Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-07-29


better than it is my luck to like the
taste of most women.
II has been a spring of cold weather
and blackbirds Perhaps that is why l
noticed the black dresses SO particularly
at tennis party yesterday. There were
blackbirds on the lawn not far from
the players, and their zeal in pulling
worms out of the grass deserved to be
rewarded as it was by the worms being
TO break in two.
A young girl and an excellent player
wore skirt of black cloth, a white
blouse and a green velvet waistband
with braces. II made a real pretty COM
bination. The blouse was full one,
but was made to listen to reason by the
two brace strips of velvet, which passed
through steel rings fastening them TO
the corselet and then up and over the
shoulders The corselet hooked with
an immense steel buckle behind
One other black frock was like red
winged blackbird II had q short
straight skirt OF some black ribbed stuff
gathered into band at the waist and
hanging full It had . straw colored
blouse worked in a broad stripe up and
down the front with crimson silk in an
intricate pattern. 1t had narrower
bands of embroidery about armholes
and throat and wrists, and it had q
short crimson jacket that famed when
ever its wearer made a leap for q ball.
There were pretty summer bonnets at
the tennis party, it is needless to say,
among the people who did not handle
rackets. ! remember particularly
creamy brown chip of empire shape of
fine braid and very low crown. 1t be-
longed to tall woman in a rustic chair
under . wisteria vine. It was pleasant
to look at the great, heavy. pale purple
grape-shaped flower clusters and then
down at the woman below them Her
bonnet had rather an unusual four-inch
brim. bent in several times and lined
with a narrow stripe Of pale whitish
green straw. The straw curtain at the
back was quite deep and set on separ-
ately. A wreath of purple cranes bill.
or wild geranium, of almost the shade
of the wisteria, was twisted about the
crown with bows of pale green ribbon
The same flowers were tucked inside
the brim. and, according to the seasons
within, were pinned upon one of the
broad strings
Then there was q very fantastic hat
Of dark blue straw, fat as plate, and
with scarf plaided Of blue, pale green
and crimson, knotted fat about its
brim- A twisted fold of the plaid rested
on the under side of the brim against
the hair and ended in bow at the back
and q little on one side. All this is
usual enough, but the feature which
caught my attention was high tuft of
feathers, rising from the very middle of
the crown straight In air, odd and az
gressivc with its mingling of three col
ors Of the checked ribbon. Crimson and
blue and pale green. the plumes defied
nature and man 10 say their profile eff
feet was not all conquering.
The mother of pearl spangles and the
jet. bead, gold and silver cord and tinsel
queernesses used this summer for milli-
merry adornments are not especially pre-
possessing; but, on the other hand.
flower making was never before carried
TO any such stage of perfection. Some
Of the big. soft, silken-petaled peoples
and the huge chrysanthemums, and
the thistle heads. and the clover punches
and the orchids are beautiful enough to
call out, not fashion regulation hys-
terics Of admiration. but some genuine
surprise. White velvet In having an odd
summer boom as a millinery material,
but the best hats one sees IN the shop win
dows or at the early summer gatherings
are Of coarse creamy brown or drab or
Slue straw. with crowns scarcely higher
than the brims, and ribbons and posies
standing mp with q thoroughly modern
and more or iess commendable resolu-