Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-03-11
THE WOMAN OF FASHION.
Will Mrs. Cleveland Adopt the In-
 Hated SkirtP
Spring Materials Carefully Dissected- Their PeculiaritIes and Marks of Beauty-The Spring Cape-Points on
 the Lenten Hat-A Lace Dress.
ICoPYRIGHr. 1sQ3.l


 Are you going to get a Cleveland dress? It will be quite the thing now, for a good long time to come, to follow the doings at the white house, and par ticular:ly those of its beloved mistress. Then, just as soon as Mrs. Grover ap- pears in new gown, coat or bonnet, it will be ours to secure one like it in color, shape or size. It would not be good taste to have it reproduced in every particular, but would be deli cate acknowledgment of our apprecia- ton of her taste in gowning to appro- priate some portion of 1t in our adorn- ment.
 Let us hope devoutly that she will never don the inflated skirt. For If she forever disdains it, then may we, too, feel quite serene in our slightly flaring ones.
 But we need not wait for hint from the white house before buying our early spring gown, for all of the spring goods have something in common, and we can scarcely stray very far from what she chooses. The spring goods are alike after a fashion, and yet, after another fashion, are surprisingly unlike. As we cast one careless look over a large O1 ldOI1CS "S oCS41C ChhO AO makes very little difference which one we select, as they all look so much alike. And then, when we come to ex- anime more closely, we wonder what gave us this first impression. Forwe find that there is scarcely any actual re- semblance. They are, it is true, all of some dull, old shade, but, on the other hand, of almost every shade imaginable. -lz- ~~4 them, some thread running over in a foreign color. But we discover, also, that these threads are rarely alike in shade or texture. In addition to this, we make up our minds first that the queer, crazy designs formed by these threads are rather similar, when sud- denly it dawns upon us that no two of them are alike. This arouses our in tercst, and we begin to think them worthy of closer attention after all. Then begins the absorbing question of which one of all these bewildering fabrics we shall select for our own.
 Shall it be this thin, sheer goods that has asfine silk stripe running through it, and, besides, sort of spider pattern all over it? Or this dark blue with dull pink fleur-de-lis closely covering it? Perhaps this gauzy black stuff would be better with the fine gold thread so closely woven that it almost con ccals the groundwork; and yet this dull pink with funny irregular dots of palcr and duller pink over would be prctticr yet; and these plainer ma tcrials with the silky stripes are very attractive. Dear, it is so hard to make up ones mind.
 But it really matters little which one you take. For, believe me, when you get ono of them home and see 1t apart from the dozen other materials you are bound to like it, and it is almost sure to be becoming. For that is the beauty of them all. They are all soft, and yet | there is something about each that makes it stand out. In word, they're | awfully pretty if you consider each | alone. But take my advice, and don't look at too many at one time or you'll | never in this world be satisfied with l one. The very finest of them, with the patterns run over in silk threads, costs three dollars a yard. But numbers of them arc much less expensive.
 The puzzling question is, how to have | them made. If it is really decided that we are not to have the hoopslIirt, what, then, are we to have? And if it is not | yet quite decided, how soon will it be? | While the world is lowering in a state | of uncomfortable suspense, wondering what will happen next, it is safe to ob- l serve the rules laid down during the last | few months. At least there is one com l fort for all of us, that so far the skirts