The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-02
CLOTHES or THE DEAD
III. Old Custom anJ the Scw-sccond
Land Clothing Eeaiers-


Il used 10 tc, among the women Of q
past generation. a custom TO leave their
clotfc e. bv will in the same manner that
they did their ''second best bed>tead
ard silver gilt teapot" They dividod
their furs. laces, brccades and 'oody
linen among their nearest kin. and ger
cialIy' left the palmer and more worn
things to old family servants or poor re-
iations. But these personal possessions,
with the exception Of laces, are rarely
beoucathed NOWADAYS. Mrs John Jacob
Astor kept to the old customs. and ! saw
a poor, pretty girl wearing one Of her
sealskim coats last week, il having been
specially bequeathed TO her in the viii.
The usual course is that taken bY the
heirs If Mrs. \. I. Stewart, who sold all
her enormous wardrobe 10 dealers IN
second hand clothes. Though little was
said about it at the time. a good many
society women took oS1e.on TO purchase
certain things through the dealers, but
generally handkerchief, stockings, silk
underwear and gloves, which would not
be recognized and which they got very
cheaply.
There is n 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 a 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 n careful process of selec-
ton. The new things, or those nearly
50, which are really imported or have
that appearance. she packs into foreign
cases and ties them up daintily and dis
poses of them 70 rich customers. Many
a time q WOMAN has come 10 her and
said II want TO find something stock
ings. gloves or what not-iike some |
once saw Mrs. Quelqueshose have. See
if YOU can find them for me. And the
dealer has in course Of time sent her
note saying that she has found some
thing very near what she asked for. In
reality they are Mrs. QuelQuechose 5 own,
and the dealer had them all the while.
The gowns that are new or very nearly
new she sells 10 the dressmakers. who
freshen them uD bit and sell them 10
out of town customers.
Then the dealer has n list Of customers
who arc perfectly familiar with the zeal
nature Of her trade. They arc mostly
women who are struggling to keep their
places in society, with lean purses and a
great desire 10 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 tho 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 he 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 4 third class
of the wornout and shabby clothes, bon
nets. shoes and general belongings which
are sold IN o lump to the second hand
dealers in the BowTy. AID so all the
pretty frills and faucics Of The dear dead
women Of our households become scat
tered 10 the far winds, worn by her
friends, her enemies. her servants.
strangers and women whom in life shc
would have turned her eyes away from
Us she passed. There IS something very
pathetic. it seems TO me. in such dispersal
and use Of these most intimate personal
possessions of lovely women Tie old
way was los,.-Cor. Brooklyn Eagle.