Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-09-06

II
burnt tiles, yellow-brown harmonising with
dark brown and browuish red. or faint slaty
| blues and red, with ochre yellow or brilliant
| Byzantine patterns. The material 10 really tile
work, checks and pieces Of the solidifed pain.
fitted together, and must be perfectly damp
proof, warm and silent, which burnt tiles are
not The tile cloth comes in pieces two yards
| wide and 20 yards long. and must be nearly in
destructible. In houses with floors poorly
| laid az they are In most American dwellings il
is serious matter to get them ar tistically COW
| cred. to be warm and yet dust proof, agreeable
| to the head and not requiring to be taken up
every year, or changed in five years wear. For
halls, passages, dining and sleeping rooms,
| studios and nurseries the tile cloth is admir-
able Until we have inventions to sling chairs
| and cabinets in the air, while carpets are
| ANONYMOUSLY rolled up, removed, cleansed
| and put down again, they will remain the &C.
casion OF much unhealthiness in the household.
not moro by their absorption Of everything
| wicked in the way Of husband smells than by the
| tnsking drudgery Of keeping them swept The
| hardest work in a servants routine is sweeping
thick carpets. 1t strains more muscles, offers
| more dangerous dust and fue to iphale than all
! the other work on q floor. Rugs if Of any size
[ are delusion. for a half-sized Smyrna mat ia
heavy as whole carpet and the beating they
get at the hands Of genteel house maids is
| careful not to disturb the body Of dust Inlaid
they must be wiped and polished more or less
| daily, or they are as delightful as piano case
with the dust on. Few floors are good enough
| to bear the dark paint and shellac
which makes the most satisfactorily
| cheap finish. clear and handsome as
polished black oak at the expense of
| sweeping with a damp mop daily. which is easy
| as busting the piano lid aforesaid, and revar-
nlshlnR once in six months at 80 cents . room.
| 1t is cheap letting the household off SO much
drudgery, dust and discomfort, plus the bril-
liant clean effect But few floors are smooth
enough to be satisfactorily polished this way,
and In preparing for comfort in winter the
wise house keeper finds nothing available so
warm, soundless and pleasant in every way but
one as the thick plain corticine a quarter inch
through, and feeling to the foot much like
elastic sole leather. II there could be some
way OF decorating it. in East India colorings
ior instance, dyeing 1t right through, in pat
terms, without the tac-tao left by painted sur
face, and without gloss, it would be an ideal
foor covering. Carpets are mere dust and
disease traps, and the sooner We get rid of
them the better. Cotton carpets of fast dye,
f1rm weaving and good design would be far bet
ter than wool ones, which have fatal property
OF absorbing everything they should not.
AN ATTRACTION FOR FAIRS.
The season Of fancy fairs is not far distant,
and veteran managers are planning for attrac-
tons as far ahead as managers Of a theatrical
sort. The newest diversion in English and
continental fairs is the cafe chantant. in a sep
arate room, where ladies of condition get
themselves up as much like Judic and the mu-
sic hall stars as possible, and from a music
stage charm the audience with the airs and
graces OF those singers. 1t is strictly correct,
being imitation naug htiness only and safe for q
bishops wife to attend, and 1t is surprising how
close the daughters Of careful houses repro
duce the fetching" effects of the variety stage.
IL the Spanish dance a la Carmencita could
only be put on the das in the upstairs rooms
at Potter and Stymus for the neat hospital
fair, how many ladies from Tuxedo and else
hS ros a ne fG hoW sqn" vu to 61aw
II Tuxedo could not furnish girls able to repro
duce Carmencitas glances and poses, Vassar
and Wellesley could-for a good cause
Boston, now, for example. does not re-
quire such high-spiced bills of fare. Two
things you can depend on hearing at any public
or semi public occasion there; Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe reads her Battle Hymn of the Republic
and tells how it came to be written, and Mrs
somebody else gives whistling solo. They had
1 t at the Women,s Relief Corps meeting in
fremont Temple Grand Army week and were
to have them at a lawn party the day before
or was 1t reading OF poetry instead of
whistiing? heard good, pious woman tell Of
Chicago mission Sunday school where of an
afternoon a man and his wife played the cornet
together and another woman gave a whistling
exhibition. That was to draw the masses and
should think it would!
WOMEN ON BICYCLES
nice girl wishes to know if it will be proper
for her to ride a bicycle or tricycle. alone in
Central Park, as she is very fond of the exer-
cise-needs it, and has no one to go with her.
II She had only written Mr.. Ward McAllister
about the matter she would stand chance of
an opinion she could fall back on. It il NOR
ally certain that most city circles who want to
be nice would promptly declare IL improper for
young lady to ride anything in the park I'M
attended. But am not sure that Mr. Ward
McAllister. surveying the situation of needed
exercise in
tain wide circles outside his own Of always
commanding the escort OF a father, brother.
or groom as escort, and calling on the clear.
common sense which marks his decisions,
would not tell her to put on a plain gown, 20
out In the forenoon or early afternoon before
the park is filled with riders, and behave like a
good girl, attending strictly to her own bust
ness. There must BIO care to preserve these
outdoor liberties for women, which mean 30
much to their health and spirits
We can't afford to have our nice middle-clasa
girls hampered by the haliucinatons of the
upper circle concerning the indispensabiity
OF chaperons and escorts il a girl goes out in
plain daylight. If we do, the middIe-class
girls may turn out rs badly as some Of the up
per ones. They may cling to their formal
proprletles-they seem to need them-for chap.
erons, escorts, grooms and footmen don't seem
to keep them from coming to grief often But
cycling Is SO fascinating and needed sport,
worth all the gymnastics and gymnasia in the
country for development of health and activity,
that the good sense of the community or the
better part Of it should protect women in tina.
and all other needful and gracious liberty.
But you want to use freedom without abusing
it. You want to dress quietly, not to
draw attention, and l do not think the
blue striped flannel skirt with cream
zouave jacket covered with gilt buttons
depicted by woman rider in q cycling
paper at all ladylike or quiet. 1t could be seen
mile ahead and would itself say to any man
rider follow me-" No wonder the Lady rider
complained of men racing her wheel in Fair
mount Park A cycling habit should be severely
plain as riding habit, all one grave color
| and not thread of white trimming or a gilt
button about it, and for good taste no Jockey
cap with its sangy suggestions, but an English
gypsy hat, small but shading the face we'll. In
| a quiet dress-no nonsense of divided skirt
keeping herself to herself, attending strictly to
her own business, a girl is safer on a bicycle
than on foot in the park, provided she knows
how to ride we'll. She has no business in a
public place till she has mastered her wheel
and then she wants to leave the ambition of
"breaking records entirely alone 1t is alto
gether too easy for foolish vanity to ruin
ones health for life by riding too many miles
q day, and 80 bring disrepute on q most de-
lightful and graceful sport
SHIRLEY DARE.
A Picture Story.
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