Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-11-02

dear old soul go on, but all the while l
was wondering whether the young ladies
he talked of were not first in his mind
and, manlikc, he thought it was the
clothes, but he couldn't tell me just what
they wore. l got the approximate date,
and it was between S42 and 1S4S or S12
for it appears that there were two distinct
ideas in his mind. One was that when
they swept into a room, my dear, they
looked like queens, so they did, " he said.
After he was g0nc l looked the matter
up, and / find that in 1912 they wore
hoops and flouncos and great wide stripes
and plads on their street attire and bon
nets like Shaker hoods, with floating
wells, and such mites Of sunshades that
were mado SO that they could be tilted to
one side or the other or lie fat against the
handle like a fan. The ball dresses were
as large in the skirt as tho street gowns
and were lavishly trimmed with garlands
of flowers in festOons and punches, and
the waists were cut off square so as to
show the rounded shoulder. There We're
bcrthas and short pulled sleeves, and the
waist was laced in as closely as it possibly
could be drawn That style of ball dress
is the foundation of those of today, minus
the hoop, but with many little artistic
touches not dreamed of then.
The riding habit had it's hoop, and the
skirt was full and straight around and
from = to ? yards long and weighted by
leaden mOlds at the bottom. The coat
basque was not very different from those
of today, but tho hat would make two such
as they now wear, and there was n long
flowing veil. The skirt fell nearly to the
ground and was as dangerous as it could
be, but the floating and sweeping effects
were what they wanted then, and they
got them by length and breadth.
1t was in this period that the bloomer
costume was invented and worn by Mrs.
Gerrit Smith. When she first attempted
to wear boomers in New York, she was
nearly mobbed Being "a lady of great re-
tnement she gave up to the current of
opinion and dragged pile of sweeping
skirts after her for the rest of her sweet
/ life, and Mrs Bloumer took up the plan,
and, being of an aggressive nature, she
wore hers in face of opposition and lee
tured on dress reform. The costume had
a pair of Turkish trousers, not very full,
reaching to the ankles. There was q
1ounced skir', worn with hoops reaching
just to the knees, and mannish cutaway
coat with collar, tie and vest. 1t might
have looked better without the hoops, but
as it looked with them l don't blame the
boys. But the world moves, and we rather
like the looks of the girls in their bicycle
suits now. The time was not ripe for
pants in 1912, but it appears to be in 1894.
| imagined the beautiful girls my friend
was telling of who were at their zenith in
1852. found that the hoop had multi
piled by ten in circumference. Flounces
were still favorites, and four to ten were
put on the enormous skirts, and the waists
were cut long on the shoulder so as to give
a graceful droop to the shoulders. The
sleeves were what we now call bishop, or
they were bell shaped and had white lace
or fine muslin embroidered undersleeves.
We have the bishop sleeve now, but we do
not have the undersleeve. The sweep"
and circumference of these skirts were
enormous, and that made coat or cloak
of IA special build necessary to accommo-
date them.
Black silk for summer and velvet for
winter we've almost de rigueur. a fine
shawl was worn sometimes. The coats
were trimmed with some sprawling pat
tern and had great bell sleeves stil1ly lined.
The bonnet was small and tied under the
chin with wide ribbons and all the trim
ming dropped, Perhaps one reason why
the blessed old man still cherishes the
memory of those beautiful girls is because