St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-07-12
But Pretend That in Spite of the Weather
They Are Enjoying Themselves Better
Than if at the Seashore.
Ladies Even of the Elite Occupying
Themselves by Making Over Last
Years Dresses.
How a Polished and Gentlemanly
Burglar Captivated and Married
Society Belle.
Still i'm the City.

LnlS TIME Oh Tile year III Is USUAL W Allu IllO
town empty. Now you drive along the
fashionable streets and see pretty nearly as
many signs of activity as at any time of the
year. This feature of the present summer,
to which special attention was called in this
correspondence several weeks ago, is begin
ming to be the subject of remark among So
ciety people themselves, though of course
they do not admit that its cause is the itch
ing of this class to follow the habits of peo-
pie of prominence in the political world.
But this is the fact. Let the president and
Miss Cleveland and the cabinet officers and
their wives generally leave the city for the
summer, and the town would be emptied i'll
a twinllling. A prominent society lady is
quoted as SAYING that i'll all her experience
she had not seen so many people in Wash
ington at this season of the year. Outside
of the diplomatic corps there have been few
departures for the summer resorts and Eu-
rope.
AMUSEMENT SEEKERS.
In the midst of these stay-at-hOme eXpe-
riences, the efforts of society to be amused
are amusing. There is a little of every
thing, riding. boating tennis playing, mu-
Sic teas" theater parties, the light opera,
barge parties and hundred kindred amuse-
mentS. With some, however, the enforced
stay-at-hOme season is utilized by extensive
preparations for next season. The dress
makers are getting their new styles for next
winter in shape, and the annual agony Of
making dresses and rejuvenating the old
ones that have done service is again taken
up Indeed, the people who cater to this fea-
ture of social life seem to be about the bust
est in Washington at present. Your aver
age society person, who is detained in
Washington just now, is pretty likely to
be engaged in wrestling with new dress
schemes. What shall be done with the
half-worn ones that have seen one or two
seasons wear, how the new ones shall be
made, how the old ones shall be metamOr-
phosed so that they will not be recognized
when they are trotted out next winter-all
this serves to keep the mind engaged and
render the summer at home quite endur-
able. The devices which are resorted to
to make these
EXPENSIVE SOCIETY DRESSES
do double and triple service are very nu-
merouS and interesting to the student of
this sort of thing. When you reflect that
the society dress that is at all respectable
must cost from 5000 to $500. it is easy to
see that it is quite proper to take care of it,
and to make it last more than a single sea-
son. eve have to tax our ingenuity to its
utmost said professor of this noble art
talking to your correspondent, ito meet
the necessities of the occasion. These
people who call themselves society want
everything for nothing. They profess 10
be very rich and to spend a good deal of
money on dresses, but L tell you they cut
close after all"
''Are a good many of these dresses of
last season to put in appearance again next
winter"
Eyes, a great many of them. OF course
they will be so worked over that it will take
practiced eye to recognize them. But it
would surprise you to see how long a dress
will do service if properly worked over.
Take those with solid colorS, for instance,
without any distinguishing pattern, and it
is quite wonderful how long they do service
with few changes each season."
''How are these changes made?"
OLD DRESSES MADE NEW.
''MOStly with new fronts and new trimm-
mingS. y on can get new front for valuable
dress for, say, $50 or $40. Then you can
get for as much more the necessary amount
of trimmings, some lace, some glass beads
and that sort of thing. Then you put the
new front and trimmings on the old dress,
and it comes out quite new, so that it is
scarcely recognizable. Then the front and
lildU NClC III llllo hlCSo ldSG SCti-
son are transferred to some other, and so
metamorphOse it that it appears to be new.
And so it goes on indefinitely, Teftting the
old dresses. adding a little new stock con-
Stantly, and thus keeping up the wardrobe
at much less expense than is generally
supposed"
''And the new dresses that are brought
out. Are they made here?"
ga few OF them, only. Most of them
come either from New York or from
Europe. The New York dresSmakers, of
course, do pretty well, though the people
who really have plenty of money and de-
sire to actually have first-claSS work, though
they are few, get it in Paris. Nearly all
these people, and others prominent in a
social way,
co ABROAD
every two or three years anyway, and they
supply themselves when they make these
trips. Then if they want anything in the
meantime they only have to write to the
parties i'll Paris who make their wardrobe
for them and have something more. Most
of the really good dresses you see here
come from Paris. By this mean the really
fine dresses to be seen here. They are not
numerous"
Are the dresses worn at the prominent
social events here not of this claSS?n
mot as rule. In fact the very large ma
jority of evening dresses worn in Washing
ton are of the sort that would not do to
wear in daylight. 1t has been found that
certain classes of cheap goods show quite as
well by gaslight as do the finer and much
more costly goods, and the result is that
they are used by all except those who really
have absolute plenty of money. For day
wear, afternoon receptions and that sort OF
rIN.r r lx4A,
terial and more costly, though they do no.
make so good show to the Impractical eye. >
''Will there be good deal of fine dress
ing in Washington during the coming
season."
Undoubtedly. 'JefferSonian simplicity
is very nice in its way but will not get the
ladies to agree to it as long as they can do
otherwise"
A HOUSE-BREAKER IN SOCIETY.
The ease with which Adventures max,
their way'in society here is illustrated by :
recent incident here. Laurel, Md, is ;
pretty place just outside the District, anC
is very proud of its ''old families an,
aristocratic society. Not long az,
a handsome and fascinating young
man, giving his name as William b. Brooks
put in appearance there and appearing {,
be a gentleman of means and of socia
turn of mind was soon accepted in society
At one of the houses where he was enter
tanned he met young lady of considerable
beauty and of very prepossessing manners
An intimacy between them led to the an
nouncement in a few weeks of their engage
ment, quickly followed by their marriage
Brooks represented himself as being tn
captain of vessel, and was frequently alb
sent from home on business con
nected, he claimed, with shin
lninn :ntereStS He WAS reSnecta.