Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-03-22
Special correspondencoo of Gazette aud Journal


--What Constitutes a Good Novel?
81 ecial Correspondence Of Gazette and Journal
New YORK March l6.--Lent is a very
improving time. One is asked to Join all
sorts of clubs and societies. and there's no
doubt about 1t that one does learn great
deal. One learns how to listen with ones
eyes shut when the Psychologist talks
about what all the queer hieroglyphics
meant; one learns to stare straight into
vacancy while the woman of the present
talks about the woman Of the future, and
one learns to be quietly enthusiastic on
the subject OF dress reform. l have been 10
see them all. | mean all the dress reforms,
and it does delight my soul to hear them
all talk-by them l mean the dress re-
formers. Somebody who has been living
on overdone beef, on much pastry, on
many preserves, gets up and tells about the
corset being an invention of the devil and
pretty gowns being impossible with brains,
: Then the speaker meanders of and says
What will the coming generation he
when the woman of to-day is satisfied to
merely look pretty?" And sit there and
think of the handsomest, healthiest hap
piest babies i have ever seen; babies born
south OF Mason and Dixon's line, and
whose mothers were best satisfied when
they wore white null gowns and blue
sashes.
THE DRESS REFoRMER BEGINS.
love to hear the dress reformer talk; |
like to hear her damn the corsets object
to pretty underwear, and consider as a
work of the devil dainty dress. like
to hear her object to woman's hips, that
something which is so essentially feminine
and which were made broad and strong
that they might carry burdens. The dress
reformer doesn't believe this; she wants to
have everything strung from ones Shout
ders. never made a speech in my life
but wish somebody would speak for me,
and say that nature (the dress reformer
prefers to say nature instead OF Cod
would have made women with narrow
hips and broad shoulders if it had been in
tended that her burdens should be carried
from them. once say a reformer in her
nightgown and she was u sightl She had
1t made out of some medicated material.
the odor Of which was not pleasant, and
it was straight up and down, entirely sug-
gestive of utility and not of beauty.
think if the takers would get up and
say that women eat Improperly there
would be great deal more good done to
the coming generation. They need less
pastry and more mutton, They need
fewer fried things and more roasted ones.
They need better bread and butter, and
less tea; perhaps | ought to say, less bad
tea, for good tea hurts nobody. They need
to devote longer time to dining and less
10 reforming the world. Oh. of course
believe in reformation but ! think like
charity, it ought to begin at home; and the
woman who wants to Keep man in of an
evening is more apt to do it by having
good dinner commencing at Z o'clock and
lasting until 8, than by all the preaching
in the world. After 8 o'clock he feels so
comfortable that he don't care to go Out,
and woman must be q fool who can't
entertain man who has had good din
ner.
THE FOOD on OUR TABLES.
don't belong to any society at all-but
il somebody would only start one for the
propagation of good food, | would be will
ing to help and to work that it might be a
success. Bad food has made more trouble
than anything else III this world. Over.
done meat, expressive butter, weighty
bread and badly set tables are enough to
drive men to murder. 1t doesn't cost one
cent more to have decent dinner than it
does to have bad one. II is true, it NAV
take little more time and thought, but
that time and that thought is well given.
But was talking about what one learns
during Lent. | belong to card club and
have learned how brave is lovely woman,
and how she will rush in where Hoyle
himself would fear to tread. Some nights
we play whist. The other night was as / ed
TO take as partner Il young woman who
said she knew u little about the game
and was willing to learn. think she wa.
given as partner to me because had the
toothache, and they thought she would
act as counterlrritant. After she haC
lost three tricks by throwing away low
trumps, she very calmly pnt the king
on my ace and gleefully announced tha
dreadful old saving that she did not be
heye in sending boy to do a man.
GRAND. After this she said she had gotteI
her cards mixed and her methods oil
strengthening them was to lay the different
suits IN piles OH the table so that anybody
who had any sense at all could guess wha
her hand was. She always forgot th,
trump, and when the game was ended.
heard her telling man | knew that sh
didn't think it was ladylike to understan,
game too well. Will you please tell IN,
what right that woman had to come il
and spoil eyerybody's pleasure2 Lowell,
woman, is, fear me, selfish.
AROUND THE CARD TABLE.
Another card club that l belong to al
ways plays poker. This year we had twt
new members, and these two have cause,
every one of us to be murderers in on
hearts. l am perfectly certain that dc
serve to be hung, il intention means any
thing. One fool OF girl was oyerwhelml
\ flngly tender-hearted live of us were play
ing, and a jackpot had been opened 70
twenty-five cents. / don't ask ANYBODY /
believe this story, ii is too much like a fis
one, but it is true. The tender-hearte
young woman opened it and three peopl
came in; then the soft-hearted one starte
to bet twenty-five cents, but drew back he
chips and said mo, girls, | won't let 20
lose your money; I've got hand this
can't be beat, and am going to throw
down." What do you suppose she had
Naturally, the only hand that can't /
beat is a royal flush. That feminin
donkey held a straight, jack high. wa
the proud possessor of four queens, anoth,
woman had flush, and the third one ha
full house. There is no use telling VIII,
we all said, but the tender-hearted OF
cried, and the rest of us advised her to r
sign and join a kindergarten, where 81
could play with blocks.
| saw her about week afterward
when she was playing hearts with son
men. declined to join the came, becau
knew what the result would be. Nobod
could convince her that she must get r
VI her hearts. Oh, dear, no She was vel
lappy when she had gotten all 10, a.
couldn't possibly understand why she hq
10 pay out her chips for that privileg
The game was stopped after awhile, al
the young woman who was tryingt to lem
said she had always been clever at mo
things, but she didn't seem to be SO
cards, and the various men looked as