Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-11-09
CLOTHES OF THE DEAD
The Old Custom and the New-second
Hand Clothing Dealers.


Hand Clothing Dealers.
1t used to he, among the women Of
past generation, custom to leave their
clothes by will in the same manner that
they did their 'second best bedstead"
and "silver gilt teapot" They divided
their furs, laces, brocades and "body
linen" among their nearest kin, and gen.
orally left the palmer and more worn
things to old family servants or poor re-
lations. But these personal possession'
with the exception Of laces, are rarely
bequeathed nowadays. Mrs. John Jacob
Astor kept to the old customs, and saw
a poor, pretty girl wearing one Of her
sealskin coats last week, IL having been
specially bequeathed to her in the will.
The usual course is that taken by the
heirs Of Mrs. A. 7. Stewart, who sold all
her enormous wardrobe to dealers in
second hand clothes. Though little was
said about it at the time, a good many
society women took occasion to purchase
certain things through the dealers, but
generally handkerchiefs, stockings, silk
underwear and gloves, which would not
be recognized and which they got very
cheaply.
There is q woman on Fifth avenue who
makes a business of buying the ward
robes Of dead women, and who is fast
making fortune out Of the bargains she
gets. Most of her customers who pur-
chase goods from her have no idea Of the
real secrets Of her trade. She is osten-
sibly dealer in imported goods and has
certain French and English boxes and
cases into which she packs many of her
goods and sells them as new. She will
take the whole wardrobe of the deceased,
new and old, good and bad, and then this
goes through a careful process of selec-
ton. The new things, or those nearly
so, which are really imported or have
that appearance, she packs into foreign
cases and ties them up daintily and dis
poses of them to rich customers. Many
a time woman has come to her and
said: II want to find something-stock-
ings, gloves or what not-like some l
once saw Mrs. Quelquechose have. See
if you can find them for me-" And the
dealer has in course of time sent her a
note saying that she has found some
thing very near what she asked for. In
reality they are Mrs. Quelquechose's own,
and the dealer had them all the while.
The gowns that are new or very nearly
new she sells to the dressmakers, who
freshen them UP bit and sell them to
out of town customers.
Then the dealer has list Of customers
who are perfectly familiar with the real
nature of her trade. They are mostly
women who are struggling to keep their
places in society, with lean purses and a
great desire to keep up appearances.
They keep the run Of her place and get
some bargains, because though the things
they buy are somewhat worn, they are
worth the money for the good Partisan
cut and style. They buy from her black
and inconspicuous gowns that are like
those worn by dozen other women and
are not likely to be recognized, and some
times they have them made over at home
and buy them for the sake of the good
material in them. There is third class
of the wornout and shabby clothes, bon
nets, shoes and general belongings which
are sold in lump to the second hand
dealers in the Bowery. And so all the
pretty frills and fancies of the dear dead
women of our households become scat
tered to the far winds, worn by her
friends, her enemies, her servants,
strangers and women whom in life she
would have turned her eyes away from
as she passed. There is something very
pathetic. it seems to me, in such dispersal
and use of these most intimate personal
possessions of a lovely women. The old
way was best.-Cor. Brooklyn Eagle.