Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-10-04

t.
Special Correspondence Of Gazette and Journal
NEw York Cry, Sept. 2S.-'rhe melan-
choly days have come, the saddest of the
year to mankind and the happiest to the
shopkeepers. For, during these days, lovely
woman goes out to do her fall shopping,
and to let the world at large know exactly
how ill-tempered she can be. and how bad
her manners are. She will 90 in and out Of
shops all day long; have heavy packages of
material lifted down for her to look at
material she would not accept as a gift;
lunch off sweet cakes and a cup of choco-
late; go home in the evening tired to death,
and with nothing to show for her
Gays, work but innumerable packages of
samples.
PURELY AMERICAN.
This fashion of giving samples is purely
an American one. and it is the reason why
the clerks would rather wait either on
French or an English woman, for they
never go into shops except when they want
TO buy. They are in the habit of dealing
at certain places; usually know what they
want, and do not bedevii the statesmen into
showing them things they do not want, or
OBTAINING them for hours looking at stutfs
they have no idea of buying. / do not
know who started the fashion, but Ger
tainly the American women is as eager for
samples as she is for gold dollars; and vet.
what earthly use are they to her? Tiny
bits OF cloth, scraps of cashmere, ends Of
gauze, or infinitesimal pieces OF silk are
gotten, made much of, and nobody can
explain the reason why. Men don't buy
that way, and some men are very good
shoppers.
Going about nowadays one sees the
latest type of woman. She is large, she is
plump she is little sleeping looking.
She Is arranging her hair in a low soft.
Hn.Ch n nod AFT a r.
the back of her head, not unlike, blythe
BY, the waterfalls that one sees in the old
fashioned books. And then, her bonnet
is SO Tar back that 1t looks exactly as if it
We're falling off.
AFTER SOME DUCHESS.
Who is she initiating? Some one of the
numerous duchesses whose pictures are on
sale, and whoms he has selected ms her ideal
woman did not think that these hdeous
puns would ever be worn in the country,
for they take away the shape of woman's
heau, and as they require great deal of
hair, one is forced To believe that some
raise locks are assumed Lately women
nave been wise enough to arrange their
own hair as best they could SO that the
shape OF the head would show to good adj
vantage, and then, they have worn ITO
stolen locks. but the bun necessitatcs hair
pads and false hair, and both of these sug-
gest great untidiness.
With all the dignity demanded by the
new type, the woman who is affecting it
yet assumes somewhat girlish air. That
is, she looks as if she were ignorant of
everything in the world, and not as il she
read the daily papers. To carry out this
idea, which permits veritable baby stare,
there IS not gown she possesses that does
not have bib of either lace or chiffon
upon it. Sometimes this bib is very short,
Teachlng Just to the bust; sometimes it
extends w nj or and ,ns, = 4. r
below, as if to hide all outlines Of the
ngure Tor fear they might suggest "a
woman rather than girl. The prettiest
thing to wear about the shoulders for the
evening are the very deep lace capes, made,
as they oftenest are, of creamy white IN
sertlon and golden brown velvet, with a
deep. white frill as their finish. These
are very pretty and feminine, and sutii-
clehtly suggestive of wrap to do for the
theatre or the opera.
GOWNS AT THE OPERA,
By-theby, speaking of the opera her
sweetness, the Princess of Wales, has been
expressing herself very freely on the sub
1ect OF gowns that are cut too low. | won
ger what she would think if she could see
tne circle on the opera nights here in New
York. The more bones a woman has the
lower her trock is devised, and the more
she suggests the fact that She is a close
connection of some well-bred COW, the
lower VIII her bodice be found. Now. a
very Iat or very thin woman never looks
We'll IN low bodice. 1t is possible that
the throat may be beautiful; show that
tnen, put draw the line there. II is nos.
slple that the shoulders are beautiful: dis
play them II you wish, but at least be n
nttle MODEST about it, | think if all
women realized how men talk and how
ineh look at them when they so lavishly
uisplay thelr charms, they would nut on
behltehts robes, and let their bones and
nesh be hidden from sight forever
NEcKs AND ARMS.
like to see u beautiful neck, but don't
Z ike 10 see an lmmodest woman They
can talk as much as they want about usnJe
and being unconscious of the imnrpssiGn
mace. No woman becomes sufficiently
used to displaying what ought moi IN Ia
seen for her to forget it. As 4 general
thing, American women have not beauti
1ul necks and arms. Like their French
sisters, they are apt to be little skinny.
unlike their French sisters they Rre MOI
wise enough to hide their defects, but they
display them, and simply make themselves
Laughing STOCKS Tor wiser people. English
women have beautiful necks and arms,
Usually, they are low busted and can wear
! their bodlCes with mudesty cut much
lower than can the American woman.
90 think that women ought to give little
more thought to this, and that the line
Z Il
III! and what is not, for really that is what
makes modesty and immodesty.
ONLY FOR THE DAYTIME.
But. to return to the fashions. The
Gainsbotough hat is predicted, not only is
II predicted, but it is here, in felt and vel
4 VET. Here, with from eight to twelve
feathers surmounting ii, ana suggesting 10
one that, while it may be beautiful and
picturesque for the street, or tor afternoon
affalrs. there will be some idiot who will
simply dead blackness to whoever n n
SIT behind her. When the beautiful
Duchess of Devonshire was painted. and
the artists name made her famous, it was
never dreamed that the hat would he
worn except in the day time. In those
days magnlticence was the KEYNOTE of mn
dress, and undoubtedly her ladyship had
Just come from u walk in the Garden
although she was dressed in a brocade
pettlcoat and satin jacket, and her hat
was put on Tor the morning stroll But
when she went to the theatre or to the
opera to hear the French singers. only
jewels or feathers crowned her beautiful
mar, and II she had been sitting III the
PIT as we are to-day, her heir wonld have
oeen dressed as simply as possible. and
even powder would have been omitted.
THE FITNESS or THINGS.
Nowadays we have no thought as to the
fitness of things. Hats aid gowns suited
to the street are worn in Inc eyenins
laces fitted only Tor evening wear are con
splcuous in the morning. and the law ot
good taste seems entirely forgotten, How
ever, there are some women who drr,4
well. Occasionally one does meet d woman
who IN the morning is gowned in the
simplest of cloth frucks; who in the after
noon goes visiting in dark silk or velvet,
n I'M 4. a.. a . Il.