Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-28
CLARA BELLIES CHAT.
The Fashionable Four Hundreds
Latest and Funniest Fad.
RIDING OUT FOR AFTERNOON TEA.
Prevalence of ACCORDION Skirts and Di-
rectoire Gowns.
THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION FUSS


the swell young mans fancy lightly turns
to thoughts of tea. Quite the funniest fad
that has yet been taken up is this of the tea
rides out to the Claremont Club on the
Riverside Drive. was sitting on the piazza
out at the Claremont last Thursday after
noon. First you must understand that this
house on the banks of the Hudson is one of
the dearest and snuggest places in the world
wherein to study the budding excellences of
lovely ruralness together with the cooling
charm of refreshment There is an uninter-
rupted view of the sparkling river stretch
ing away to the north and broad expanse
of undulating country spreading off to the
east. The Riverside Drive, hard and shiny
as ballroom floor, and quite as bright with
its gay procession of carriages, is in imme-
diate proximity.
AS was saying, was enjoying these al
fresco attractions last Thursday afternoon.
At about o'clock four carriages, techni-
cally called broughams and carts, came
spanking up to the steps of the hotel. Four
very beautiful and splendidly dressed ladies
jumped daintily into the outstretched hands
of their escorts. That great beauty, Mrs.
Burke-Roche, was one of them, Mrs. Van
Rensselaer, Cruger another, and Mrs. Ell
lott Roosevelt another. No sooner were
these precious burdens set down upon the
ground than a cavalcade of riders came
swooping full tilt up to the house.
CUP OF soUcHoNG.
There was skurrying of grooms, futter
of girls descending from their horses like
birds from bush, and the air was filed
with gay laughter and musical voices.
Harry LIE Grand Cannon, the young leader
of germans, was one of this happy party,
and when he went up the steps he took with
him a queer looking box which he ap-
peared to be very solicitous of, refusing to
trust it to one OF the hotel walters who ad-
vanced to relieve him of its burden. I
found afterward that this box contained
rare old Souchong tea, and that all these
people had come out on the shore of the
beautiful river just to indulge in their reg
ular o'clock tipple amid new scenes and
breezes.
Moreover, learned that coterie had
been organized which should follow out the
same programme each Thursday, and so
throughout next month the casual visitor to
the Claremont will have an opportunity of
seeing how pretty some of the women in the
Four Hundred look over the edge of a tiny
Sevres cup, how gallant the men are in their
elegant spring trousers, yellow kid gloves,
boutonnieres and white CATERS, and how
very jolly tea party can be when the bev-
erage is Souchong and retinue of servants
await your bidding with your horses and
your soft, glistening carriages to carry you
back through the park to dinners made
4or, hry fbo fod oi, oc
April drive.
THE ACCORDION SKIRT.
Easter Sunday was as warm and brilliant
a day as the June of the poets ever brought
forth, and, of course, the sidewalks on Fifth
avenue after the churches were out present
ed a scene of astonishing splendor of color
and gorgeous material Words would fail
to suggest the tortuous crowds of handsome
ly dressed people that lounged and stared at
each other, or the remarkable display of
new costumes that blossomed on all sides
like flowers.
But one development in the ever change
full evolution of the feminine gown was
painfully apparent, and it showed emphaJi-
cally the tendency of woman, when she has
a good thing, to run it into the ground.
refer to the skirt known as the "accordeon.' %
To the female mind this word expresses a
very great deal. Awhile ago the Psyche
knot claimed the attention and cultivation
of feminine New York. Then came the
Hading veil. Now it is the ACCORDION skirt.
And it promised on Easter Sunday to make
the landscapes of the approaching summer
very monotonous. Fifth avenue shivered
with these arrangements on that day. Their
long, vertical lines of perfect regularity
crinkled and broke into rays of vari-colored
1iohf ba palf for ], =
full and still. Dozens and dozens of these
skirts, in green, red, black, white and every
other color played their soundless tunes
along the Easter pave.
DIRECToIRE GOWNS.
But doubt if they became any more
tiresome in their profusion than did the all.
prevalent directoire dress which so many
hundred young women are arraying them
selves in at this moment. The epoch OF
pufed sleeves, short waists and long
stretches of limp skirts, is indeed returned.
The directoire gown was something of a
favorite for house wear a season or so ago,
but it never got on the street to any notice
able extent until this spring. think Kitty
Brady was the first girl to wear the gown in
open air, and gradually they became popu-
lar for theater wear. Now they have reached
the tiresome stage of profuseness, and the
thoroughfares are thick with them upon all
shapes and styles of feminineness. Perhaps
the most conspicuous departure in the way
of an appurtenance to women's toilets is
found in the parasols of this season. The
sticks of these have been elongated from
their former convenient shortness to the
length of shepherds staff. The most re-
markable of all the parasols / have yet seen
was one of plain green velvet with slim
white stick fully five feet long, the end oi
the stick being supplied with an enormous
silver crook. When this parasol is held
over its fair owners head, the crook inter
feres with her feet as she moves When il
is closed she uses it to walk with, after the
manner of an Alpine guide.
A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION.
Fanny Davenport, the actress, has had g
trihing difference of opinion with the Rev,
DR.. Houghton, pastor of the Little Church
Around the Corner. 1t is not necessary tC
explain, so often has it been published, that
the Church of the TRANSPORTATION, which
was so notoriously nicknamed by reason oi
the funeral services of Comedian Holland
is by no means little or Insignificant con-
Germ. On the contrary, it is an extremely
fashionable Episcopal church, standing on
ground alone worth S250,000, and with a
congregation representing a vast deal oi
style and riches. And may be guilty oi
repetition in explaining that Rector Hough.
ton, although known throughout the land
as the chaplain of the theaters, is an exceed
ingly digni6ed, sensitive and exclusive sort
of clergyman. He has oficiated willingly
in the burials of actors and actresses, be-
cause the duty has accidentally been puI
| upon him. He has even permitted himself
to be elected an honorary member of the
Actors fund. Not long ago thieves broke
In nd rtnlo hir roIid r;lsn. oo-n..r.;n,. ro..