Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-10
TOO MUCH CHAMPAGNE.

heIo - y true story IN point: young girl Oh
not more than twenty-five, while on q yachting
party one day last summer, took perceptibly
too much drink. Everybody supposed that IL
subsequent winter, at Q ball given in q private
house, similar misadventure happened to her.
her condition being such that two young men,
who had been on the yachting party aforesaid,
were obliged to hide her away upstairs, tax
ing turns at guarding her, SO that she
OF herself. OF course, however, the story got
around. There is champagne at dinner parties,
champagne at balls, champagne on the
lawnsat fetes champetres-always champagne,
accompanied by other tempting drinkables,
with which the young women are piled BY
more OF the same than was good for them. Any
observant person who will take notice Of the
fashionable women on coaches at the races or
on festive occasions at Newport will remark
that they quite usually exhibit symptoms Of hav-
ing partaken too freely from the bottles that
are kept convivially popping. What wonder
that young married women have frequently to
powder their noses.
DO women dress to please the m IN or to sat-
isfy the criticism Of other women? That is a
much-disputed question and probably it will
never be decided. Presumably, it is somew hat
OF both General condemnation by men will
not kill fashion. The men all laughed the
''grecian bend" to scorn. but the style ran its
course. They made unlimited fun of the ugly
masses Of Zulu hair, called '.chignous," which
women fastened on their heads awhile ago. but
they held their o0n. Bustles likewise, notwith-
standing the ridicule Of the comic papers. and
similarly with the new-fangled suspenders for
females But, though men may make fun Of
women's fashions in the abstract, they encour-
age them in the concrete. Is not every man
particular and even anxious that his woman
kind shall be dressed according to the fashion?
1t is true, as has often been remarked, that
men take in only the general effect of a woman g
costume. whereas other women regard the de-
tails. Therefore she always takes pains to sat
isfy the keen criticism Of her own sex. while
seeking to set of her person for the admiration
OF the masculine brute. 1t is often asked, "Who
make the fashions?" They are chiefly created
by the designers for the dressmakers and MILL
ners in France and England. Not few Of
them are started in vogue by actresses. A
Partisan artistic may take a notion to wear a
bouquet on her right shoulder and so originate
style that will spread all over the civilized
world. The Empress Eugene, in the height
OF her charms and power, was O maker of
fashions. Did she choose the Princess of
Wales today might exercise like influence,
but she does not care enough for dress.
NOTIONS OF PROPERTY CHANGE.
A great manufacturer Of women's stockings
told the writer that these articles Of apparel
were sOiu now IN the same sizes as nltnertO.
Without going further into the discussion Of 80
delicate subject the inference to be drawn
may be left to the reader. 1t is stated. and
probably with truth, that the average Ameri-
can girl of today is taller than twenty years
ago; furthermore, that the girls of the eastern
states are bigger than those Of the west, 80
that one often sees them looking down
upon their partners in the dance.
After all there need be no hesitation
felt in speaking Of the clothing for
the neither female limbs, even though it were
of garters, inasmuch as women are no longer
ashamed Of having legs. Do not the new
fashioned gowns exhibit them almost as plainly
as If the wearer had on tights? There has
been revolution in thinking to this point
within the last generation, and grandmothers
nowadays vainly try to convince their grand
daughters that they should always sit with
their feet close together on the floor. so as to
convey an impression that they are built solid
from the ground up, like the ladies of Noah's
family who come in toy arks.
When the fn-de-siecle American girl sits
down at the table she eats hearty meal, not
being ashamed to have an appetite, like
Lord Dundreary's young lady who ate nothing
to speak Of in public and gorged herself in
private. This is another matter in which ideas
formerly accepted have been overthrow. II
the Yankee young woman has grown one inch
in bust measure in the last ten years, and over
an inch around the hips, to what proportions
will she have attained q century hence, her feet
becoming steadily more sensible in size and her
hands smaller? There is no difficulty in making
an estimate on the subject. 1t is simply mat
ter of figures.