Sharp County record., 1885-08-20
4pICKERS AND STEALERS.
Estesmed Ladies Who Crib Ideas in Dress
and Ornaments from Their NeighDors'

and Ornaments from TneIr NelShpois'
Not only purses, plus characters
pass from the lawful possession OF the
original owner into the predatory hands
of the intervening thief. Ideas 60 by
the same way; and here the marauders
are on fertile ground.
Well up in the scale of petty larceny
stand those who steal ideas in dress
and personal condition. If Ada be-
comes limp, baggy and ascetic, Ida al
so becomes limper baggier and more
ascetic, for your imitators generally 60
beyond their model. If Mary comes out
with her hair cut short, Maria crops
hers to the Semblance of scrubblng-
brush if her locks are of the straight
kind, or like so much tight-ringed
Astracan wool if it is of the curly sort
If Lyda, struck with the mannlsh fever
diskards lace and trimming and every
soI of feminine frivolity, Julia follows
.P wears shirt-collars, Waistcoats ana
cHueNstees, tailor-made; buys a cane ana
setl of horseshoe studs, wears scarf
and a scarfpin; and, till you see her
neIicoats, is as much like young man
as her brother, the beardless cornet
IfSn the other hand, Lydia comes out
of}his craze and falls into the net OF
falion pure and simple, Julia is con-
te1t with nothing under Worth, and
oualoes the fashion-plateS in the eXtraV.
afnce of her tournure, the length OF
h1 3train, the fall in her back, and
tbIsma!lness of her waist. The sole
spark of originality possessed by these
fair thieves is the extravaganza to.whlch
they push their limitations and the per-
centage heaped on to the capital started
with.
Mrs. Jones has pretty fancy for the
decoration of her dining-table. She
has spent many anxious hours IN eIaD-
Grating and perfecting her idea when
has such merit as resides in absolute
originality. She completes her scheme
of color and map of form, AMI she makes
a dinner, and bids her friends to come
and admire. Among them is Mrs.
Brown, who has never gone beyond the
old,fashoned epergnc of her youth,
wherein she mixes artificial flowers
with few real ones and thinks the
device will pass unnoticed. She does
not remember, however, that lilac and
roses, narcisSus and dahlias, primroSes
and peonies, scarcely come into the same
natural posy, and that when she lets the
wire show through the lass she gives
htecn.pyed cause Cor !a"g hter. Being
thea this unidead person in the matter
of table decorations, she dimes with
Mrs. Jones and sees the new arrange
ment. The next week she reproduceS
the whole thing; but because she has
not really seized the idea, only SKIM
med it. she leaves out the finer touches,
the more subtle combinations, Wnlch
made the whole art t'Stic success, and so
produces a botch and not a master
niece a caricature and not a copy.
Then Mrs. Jones, who is not generous
enough to share her IDEAS on table dec
Grafton, for all that she Is Il good,
kind woman in essentials, first Weeps
as an angry woman generally does, and
then passes off into the fiery stage,
when Indignation burns up her tears
and her friendship for Mrs. Brown at
one and the same time, and saying: Il
will never forgive her," she keeps her
word and never does. -L0ad0" Q0een'