Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-10-29
OUR MODERN CLOTHES.
People Everywhere Becoming More AMI
More Like Each Other.

More Like Each Other.
Fashions as a rule, like Morality
in The Dunclad," expire unawares;
and costumes which have been worn
from time immemorial fade away SO
gradually that the period OF their final
disappearance is imperceptible, says
the London Telegraph. The most
experienced and the acutest of observ-
ers would be puzzled to fix the pre-
else date when the nobility and gentry
ceased to retain black footmen: or
when butchers left off top boots such
as we behold in Sir Edwin Landseer's
picture of High Life and Low
Life;" or when London servant maids
repudiated the use of pattens. There
have been, it is true exceptions to
the rule. Old editions of the Stat
utes at Large contain the act Of
parliament passed after the rebellion
Of 1745, solemnly prohibiting the
assumption of the Highland dress in
Scotland; while it is notorious that
yellow starch went OUT because
Mrs. Turner, a poisoner in the reign
stiffened with starch OF the hue in
question. Similar squeamishness in
1S49 condemned black satin as ma
terial for ladies' dresses to more than
twenty years prescription, it having
been in a black satin dress that the
murderess Maria Manning was hanged
at Horsemonger lane jail.
L.
fabric. or mode, or color in apparel has
for a definite reason ceased at an as
certained date to be worn, must be
added the proXimate demise at Rouen
OF a particular kind of cheap blue cot
ton handkerchlefs. printed in four var
ieties OF tint by the very old-fashion-
ed wooden block process. These
kerchiefs, from a period to which the
mind of man runneth not to the con-
trary, formed a distinctive feature of
the picturesque costume worn by the
women of Plougastel, near Brest one
of the last remaining stronghOlds of
the ancient costume of Brittany.
The death of the manufacturer has put
an end to the production of the cheap
blOck-printed handkerchiefs, as the
sons are unwilling to carry On the fab
ricatiOn with the present antiquated
plant and are possibly intent on turn
ing out tasteful cretonnes or Japanese
designs printed in colors by steam
from engraved steel rollers. Futher-
more, the demand for these special
handkerchiefs has been growing of
late years small and unproftably less.
Already the male Bretons have taken
to having their hair cut, and at the
Pardon de rPloermem nowadays
there are as many closely clipped
rustics in wide-awakes and suits dit
toes" as there are peasants with the
traditional flowing locks, and clad in
the traditional broad brimmed casters
and voluminous galligaskins Of the
antique province.
The plain truth is that picturesque
costume is rapidly dying out the whole
world over. Take the .'Vierlander
Madchen''-a decaying race, by the
way-who sells bouquets under the por-
ticOes of the theatres at Hamburg; take
the Roman ''cOntadina, with her kir-
tie Of cunningly contrasted hues, and
the snowy "fazzoletto'' of white linen
which she wears as headdress; take
the Venetian ''foraja" and the 'por-
tatrice d'acqua," or water carrier and
contrast any one of these types with
the London flower girl.
The pity of it is that all these Con-
tinental costumes are drifting into ex-
tinction. In Rome the 'fazzoletto"
and the many-hued kirtle are rarely
worn save by professional models for
artists; and the Venetion flower girls
who poster the tourists at Florian's or
the Speech to buy their po8ies, and
often thrust them unlimited into the
travellers buttonholes, are rapidly re-
linquishing their distinctive garb,
and dressing themselves after the fash
ions prescribed in the plates of the
cheap fashion periodicals. AS for the
gondoliers, they have abandoned the
wearing of striking costume as COM
pletely as they have discontinued their
citations from Tasso.
There are still Swiss cantons in
which the strongly marked and ex-
tremely picturesque Helvetlc costume
is adhered to, and in certain parts of
Norway, such as the Hardanger and
Telemarken districts, the peasantry
still wear their characteristic native
dresses; but in both countries the
'wideawake" hat and the suit of
'dittoes" for men and the cheap and
1ll-looking parodies of the Paris
fashions for women, are steadily MAX
ing their ignoble and depressing way
"Store clothes have even invaded the
Iyrol and the provinces of Austria,
while in European Turkey the upper
classes have wholly divorced them
selves from the turban and the caftan
and have adopted monotonous dress
in which the principal elements are
the scarlet fez cap and the single
breasted frock coat. The Osmanli, at
Stamboul at least has even given up
the traditional ''chibouck" and the
time honored ''narghile," and smokes
nothing but cigarettes.
A Human Footprint in a Stone.
On May Is, 1882. Mr.. John B. Wig