Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-10-31
REDFERN FASHIONS.
The Proposal OF Marriage as Modern Now
els Give It--why Does It Always Taxe
Pfaee In FulI Eyaufuu nr.aas

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The Proposal of Marriage as Modern Now
els Give It--wby Does It Always Taxe
Place In Full Evening Dress:
New York. Oct. 22. The modern
novel Is supposed to be, or rather
should be, fair example of the pres
ent mode of life, description of nine
teenth century habits and manners, a
faithful, IL over-fnished, photograph
OF life as it is now If we take this TO
be so, we shall OF course find that our
nineteenth century novel does not con-
tain the pages of lmpassioned love dec
larasions the stilted wordy proposals
that marked the era of Lytton's ear
lier works, and were conspicuous in
that great masters, Sir Walter Seott's,
house, far as that goes, the modern
novel reflects modern times The nom
chalent way that "Mr Barnes OF New
York" expressed his sentiments
when he said to his Eng
lish sweetheart: THAT is
a nice hand for n wedding ring" is APP
parently a sketch from life. The
young man who casts himself down on
his knees and elocutes long para.
graph of infiamed admiration of gram
matical and nicely worded phrases, is
not the young man who belongs to that
somewhat obscure race. The devoted
lover of 189l-no, young Is9l-sits in
the most comfortable chair, talks i'm
jerky, slightly, slangy sentences, smokes
probably with leave we hope, Jokes
art n inlu haaat,sa M nna Il
nowadays but dyspeptics and comic
actors. The novels represent him.
They put some quaint, nonchalent lit
tie speech into his mouth which, ac-
companied by a clever description of
the way he looks and the way he says
It, is sufficiently interesting and
life like. The girl generally re-
plies in natural manner-at least it
is generally an accepted thing now
that it is natural for a modern girl TO
reply TO the great question Of her life
with some ambiguous little answer 49,
half assent, half dissent. and wholly
witty. That witty reply is perhaps
not SO faithful copy of life as the rest
of the novel, but it is the novelists
way of putting in his light and shade.
IL his hero says something ordinary
anu inaLler-OI-lacL MS heroine mus '
say something funny and bright. Well,
we have nothing to complain of, so far;
the novelist writes life pretty much
as he sees it, but we have noticed
that he has one weakness, and
that is he invariably dresses his hero
and heroine in evening dress when the
proposal takes place, Why is this? Is
display of arms and throat, an extra
bracelet or so. or longer train than
usual SO strong an incentive to love?
Is man forced to declare himself
when he is sitting by the side of bro
caded silk dress and feather fan?
Does a decollette toilette compel him to
say what a morning wrapper would
never have exacted from him?
Well the novelist knows, no doubt.
He is a man of experience; we can
only draw the conclusion that evening
dress is more becoming than other
styles.
Redfern is generally of opinion that
close-ftting tailor-made gown is the
best of all, but perhaps the novelist 5
view has lately somewhat influenced
him, for he has been experimenting in
velvet evening dresses lately, and with
some charming results Here is one: