St. Paul daily globe., 1888-06-17

top of the boot which ladies wear.
These are fancy colors-seal. navy blue,
modes, blacks, printed in high color
ings;"
shading, gendarme blue, OK blood,
mahogany, canary and combinations of
the most fanciful creation.
One was very striking-a Nile green
ground with pink front checks of dice
pattern with a Bayadere stripe down
the rear half of the stocking. A Baya-
dere stripe, it was explained, is ga
stripe which runs round" The Nile
green embroidered style, as those of
lavender, pink and flesh, cost from
$3.50 to S1S dozen. The department
devoted to silk stockings is full of inter
est. The bulk of s1.5OO,000 worth of
silk hosiery is not great, but the revela-
ton of colors and beauties of ornamen-
tatiOn are calculated to impress the
person to whom the wonders are re-
hose the reporter saw hundreds of pairs,
with no two alike. A pink silk top,
delicate light blue "boot," with hand
embroidered fronts. easily command
s96 per dozen. The opera hosea
stocking which extends from toe to hip
is also as costly as it is beautiful. The
opera hose is, of course, the longest
made. One style of these of black silk
cost 500 dozen. The cost is in the
quality Of the silk, the make and the
workmanship. They are perfectly
shaped in the manufacture, the ma
chinery used being extremely intricate
and valuable.
Women out ON the farms of the great
Northwest wear a blue and brown
mixed seamless hose of American man.
ufacture. There is also a great de-
mand for fancy stripes and solid col
ors, the price of which ranges from IS
cents to $3.50 per dozen. This is really
the hosiery for the female million. 1t
retails for about 25 cents, and better
values for so cents.
''What is the cheapest grade of mems
socks?"
More pedestrianism, and the obliging
salesman halted before socks that are
sold for 20 cents dozen. These might
pass for coffee bags, or nightcapS, or
for they are not the shapeliest of crea-
tions. They are called in the trade
railroad socks" OF unbleached. fan
cies. solld colors, Lisle thread, merino
and silk there are in mems goods an as
sortment as varied as are made for
women. The costliest in stock sell for
from s24 to S34 dozen. The "1nter-
state" sock is a ready seller. OF "bun-
die goods" the assortment is SO large
that description is out of the question.
The average man living in the city
wears a sock that costs about S1.50 per
dozen. For infants, manufactur-
erS duplicate all the fashionable
colors on reduced scale. Some
of the novelties in silk hose, solid colors
and Lisle threads appear much more
effective when reproduced in miniature.
The tiny tipped heel and toe and welt
in pink baby and sky blue, mahogany
and canary; the lace and open work,
ribs and PLAIN, unbleached ground with
prints, ''boots" and all variety of cotton
goods are attractive. Infants stockings
are sold at so cents dozen, or they
come in tiny packages straight from the
custom house at S35 dozen. Pink,
blue. cream and black in cashmere are
sold by the jobber at Sc dozen. The
varieties III sizes are puZZling to the un-
Initiated. They begin with an infants
three-quarter sock; then the full sock,
the infants three-quarter hose, full
hose, misses, ladies', ladies' slender,
full size, out size, double out size, and
Pope size, which is the limit. The
largest sock made in mems size is No.
II. Here is chubby infants four-inch
foot. Next is stocking for foot of
the same size, and again long opera
hose for leg whose foot is the same
little fOur-inch creation. Varied in
color and design and placed side by
side, the trio make cunning picture.