The Washington times., 1894-07-01

classical. Everything is strict, correct, CONNIE
II faut. Clients occupy one OF the many
simply-decorated rooms en- suite, all OF which
open upon tine long corridor whose windows
overlook the Rue de la Paix. They are spec
tators rather than customers. while graceful
| creatures in long procession. each appareled
| in the newest fashion, float airily by. Nothing
Is seen OF the seamy side; all the machinery
OF manufacture, workrooms, patterns, untidi-
/, ness are relegated TO back premises, and, save
| for the fitting by OF a harried runner" or
Thatcher or litter" nothing OF the inner
life isvisible, except when at rare intervals the
prince of dressmakers strolls solemn and alb
stracted through the rooms from his studio"
to the 'ateliers," from the study where he
composes to the workrooms where his ideas
take practical shape. NJ. Worth is some
what amusing figure when seen deshabllle,
wearing "a strange robe de chambre OF the
gabardine class and a quaint headdress.
which is something between Scotch bonnet
and black nightcap.
A new departure in typewTiting comes from
the classic shades Of Cambridge University. A
woman who has n typewriting establishment
in that seat OF learning has been hampered by
her inability to cater to all the copying needs
OF dons and professors until typewriter COM
pany has made a machine for her which turns
out the most exquisite Greek characters. ac-
cents and all.
Mrs. William Waldorf Astor wore at the re-
cent drawing room the historic diamond cor
onet comb of which she has lately become
possessed. 1t is the one that Louis XIV gave
TO Nine. de Montespan, and our wealthy
countrywoman, it is said, paid S10O, 900 for it.
One error of the New Woman (as Of many
an old one) lies in speaking Of women as the
Af
quency with which men are the victims OF
women. In nine cases out of ten the first to
corrupt the youth is the woman, says Ouida
in the North American Review. and we may
judge for ourselves, whether unjustly or not.
In nine cases out OF ten also she becomes cor
rupt herself because she likes it. 1t is nll
very well to say that prostitutes were at the
beginning of their career victims of seduction;
but it is not probable. and it is not proveable.
Love OF drink and of flnery, and dislike to
work, are the more likely motives and origin.
1t never seems to occur to the accusers OF
man that women are just as vicious and as
lazy as he Is in nine cases out of ten. and
need no invitation from him to become so.
worse prostitution than that OF the streets,
j. e., that OF loveless marriages of convenience,
are brought about by women. not by men.
In such unions the man always gives much
more than he gains. and the woman in almost
every instance is persuaded or driven into it
by wonien-her mother. her sisters, her fe-
male acquantances. In even what is called
wel-assorted marriage the man is fire.
quently sacrificed to the woman. As l wrote
long ago, Andrea del Sarte's wife has many
sisters. Correggio. dying of the burden of
the family. has many brothers. Men OF ge-
MUS are often dragged TO earth by their wives.
Woman may help man sometimes. but more
often hinderS him. Her self-esteem is i'm
mense and her self-knowledge very small. /
view with dread for the future of the world
the power which modern inventions place in
the hands OF woman. Hitherto her physical
weakness has restrained her in great meas
ure from violent action; but woman can
make a boom and throw il, can fling vitriol,
and fire repeating revolver as well as any
man can.
''The new woman" reminds me OF an ag-
riculturist who. discardiug a fine farm of his
own and leaving il to nettles. stones. thistles.
and wire worms, should spend his whole time
in demanding neighboring fields which are not
his. The new woman will not eve n look at the
extent OF ground indisputably her owD which
She leaves uHweeded and untitled. Not to
speak OF the entire guidance OF childhood.
which is certainly already chiefly in the hands
of woman (and of which her use does not do
her much honor. so long rs she goes to see
one of her own sex dancing in lions den.
the lions being meanwhile terrorized by "a
male brute; so long as she wears dead birds
as millinery and dead seals as coats; so long
as she goes TO races, steeplechases, eoursings
and pigeon matches; so long as she walks
with the guns" so long as she goes to see
an Ameriean lashing horses to death in
idiotic contests with velocipedes; so long as
she courtesies before princes and emperors,
who reward the winners of distance rides; SO
long as she receives physiologists in ner
drawing rooms and trusts to them in her
maladies; SO long as she invades literature
without culture and art without talent; so
long as she orders her court dress in a hurry:
so long as she makes no attempt to interest
herself in her servants, in her animals in the
poor slaves of her tradespeople: so long as
she shows herself, as she does at present.
without scruple at every brutal and