Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-02-10
DRESSING AGAINST TIME.
The AmoCnt of Speed n Woman Can Put
 on When She Wants To.

 to be understood as referring only to women who live in the suburbs, where dressing on the fly to catch trains is re- tuccd to an act that is almost worthy the attention of athletic people whose performll ices shine according to rec orxls.
 When a wuman first goes to the coun- try she misses many trains through her inability to dress in time for them. The only way she succeeds in pcrfecting herself in this line, is to dress for the eight o'clock train when she wishes to catch the ten. Then to dress for the eight o'clock train when she would away on the 9:3O. still again to dress for the eight o'clock train when she wishes to catch the nine, and so on un- til she develops championship form, and can dress for the eight o'clock train when she wants the eight o'clock train and get it.
 By that time she is on an artistic and athletic level with woman born and bred in the rural districts, where wom- on don't dress for the love of the thing. or to make display. but simply to be on time and catch things.
 X woman who occupies half an hour
  has been in the country six months. be able to perform the same office. if nec- cssary. in the brief period of six min utes. At the date of this writing, as far as can be uscertninrd. the record is 4:S2s4.
 In fact. country woman eau dress so fast that it is believed by many sta- tiSticianS who have. however. been II sf.x ( Il. that the rural woman has found it necessary to resort to the eNprdi"nt of making several garments into one to save time. For instance 1t iS believed that the dresses and under>lirtS are | fastcrnd together in such q way that they may all be donnr:l at once. and | faStrcnd to the anatomy by d vital button warranted not to come off. | It is furthrrm0re believed that if this combination garment is not used, that her clothing is always left. "n rec tiring at night. in position in which it may be donnrd at the shortest kind of short notice after the fashion of the garments of thH rural fireman who, be- fore retiring. leaves his clothing on a chair in layers, with those to go on l first on top.
 l W nSn d NblllHll Ill lnc futdl ulStrlcG hears the door-hrll ring, at say. four o'clock in the afternoon, and she has on an old wrapper. and is any thing hut prcSrntahlr, she doesn't hrrolnr in tho least alarmed, but simply trllS tho maid to usher the caller into the par Tor. and tu say that she will be down in a few minutes Then she flies up- stairs. and by t." time the caller is seated in the parlor, there k a noise. overhead, like that of q greyhound bounding through viStaS of dry. brittle leaves. and the caller knows full well that it is a suburban woman getting into silk dress against time. because she has done the same thing herself so frequently that there is no mistaliin~ it.
 After the caller has left. the rural woman goes upstairs, where the drrS:,- maker is engaged, and tries on several new dresses, us though they were hats. Then in two or three minutes she has on an entirely different garment. a> a sudden change in the weather has made l 1t necessary.
 When it comes tr a question of full dress she can get ready in three min utrS for the simple reason that there is su much less tu put on than Nn ordinary OrcaSiOnS When she comes uut of thC surf in the summer. she drraSr> in ~u h
 a brief period of time. that many city
 women argue and pretend {" believe - that she is a theatrical Ii lightujuG-ch ,n EG
 artist in tli>ruiSr. In casa of a fire al
 night she could arise and dress herself,
 as though for a wedding. even if thc
 flames were at the other rnd of the room licking the varniSh off the bod stead. And she would have on her hat,
 and her gloves hutton"d up tu hcI Shouldrrhladrs. long before the fire men could get to the house.. Tc look at thlS thing from q stand . point of economy, the fast dress } ing thut is universal in the country is very eNtravagant s practice when the wear and tear or
 clothing is concrrned: for an ordinary
 dress soon loses its graceful symmetry
 when woman hauls it swiftly over hcl head like q hOrSe-collar. and shoots out : from the shoulder to get into the sleeves 2 and buttons it swiftly with a button f hook to cause her to shrink into a wasp , waistcd sylph.
 Indeed, a bucOlic woman can dress 1T
 half the time it would take her to wasl the breakfast dishes or the baby: ant she could probably dress tWlce Ill ti' . period of time she would exhaust il
 sweeping floor or dusting the furni
 ture: and it is within the pale of reaSol
 to say that she could dress three time
 in as many minutes as it would talk,
 her to exhaust the subject of the late $ } fad, whether it be bifurcatcd shirts O amateur theatrical performances fo
 the alrclioration of the condition of tn,
 heathen in Zambesi.
 And it is entirely amusing to see he , jump, in a preoccupied way, and hegil p l to dress at a 4:52 rate of speed, to catcl
 an express train, when she hears tn,
 meridian factory whistle agitate tn,
 quiet air.. R. k. Munllittricll, in One,
 Week.
 NOTICE 8 Martin Hellmann, collector, wishes