Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-16
sm-either would be fatal to his complex
ion, and often there was too much of both

S~e-
FORCED TO GO OUT.
Ladies could wear a veil for protection,
but if he did he, would be exposed to ridl-
cule. He had to go, and appear to be reck-
less OF such exposure, inasmuch as Madame
de Pompadour with her little hat and feather
braved the sun and wind he so much dreaded.
However, he had some consolation in the
paste which he had invented. This, put
soft on the hands at night, adhered, hard
ened and remained firm until morning.
When removed the fairest lady in the land,
1t Is said, might have envied him the lily
whiteness of his hands. He had as many
rules for the preservation of his health as
for the beauty of his complexion. His duty
as diplomatist to his Queen and his coun-
try occasionally broke in upon his laws as
to beauty, but at such times he did not hesl-
tate to become the slave of duty.
1t is not easy to imagine Whitelaw Re1d
in pink Silk coat with lace rufdes, olive
velvet breeches with jeweled garters, white
silk stockings, with 'paste" shoe buckles
and q cooked hat looped up on costly dia-
mond buttons, but nobody knows where
fashion will land men any more than 1t does
women. Itseems beyond belief that Robert
Lincoln, the son of old Abe, who was raised
In log cabin, should go down to history
arrayed at the court of St. James in crimson
velvet and gold lace, with flowing pow
dered wig and snufing around from .
jeweled box with picture of "little Ben"
painted on the lid, and yet, let tickle
fashion issue decree to that effect, and 1t
would follow. We may even have mini
sters like Kannitz in Washington, whose
complexion and clothes are to them matter
Of the greatest importance, and whose
powers of mind, apart from diplomacy, are
devoted to inventing lotions and potions for
the preservation of youth and beauty, and
bagging at the knee, which of course can
only ultimately end in the adoption Of
knee breeches.
DRESS FOE GREAT MEN.
IF President Harrison had the courage to
appear in velvet tights, a Louis XIV. coat
with lace rufles, cooked hat and his hair in
bag, the country, in popular parlance,
would Ego off, from Maine to California,
and he would be followed about by the rag
tag and bobtail as if he were a circus, and
yet George Washington dressed in that
fashion. If Blaine, instead of the pepper
and salt Scotch tweed suit he usually wears,
were to get himself up with high stock,
powdered wig, knee pants, an Empire coat,
with shoe buckles and garters adorned with
paste diamonds, and a cooked hat and
feathers, he would create an immense SEN
sation the country over, but that is the
style in which the forefathers arrayed them
selves, and it is to be the fashion for men as
predicted. Patrick Henry was as patriotic
in powdered wig, knee breeches and silk
stockings as he would be in a Prince Albert
coat and trousers. Washington, in his
eighteenth century dress, was as capable of
setting squadrons in the field and winning
victories as Grant in his plain blue and gold
uniform. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew
jackson, with all their democratic SIM
plicity, dressed in the fashion of the day,
and were none the less men OF mark and
mind. Dress is not the man.
With joke and ridicule the modes and
manners of the past are derided, but fashion
repeats itself In Queen Elizabeth's day
high rufs, hoops, panniers and all of the
absurdities were ruling styles The world
is getting back to them now, at the behest
of the leaders of fashion, who mus cater to
the desire for novelty, and women follow,
as if common sense and fitness had nothing
TO do with the question.
MEN BAD AS WOMEN.
"Men are not such fools as to blindly fol-
low fashion in DRESS" says one. When did
they become wise? If that is so, why Is it
that men will wear "stove-pipe" hat to
their own discomfort, and if the brim is
half an inch too narrow, or the top a frac-
ton too high for style, they will be des-
perately unhappy? If their trousers are
too wide, according to the dictates of fash
ion, they will roar and howl, and If too
narrow, they will swear without leave or
license.
Men are as much slaves of fashion ns are
Dress to them, in the course of
evolution, has become more convenient, but
there is in it somewhat yet to reform.
That this will not be done save at the die
tate of fashion goes without saying. The
Prince of Wales, it is said, is the arbiter of
fashions for men. Would it not be money
IN their pockets and comfort to their souls
20 have him interviewed-o say-bribed, to
abolish the .stove pipe" to SHUT down"
On high stiff collars, and all of the devices
IF fashion that make men uncomfortable in
heir dress. Such decree would conduce
much 10 the advancement of Sweetness
md light" But alas, as Solomon, or some
body says "all men are fools and women
we're made to match the men,"
RESSJH RPANnYr