that reached around the en- tire skirt-a novel and pretty idea of her own; for her clever originality reaches be- yond her acting, and she is the designer of her own beautiful costumes, each one con- l bining study in boldness and color. The white satin gown worn in the ballroom scene was trimmed in the same way, pleas ant departure from the conventional punches so long used. Of American manufacture there are water lilies quite equal to the French flowers and in endless variation, from the
 smaller variety that first makes it's appear ance to the large pink-tinted ones that lie
 lazily on the ponds in midsummer. The
 white flowers are all made during the long
 dark days of winter, as white is more easily
 worked on than any other color. It must
 cheer the hearts of those steady workers to
  there are brighter days coming, a week may
 be of rest, when they can go away and seek
 the very flowers their nimble fingers fashion.
 But the water lily is not the only white flow CT there are ilacs and violets and csrnations and apple blossoms and fancy" flowers meaning flower that may or may not be in nature, but is pretty and marketable The flowers are chiefly made from two materials bishops lawn and heavy quality of null muslin. The latter is used in the soft, loose leaved roses and dropping flowers the for mer for violets, pansies, daisies and flowers that have more body if such word be admissible in flowers. This white muslin Is laid in one or two thicknesses on piece of lead, then an iron instrument finished at one end with the shape of flower, is pound ed down by heavy hammer, and one or two | flowers are cut. They are then given bath | that is, dipped in pink or yellow or blue, \ as the case may be-and while wet the deep CT or lighter tints are added with @ brush. N Then they are put aside to dry. This work I is done by the men. The women afterwards take them in hand and they are crimped, ! other leaves turned by pincers, or if butter \ cups or bells, they are placed on a small pill low and rounded into cup-shape by small N instrument with leaden ball at one end. ' They made in much the same manner \ those with the brilliant dust over them are I dipped in melted wax and the dust powdered \ on while the wax is still warm. The leaves I | other hands, and for grouping they go into \ new department. With the large amount of | handwork on artificial flowers it is wonderful | how they are sold so cheap. especially as the | labor commands a fair price. The fore women get 1925 and $50 week and the oth- CTS $8 and BIO and SIP. It is 8 pretty tab I Ieau, the long tables piled high with flowers, each girl with mound of color before her, ] some of them giving life and completeness ! to the blossoms by the addition of green \ leaves. Whether it is that the manufacture of artificial flowers has been left exclusively | to women, and they have not as rule in- ! ventive minds, or that so much hand-work is | required as to make machinery a secondary | consideration, is question. But the fact re- | mains that of all machinery most inadequate to the work required is the machinery used in making artificial flowers. It is crude and cumbrous, and in many years there has been only one improvement, and that in French | machine, which has force enough to cut dozen flowers instead of one. With our Yankee aptness and ingenuity in machinery | here is large and undeveloped field. In | certain kinds the domestic are superior to the imported flowers, notably the daisy, the calla and the rose There are flowers in every | variety of yellow from the ightest canary to the deepest mandarin. The craze for yell low, by the way is purely an American fash ion, originated by the New York merchants. In Paris it is scarely worn at all, crushed | can women are wise in this adoption of yell low; properly handled it is splendid color. For next autumn all shades Of mandarin and deep, warm orange tints are to be predomi- nant. In feathers and wings and breasts the color is even more effective than in flowers and satins. few samples are exhibited at wholesale house, and among six thousand birds fully one-half are yellow. The native birds are receiving some attention and skins are sent from Georgia, Florida and Texas. The Baltimore oriole is always acceptable, and the heads of pigeons mount prettily. If only to mitigate the long g-oontinued onslaught on birds, women should encourage the fash ion of flowers. Feathers for summer wear is another American style, and an extremely one. The Paris milliners un- lerstand this and prepare their hats accord ngIy But French women are far too seRsi- ole to let the season pass by in which they ,an wear artificial flowers (the most becom- ng adjunct to a woman's toilet in the world) without doing so
 Among this years importation are life-like of clover blossoms, fuchsias, hyacinths, ragged sailors and of buttercups, are to be much used and the flowers are mostly arranged in pompon punches. But wreaths worn around the rim of the bonnet moro becoming. Among the costumes prepared for Saratoga are two made by Miss Johnston, of No. 26 East Twentieth street. One is of the old muslin delaine, imported by Me Creery. The ground is light blue, with pale shaded flowers of soft tints scattered over it. The colors are all boiled on, not merely stamped on, and the material is as graceful as China crepe. The underskirt is of plain muslin delaine and the bonnet is of pink China crepe, with wreath and pompons of forget-me-nots finished with blue and pink satin strings Another dress has the under skirt of palest yellow and pink plaid glace silk, the overdress of pale pink, bonnet yellow straw, with wreath of pink hya- eynths. Long black gloves and black lace parasol will complete this happy and unusual combination. The tints suggest nothing so much as the sky in the summer time just af- ter sunset-the rosy tints, with here and there streaks of pale gold. A bellrdress made for New Orleans creole has the trim mings entirely of gilt and silver wheat and mimosas, the material black silk and Spanish lace To be sent with this dress is one of ol- i've green, with bonnet to match, ornamented by wreath of green peppeIs that look as If fresh plucked from Mexican garden
 State News.