The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-20
BATHS FOR GOLDEN YOUTH
Luxuries Never Dreamed Of In the
Days When Crasus Was
on Earth.
some Bath Robes for the Four
Hundred That Cost Four
Hundred Each.
Chlnese Cursos That Come High-For
Christnna. Dnaues--Wrars Of the
sesson-1ieadEear.

uT~E~4SA AlHUlrs LuStG lIC tMo wa loiiilo
Isl Of II. That most effected by the
golden youth OF to-day is big enough
for 4 parlsr, with a pool big enough to
swim half a dozen at once. Marble steps
lead aowr 10 ii; the floor is of plain white
tiles. THE walls are likewise tilsd, but
blush with the classic contours of nymph
and goddess. There are shower and needle
baths also at one side. Awide, low, marble
diyan runs along two sides of the room.
Heapsd with rich rugs and soft cushions,
IL become an ideally luxurious lounge
for the half hour after the ~bath-especi-
ally if the louneer has a good cigar, a
good book or a good comrade to keep him
il countenance. Fifteen minutes in
the pool, with coffee and pipe after it, give
d silver lining to the darkest cloud. It is
for such delightful quarter hours that ths
big shops are showing bath robes Of either
wadded silk on the smoking jacket plan or
else the ~softest. silkiest w~oolens, like ydvet
to the touch. The robes are long and
looss-the Roman toga could not hold q
candle to their ample majesty. They come
quite to the instep and arc furnished with
either q waist cord or a soft folded sash.
The man who can wear one we'll. with no
suggestion of his grandmothsrs may hug
himself in the belief that he can be a hero
TO his OWN valet.
Tho golden youths feminine counterpart
does not take nearly SO much space for her
bath. What it lacks in room, though, it
gains III eorgeousness. Fancy q floor of
mosaic wall paneled with mirrors cleaning
and flashing betwixt slabs Of onyx or pink
or green marble. Fancy . bath carved
from a solid marble block in shape of a
lotus petal. a sea shell, a Gala lily, or a
white fall-breasted swan. Fancy the water
in it milky with perfume and Just the tom
pered warmth Of May-morning sunshine.
Beauty rises from it all one tender glow,
gives her sweet flesh the delicious feeling
OF tino. cold needle spray, wraps herself
dry in swarthing of embroidered damask,
then slips into a silk robe that touches her
only at neck and waist that trails yards
behind her in ahjmmering folds and is
overlaid with a smother of lace cascades.
For two such garments meant for holiday
gifts the moderate sum of -four hundred
dollars each has been paid. Needless to add
their prospective wearers belong to the
four hundred and are merely types OF their
class. Indeed. the SHOPS jurt now enlarge
ones ideas of luxurious possibilities. To-
day / sauntered through a big establish
ment filled with nothing but lamps, can
dIesticks, chandeliers and aha des for them.
Don't ask me to describe them. Multiply
q riot color by geometry run mad, fling in
silk and lace and bronze and gilt, add
China and crystal wrought in all conceiv-
able shapes, and if your imagination is
vivid enough, you may get a faint idea of
the gorgeous array. There were short
lamps and tall lamps, on standards. pedes-
tails, vases, lamps i'll clusters, fairy lamps.
goblin lamps-but never a one whose cos5
H -No 1nHc thar I fvuontv HnlIora 1Dv rL,.t, |
it ran into the hundreds. In a general way
it WAS deducable that yellow is a long favor
lite for shades. At least two-thirds Of them
were OF yellow silk SHRED, shocked, fes-
TONED over big pagods frames, and finished
with pleated frills over which fell yellow
lace. A few of the very handsomest had
big. pink, crepey poppy petals intermixed
with whlte silk muslin. but shades of maHsed
Hovers-roses. lilies, sun-fowers. tulips,
and 30 forth-that were so fashionable last
year are this season IN a welcome minority. |
For sconce-candles punches of ehrysanthe-
NUNS make new and pretty shades. The
clasp fits round the socket, so the upright
flowers tempers the light without danger of
burning.
Next door to the lamp man you find a
curiO collection from the land of the chry-
santhemum, tho mikado's empira, And |
suoh a collection. Really to walk through
II IL a liberal education in the wonders of
Japanese art. Here are bronzas full of
Japanese grotesquerie, yet exquisite in
curve and proportion-so exquisite, SO finely
modelled that YOU do not wonder when tho
dealer nanes $12,000 as the p,iee of each.
A big gold lacquer cabinet. a famous shrine
III fac-simile, with miraculous ivory carving
all over the front, Is valued ut Sl5, $50. A
Japanese belle On route to the temple with
her Offering Of flowers and her little dog in
leash rendered to the life. perfect in the
mlnutest detail. is to be had for one thou
sand-and cheap at that. For you sec,
shough she stands some ten inches high