St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-16
Why Boxes at the Metropol-
itan Opera Resemble
Bath Tubs.
Picture Of a Darling Belle
Clothed in a Fan and
Innocence.
Novel Designs for Winter
Garments in Gay New
York.
cara Belle,s New York Letter.


Mrs. Jones of her daughter, as the
outer door closed upon the evenings
caller, and the mother leaned over tbs
banister above.
NO" he didn't" was the reply. and
there was suspicion of regret in the
answer.
81 thought L saw him. insisted the
old lady, land / though heard him."
$50 you did. But he didn't kiss me.
He just merely slnacked my bang, and
that wasn't me-was it, now? He
MAY HAVE MEANT TO
salute me chastely on the forehead, or
impart respectful token upon my au-
burn tresses, but what he did do was to
kiss false front-piece Of hair that had
grown = heaven knows where! He
might as well have kissed piece of kid
skin-like Smith did in the ante-room
of our opera box the other night.
HE LIFTED
my gloved hand gingerly, touched his
lips gingerly to it, and might as well
have kissed the sole of my shoe for all
the thrill there was in it,
Perhaps Miss Browns preference
was for the sort of kiss that | saw
through the doorway of Metropolitan
opera house box the other night. |
have sketched it from vivid memory.
They were in the tiny ANTICIPATION of
the box, and there was commotiOn
enoughin the OSCILLATION to push the door
ajar.
THE FASHIONS IN KISSING
can, of course, only be published so far
as they relate to kisses between women,
or with men i'll the kissing of relatives.
Not much that is ardent in that line is
apt to be publicly seen. But the oseu-
latory salutation between women is sub
ject to general observation. and my OBJ
ject in Introducing the subject into this
letter at all was in order to tell that
mOdiSh women do not now. as rule.
kiss one another on the lipSs FOrmerlyit
was a mild insult to swerye ones mouth
aside to save it from unsentimental and
often unpleasant contact, and we had
to go through the ordeal with as much
calmneSs of resignation as possible. 1t
is suddenly different. As uniformly as
though by formal agreement the method
practiced in ''our best society" is like
this: Two girls meet. Each extends
her right hand. and there is mutual
clasp, but no shake. The left hands
are gently placed oh the rights,
fingers. Then the girls look each
other in the eyes, lean gracefully to-
gether, and bring their faces so close
that the noses in another instant would
come into square collision; but both
nasal organs are DETECTED TO the right,
and the two mouths land with aneat i'm
pact OH the left cheeks, just where, if
there were q muStache there its curled
end would lie. There is no audible
smack. The lips move sufficiently to
eyince vitality, and are at once taken
away. And that is the fashionable kiss
of femininity.
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE
has become again the foremost place of
toilet display, for the opera season Is
open. Magnificent dresses? Well, when
S2S, 600 is paid outright for a box, with
annual assessments to come in addition,
the women who sit therein don't mean
to be unsigntly. Take as an example
the one worn last Monday evening by
Mrs. William Waldorf Astor. The bodice
and train were made in a beautiful shade
of dark green velvet, the restof the gown
being of very pale green silk. brocaded
with large clusters of peoples. The
little pelerine was of dark green velvet,
DOrdered with feathers in two shades of
green, matching the colors of the
silk and of the velvet. On one side of
the skirt was a bow of pale green rib
bon, which held in its place an exquisite
feather fan arranged harmoniouSly in
these two shades of green. The whole
effect was most artistic, and the beauti-
full toilet was fifty completed by num-
Der of very handsome diamond orna-
mentS. The lady wore five diamond
stars in her hair. diamond necklace
with haanfifiii star npni1Df nm
her corsage clusters of roses and mar
guerites, most eXquisitely wrought in
diamonds.
THE ANNUAL KEoPENING
of the grand opera season affords the
usual opportunity TO berate our fash
ionable women for wearing imm0deSt
dresses. | have done considerable of
this sort of preaching myself. 1t was
in one of these letters. and in descrip-
ton of the first asSemblage at the Met
ropolitan opera house, that L likened
the tiers of boxes TO bath-tuDs. with the
women sitting in them and their
bare arms and shoulders showing
only above the edge. That coneeit was
copied into the New York journals,
and often reproduced in one form
or another. 1t gave to the establish
ment the nickname of the bath House"
among the sweils, and they are in the
habit of thus alluding TO it. There is
rothing new TO say this winter. thus
far. about the decoilete dresses. They
are as scant as before. They couldn't
well become more SO, under the physical
circumstances. and, on the other hand,
our fashionable women show no dispo-
sition at all to make change in the
other direction.
CLOTHED ONLY IN A FAN AND TSNo-
CENCE
seemed one opera belle. and / will try
to make you understand why. She was
a uueenly creature, and she sat at the
front of box. right where the light fell
on her with artistic effect of illumina-
ton. She was visible to outsiders only
as low down as the waist. Her long.
white taper arms were barred to the tops
of her magnificent shoulders, where the
merest sections of ribbon separated
them from her smooth neck. She held
a big white feather fan in front of
her corSage, and indolently operated 1t.
From my point of observation, in an
opposite box, her bodice was hidden by
the fan, from behind which her lovely
neck arose and her arms extended. Not
a scrap of fabric was in sight. She
struck me, almost alarmingly, as being
altogether unciothed, and screening
nerSeH Denihu tue pIuiiics oi Tue ldu.
OF course, realized in an instant it
wasn't so, because two men sat close be-
hind her, and if she had discovered her.
self in such a plight before mascu-
line eyes she would instantly have hud-
died herself down in a heap and yelled
like gosh almighty. Nevertheless, as
the sloWly-moyed fan was gradually
lowered, and 1t did not disclose the be-
ginnings of raiment, l felt return of
my first absurd CONSERVATION. Lower
and lower went the fan. The bits of
ribbon over the shoulders developed
into small sprays of flowers, but
stlli no cloth marked the bound
airy of nudity. The bosom was
fair to see; but, hail Columbia! where
was its public exposition TO end? Sud-