Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-12-10
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
Self-Conscious Country Girls at the
Shop Windows.
Naturally Curious Windows Made to Look
Into-The Fair Lillian Election
and sttors.
Special correspondence OF The Chronicle.

Special correspondence of The Chronicle.
New YORK, December s. 1891.
'COme on, said one girl to another, as
they strOlled up broadway, and the other
evinced some desire to lag for mo-
ment, looking into brilliant shop win
dow; Come on, every one will know
that we are from the country"
"Well we are," said the other girl, who
was much more stylish and citified
than her anxious sister, "and who will
notice us?-and if any one does, why
should we care? We know nobody
here and nobody knows US" But the
excellent sense of this did not appeal to
the first speaker. She glanced uneasily
about, and pretended to be waiting on
her companion, with the deprecatory air
of one who who waits while child
amuses itself moment Not one of the
thousands pushing by saw her. | would
not if had not heard her first remark.
1t is somewhat of mystery why some
country people or small-town people,
when they get into the city will endeavor
to conceal the fact that they are not at
home. They do it usually in such a
bungling way that they at once give the
secret away.
| Looking into the shop windows is not
prina Jacie evidence of country -jaked-
ness. The shop windows are made to
look into, and fixed up attractively and
artisticaliy just for the very purpose of
getting people to look into them, and
| causing them to stay and wonder and ad-
mire, and perchance go inside and buy.
There are perhaps score of men in this
city who each make more money than
you or by fixing up these very windows
to be gazed into by a gaping crowd.
They are Salaried, and richly salaried too,
some of them. They have a genius for
this sort of thing, and they are artists.
They spend hours and even days in the
arrangement of goods in window, and
if the result of their labor is not to be
looked at, what in the world is? And
why are shop windows always so well
lighted by day, and brilliant blaze of
electricity by night?
My dear, little country girl, you're
fool for not looking into the show Win
dow, which the great firm has been at
infinite pains to make beautiful just to
get you to look into. And your trem-
bling anxiety lest you do something that
some very keen passer5y might by much
thought resolve into an indication of the
country, shows that you are an egotist
You think, when you come to town, that
every one in this big rushing street is go
ing to stop and look at you, and then
stop longer to ridicule you. Your feel
ing of self-importance is too highly de-
veloped. You would be taken for SIM
ply self conscious bumkin, if one should
stop to figure you up.
Don't be afraid to satisfy the healthy
natural desire of seeing what is to be
seen. Look at it with calmness and in
| terest. 1t is the manner that tells the
tale, not the deed itself. A friend of
mine kept me standing for an hour at a
window where there was performance
of various household functions by lot
of dolls, propelled by mysterious internal
mechanism woundsup with key. There
was thick crowd about, but this made
no difference to him; he laughed his fill,
and made every demonstration of delight
and pleasure, Yet he was not, am sure,
taken for countryman, nearlyso quick
ly as the few persons who eontemptuous-
ly snickered at him, or knowingly or
pityingly smiled as they passed. His na-
tural and simple mirth was pleasing, and
his complete abandon to it in the pres
ence of the crowd rather marked him as
a man of those qualities of knowledge
and experience which the metropolitan
is supposed to possess than as rustic
| His naturalness of manner did it. He
was not constrained or self-conscious,
and therefore not awkward. He cried
out, clapped his hands, and danced up
and down as though he were the only per-
son there
And as matter of fact he was city
born and city bred.
Xxx
| The shop windows as Christmas ap-
proaches, are beginning to be worth see
ing. The finest things of the shop are in
| them. Usually the contents of the win
dow are supposed to be typical of what is
to be bought within, but it is not always
so. The old plan is resorted to of using
something more striking and novel to
call attention to purchasable things.
One store has huge panoramic picture,
another long series of historical Incl
dents illustrated with figures and canvas;
another shows, with genuine natives
and tents and goats, the process of weav
ing the Persian rugs; and so on, the firm
hitting upon most taking thing, drawing
! crowd.
***
There is no prettier woman on the stage
to-day than Lillian Russell. She looks as
fresh and fragrant and sweet as a wild
rose in the leading part in LA Cigale." ."
Her costumes are superb, and often ex-
cite the envy of wealthy and aristoeratic
danes, whose gowns are direct from the
best dressmaking artists of Paris. Miss
Russell has toiled in the heat and glare
of the footlights for many years-ever