The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-22

moment at an assemblage of the directors Of
the Rational Dress Society, which has head
quarters in Mortimer street, Berners street
". was curious to know why the form
of dress which she chung to through good
report and i'll had been abandoned volun-
tarily at last
IAN ignominious yielding to the small
boy" was the reason assigned by her agent,
Mrs. Franks.
HE, he-"'
Eyes, he booted on the street"
But thought the divided skirt was sup
posed to look quite as If it were not divided"
Eyes, it was sometimes made so.
But here was the dilemma. If SO
many draperies were used as to obscure the
division the gown looked like an ordinary
gown, but it was heavy and no improve
ment on the usual regime. Ii the dress
were made light and undisguised it was the
perfection of comfort, but there was the
small boy"
So another dress reform scheme has fallen
hopelessly to the ground. The Rational
Dress Society, of which Lady Harberton is
president and which publishes a monthly
dress reform magazine, now confines its at
tention largely to underwear, advocating
system which, including the divided petit
coats or leglettes, does not differ in any es-
sential particular from Mrs. Jenness Mil
ler's. The American system has decidedly
the advantage as regards pretty gowns,
Lady Harberton expressing the utmost adj
miration for Mrs. Miller's taste and ingen-
uity in the management of fabrics. One of
Lady Harbert ms inventions comes nearer,
however, to supplying that long sought ar
ticle, comfortable and harmless corset,
than any device yet put before won.ankind.
The English dress reform corset is to all III
tents and purposes an under jacket, knit OF
Jersey wool, fitting the figure after the
6 q H..
moderate number of whalebones which
support the dress, while the yielding fabric
does not interfere with deep breathing or
outdoor exercise.
A woman, whose name is unfamiliar on
this side of the water, but who deserves to
be known as well outside of London as she
is IN some quarters of 1t, is Miss Agnes
Darbyshire who manages the Newlngton
branch of the organized charities of the
big city on the Thames. Newington is the
second largest of the forty districts into
which London is divided for charitable pur
poses. The NewingtOn branch has over 49,
900 cases on its books, most of them stand
ing for families, not individuals, and |
doubt if there is one of them which Miss
Darbyshire does not carry in ner mind day
after day. Shrewd, kind faced, plea>an to
ook at, 40 years old, maybe, possessed of in
dependent means, she works ten or twelve
hours a day, six days in the week, harder
than any clerk OH salary, without recon-
pense, giving all her time and all her effort
to afford some systematic relief to the poor
There is not a man, woman or child in all
that end of London who does not know her
and who does not feel that when any mat
ter is put into her wise hands it is certain to
be managed Alright Women have less to do
with public charities than here, and Miss
Darbyshire holds an isolated position in
London.
1t is impossible to speak of charities with
out speaking of Lady Dixie. English PEG
pie distinguish between lady patronesses
and workers. and where any practical form
of assistance is wanted there it seems as if
Lady Dixie was always to the fore. | found
her acting as secretary to one women'S la
Dor union and treasurer to another The
Society of Scientific Dresscutters would
never have succeeded in starting without
her A well organized society for opening
new employments to women owes her much
practical encouragement.
London is proud-that is, many of the
women of it are proud-of DR.. Elizabeth
Garrett Anderson, who is probably the only
woman physician in England who can ex-
act fees as large as those received by the
most high priced man; but London is fond
of her sister, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Faw-
cett, to whose own efforts now and whose
influence over Postmaster General Fawcett
while he lived, the opportunities of women
in the civil service are due.
ELIZA PUTNAM HEAToN.