The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-08-31

- ahe Uoepekirt n tne
s>ssrts,etA csainrr- E.rly ras.s-
The hdy 1kho invented the old steer
noopaErt. with fitting attachments.
ned the other day q the ripe age Of
seventy twp, says the Cincinnati Times
STR. Nqdmcre appropriate epithet could
% concei Fed for her stone than the
words with which the message convey
ing this Intelligence was closed:
And abs wore fitting skirt to the
very last.
TO the present generation hoopskirt-
dom = t4rra incognifa and the fitting
skirt an ALMOST extinct species. Indeed,
the last VI its kind was perhaps TO be
laid awa5 with the person Of its invent
Of 51t the elders stiH cherish the
melBory of the day when the skirt
..ur,shed In it fun breadth and circum-
=. ksiice.
One whose memory goes back to that
bygone day says: II think the hoop
slirt was first generally introduced about
the year 1859. The idea was of slow
growth. Il did not spring ont full
grown By any means. At first pieces Of
stir rope Of small dimensions were
sewn into the skirts. three or four SUM-
Gent 70 answer the purpose. Then the
steal wire was used and covered with
cloth. and the hoops increased in number
In proportion ~ they grew In size. II
was . strange fashion. we say, as we
look back upon it. but there have been
stranger. and there is no accounting for
fashion
Fog few years following the close
Of the war the hoopskirt was the sine
qua non of woman's makeup, and the
wider It spread its dominions the wider
it spread its hoops. The tide Of its
popularity reached its food about 1868.
and it was about that time the so-called
fitting skirt came in vogue.
This was skirt with an outline very
much like the lower lines of the letter r,
The fitting was carried to such an ex-
trelne that the skirt soon became the
mark of the vulgar, and from that day
its decline commenced. In four years its
power had 80 waned that its wearer was
regarded as rather eccentric, and in half
- 0NLcu yOaKb ~ was I0LCAy w 10 oOCAA.
The fashion no doubt received its
greatest impetus from the tradesmen.
1t was an expensive conceit, not in itself,
but in what it led to. In 1854 the range
III prices from cheapest to best was from
$1.5O to S.. But in its extreme form it
contained 100 feet of wire, and the lower
hoop was four or FIVE feet in diameter.
This necessitated the use of nearly twice
as much cloth for the making of dress
as Is now used. It took twelve yards to
make dress in those days where it re-
quires seven now. OF course the trades
men did all they could to make the hoop
skirt popular, and perhaps upon them
rests the responsibility of having created
this strange work of fashion.
The reaction was not sudden, how.
AeSsf The period of decline lasted abou;
eight years. from 1868 to 1875. and even
after that it remained in form so dis
guised as to entirely conceal its identity.
After ceasing to exist as a hoopskirt il
became hustle. Its mountainous di.
mensions shrunk to a mousetrap. The
historian of the fashion knows that the
hustle was evolved out of the hoopskirt,
and that for time the latter seemed to
have gained new lease of life in its new
form The hustle, swelled with sense
Of its importance, after brief career Of
dazzling success fell into disfavo1
through its very successes. The hoop
skirt is no more. The hustle is on its
last legs. Sic transit gloria mundi.
But it Is mistake to suppose that the
hoopslxirt dates back only to the SOS,
In 1715 petticoats had grown to such a
degree that writer says If men also
adopted the old fashion of trunk hose a
man and his wife would fill whole pew
in church" In letter to the Special.
or is the following account of hoops:
Since your withdrawing from the
place the fair sex are run into great ex
I travagances. Their petticoats, which
began toswell and heave before you lef,
us, are now blown up into most enor
nous concave, and rise every day more
land more. As the humor of sick per.
Ison is often driven out of one limb into
another, their superfuity Of ornaments
have fallen from their heads to Their
tower parts.
!" What they have lost in height they
make up in breadth. and contrary to ali
rules Of architecture, widen the founda.
tions at the same time that they shorten
| the superstructure. Another writer
gives an account of the shapes and va.
r5eties Of this article.
!" The hoop, he says, !" has been known
to expand and contract itself from the
size of butter churn to the circumfer.
erace Of three hogsheads. At one time
it was sloped from the waist in pyra.
midal form; at another it was bent up.
WORD like an inverted bow. by which the
TWO angles. when squeezed upon both
sides, came in contact with the ears
Cargo OF Elephants.