Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-10-22
SOUTHERN WOMEN.
A Cai1ans and SPICY Defense Of Theiv
Tastes I'm Dress.


OF THE NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT OF THE PHIL
ADkLPHIA TiMEs-soME NOTABLE SOUTHERN BEAU
TIks-rHEfR FACULTY FOR suITING THEMSELVES
TO SURROUNDINGS.
In the Philadelphia Times of recent date its New
York correspondent pays some rather dubious
compliments 10 Southern women, sharply cr1ti-
csing their lack OF taste In the matter OF dressing
CoL raj Donan, clever newspaper writer, takes
the matter in hand and proceeds TO barbecue"
the correspondent In the following style: II
am surprised TO md in q recent letter OF the
New York correspondent OF the Philadelphia
Times savage and uncalled for attack on the
taste or want OF taste In dress OF our Southern
girls and women. Speaking Of the Virginia prose-
poet OF passion and osculatory gymnastics Amelie
Rives-Chanler, as she appeared at John McCaulrs
yelow-fever fund matinee at Wallack's Theater,
this gifted but Ifear somewhat strablsmic Gotham
gossiper says:
"'But what was the matter with Amelie7 Well,
I'll try TO tell you, but Of course 1t will have TO be
In man fashion / never saw a southern woman
wei dressed. As the dialect OF the negro fingers
upon the lips OF the men OF the South, SO does the
tawdry glarfng dress OF the negress betray itself
In unexpected places In the attire OF the princesses
OF the land OF cotton. They always have about
theE an Undesirable air OF having jumped into
their gowns. They are blind to the Complimentary
relations OF colors. No matter how richly dressed,
they are never well dressed The young author
esS betrayed these faults most distreSsingly.'
"He then proceeds TO excoriate the youthful
cyclone OF romance and author OF the The Quick
or the Dead?' for having peaked nose, cyeing her
hair and topping II on with a INDUSTRIOUS lilac hat
and plumeS, wearing an hi-i1tting dress mincing
along on Grecian bend heels OF half generation
ana transgressions against his esthetic creed and
code OF forgery, pnysiognomy and department for
famous females.
TURNED OVER TO AMELIE.
"For his onslaught upon Amelie OF AlbemarleI
leave him 10 settle with her or her with him. She
is amply able to WELD her own lurid battle-axe
III she should conclude to wreak barbaric ven-
geance on his needless anatomy the barbecue will be
wbasy so Tas very araysd In
Loly terror, viii rain ery sizzling pitchforks and
scaiplng knives, with The scaips attached; huge
chunAs OF zgZag lightning, paroxysmal cast-irOn
KISSES Dig as morse collars and Seething with mol
Yen AVA, blazing bass drums and phosphorescent,
,n,sslng, howins toads and scorpions, all forkedk
lohgueu ana rorSed-tailed. Amelie can look out
LOT herself and her own wardrobe. / couch no
lance In her defense.
"But in behalf OF other Southern girls and
women VINO cannot sling red-hot thunderboltS
thick and fast as peas from Gatlng gun, desire
10 enter my emphatic protest against this CORE
spondent's unwarrautaDle raid upon their unpro-
tected clothes-nneS. In such case one may well
risk Clover Club Oroadside or chestnuts to deny
tne allegations anu defy the alligator. Who made
inns correspondent a judge OF wOmen'S attire?
whose royal wind thumped him into such knight
hooo Oh the garter ana ctner articles OF Iemi-
He is a bachelor, like myself How does he
Know that jumping into gowns is not the
proper mode Of getting into them? Whence
comes MS authoritative standard or taste and pet
tlcoatS? Is he graduate OK Worths or Rediern'S
academy OF man millinery, or did he acquire his
dazzling start toward matchmaking omnis-
cence and fashion plate infallibity The satin
sppered feet OF some such high priestess OF style
as Demorest or Cooley? How long has he dieted
Does he know a hustle from fish trap, or a founce
from box paiI, when the wind Is south by SOUTH
east east from tue hoffman house art gallery? II not,
why does he rush headlong in where enlightened
MASCULINE Angels lear 10 tread?
WHERE EVERY ONE Is QUEEN.
"When he declares he never saw q southern
woman We'll dresseu,' / am disposed to inquire
how many real southern women he has ever SEEN
When he talks OF the tawdry, glaring dress or the
neyress as typical VI the attire OF the princesses
Of the land OF cotton, am forced TO believe that
MS acquaintance among southern women has
not been among ',he Processes OF whom he
glib!y speaks, though that term, In my estima-
ZION, Is lowering VI rank. Inol land where every
least.
There are no manifold millionaire fortunes In
the South. The gigantic landgrabbers and rail-
road wreckerS, with their nifty or a hundred
millions each, do not belong down there. The
monstrous uevilrsh monopoiies, trust and tariff
piracies, swindling Army contracts, wheat-corner
o. southern SOIL southern women cannot, and
never could indulge In the costumal extravaganceJ
inexpensively; but, from the earliest days Of our
republic the verdict or the world mas BEEN as 1t Is
lC-udy, tudI l1ey dress IaSteiully and Wtil-in
keeping with their climate. their circumstances
ana their surroundings.
BELLIES OF BYE-GoNE DAYS
"What are the Martha Washington tea parties
that are still fashionable and popular in every part
of the country, but reproductions or the simple
and picturesque costumes OF a lot OF old Virginia
danes and damsels or a century ago? Dolly Nadi-
son was scarcely more famous for her cleverness
and grace than for her exquisite costumlng. Betsy
Patterson, OF Baltimore, could not have captured
the brother Oh Napoleon and OF Pauline Bonaparte
II she had not been as well dressed as she was
beautiful and ambitious. The three McTavish sis
tiers, OF Maryland, married English noblemen and
oewltched ali Europe three generations ago They
could not have reigned In the worlds society as
they had not been Well dressed as well as hand
some, gifted and lovely.
The old world aud the new have united In crown
ing, as queens by right or every social realm,
Sallie Ward Hunt, OF kentucky; Octavia Walton
lie Vert, OF Florida, and Virginia IunsIall Clay OF
Alabama. They could never have won their
scepiers II the tawdry and glartng tastes OF the
negreSS had fingered in their attire or the soveniy
dialect or the plantation chattel on their lips
Lucy Hoicoinb, OF Texas, as the wife Of Governor
1ckena OF SOUTH Carolina, was toasted and feted
Dy al continental Europe, and Nicholas, car OF
all the kassias, stood godfather 10 her only child,
whom he chrtstened 'DOuSchka,' or MY Darlng,'
as testimonial Of his regaru and admiration for
the mother. Could these things have been II She
had not been weil-dressed as well Us a well.bred
woman?
SOME NOTABLE LATTRR-DAY BELLIES
'Fifteen years ago Matte Ould, OF Richmond,
was the undisputed belle OF every assemblage,
great or small, Northern or Southern, where she
CHANGED to be. Her brilliant witticisms were pub
ished around the globe, and her career Is q men,
o-acle part OF the social history not only OF the
South, out OF the Union and our hemisphere. No
garish oowdy could ever have achieved such celeb
rity. jamie Sutheriin OF Virginia, was the subject
a lew years since OF columns on columns or de-
served rhapsodtes In Northern no less than South
ern, newspapers; and, lovely as she was In person.
character and manners, her costumes In their
dainty perfection shared with herself all the giOr
ncation OF Journalistic genius
"Nelne Hazeltlne, Of st. Louis, was only twenty
four years Old when she died, and yet bulletins OF
her health were published IRON New York TO San
Franc1sco-the only instance On record where
such tribute has ever been paiu TO che 30 young
She had queened II at Saratoga as well as Whiee
sulphur, In New York as well as Missouri. and She
was scarcely more noted for her beauty and ac-
complishments than for the exQuisiteness OF her
taste In all matters OF dress and the toilet
"ThIs country has produced few more beautiful
women than Mrs. Benton McMillin-Marie Brown
Iennessee-whose untimely death In Washington
last winter was shock TO all capital society and
loss TO our entire half Of the word. Her form and
her features were fauitiessy perfect enough for a
ocuptors model, her complexion was like the petal
OF an apple blossom or tine peariy heart OF q deep
sea shell; her eyes had caught the celestial azure
OF the summer skies and heavens own sunshine
seemed To nestle in her soft brown hair. She was
q universal Iavor1te admired, beloved and praised
by every one who knew her, and her costumes were
always the da1ntest setting Tor rare and radiant
jewel
LOVELY As TIE FAIRxsr porRr