The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1894-02-01
IE DRESS.

Light Tronse Cause "a Ssns.tiun-Bo bonnet.
To frielItsn a Chortaw-NSu the Fast.
Ia lies.
In Anne rica. gentlemen's dress is plain,
even severe
/ remember well the sensation | Gre
ated with pair Of light gray trouser. in
small Pcnnsy lvania town. Every one
seemed to look at me as if / had been a
strange animal; in the hotel the wait
resscs nudgcd one another, and the street
urchins followed me as if had been
Sioux in national costume. One Of the
local papers announced that a French
man had landed in town the dav before
in white troIsers. and that his popu.
iaritv had been as prompt as decisive.
With evening dress, the American gen
tleman wears no jewelry Of any sort.
Simplicity, rather severity, in dress is q
mark of distinction in a man, and the
American gentleman is no exception to
the rule.
American ladies dress very well as a
rule, but there are great number who
cover themselves with furbelows and
jewels. The fashionable headgear dur
ing my sojourn in the States was high,
narrow construction, surmounted with
feathers. At a certain distance it gave
its wearer the look of an irate cockatoo.
The ladies wearing them walked like
English erenadiers in BUSHES.
There are French milliners in New
York, | believe. Dr. Oliver Wendell
Holmes rretends that they deteriorate on
American soil. He said: "By the time a
French milliner has been six months in
New York, she will make a bonnet to
frighten a Choctaw Indian"
AT the theatre women wear silk, which
prevents one from hearing, and hats a
foot high, which prevent one from see
ing.
Boston ladies eschew show and glitter
and wea' diamonds very sparingly, even
ia the evening.
But the most striking contrast may be
seen by going straight from New York
or Chicago to Canada. Here we are in
England once more" / thought. as
looked at a bevv OF Canadian girls dis
porting themselves q. an afternoon dance
in the Athletic club of Montreal Half
dozen New York women would have had
on the worth of all the fifty or sixty toi
lets in the room.
American ball toilets are ravishing.
Here the diamonds are in place. | do
not know any ,gayer, more intoxicating
sight than an American ball room.
Low necked dresses are much worn by
American women. not only at balls and
dinners, but at their afternoon receptions
1t seems very odd to us Europeans to see
lady in a very low necked ball dress at
in the afternoon, receiving her friends
who are habited in ordinary visiting toi-
lets or tailor made gowns In France,
hostess seeks to make show Of simple
ity in her reception toilets. 80 as to be
likely to eclipse no one in her own house.
Decollete toilets are universal in Amer
lea, old ladies vying with young in
the display of neck and shoulders. 1t is
true the Americans are not peculiar in
this. Many times, in a European ball
room. have | longed to exclaim:
Ladies' throw veil over the past,
pray you"
You may see some wonderful costumes
in the streets of the large towns, disguises
| rather than dresses. have seen dresses
| of an orange terra Gotta shade, trimmed
with huge bands of bright green velvet;
costumes Of violet plush, worn with sky
| blue hats. and other atrocities enough to
make ones eyes cry for mercy. Violet
| and blue, o. Oscar Wilde, l thought
| you had been in America!
| The wives of men with middle class In
comes initiate the luxury OF the million
aires wife. expected to find it so; in a
democratic country, frogs try to swell
into oxen. They puff themselves ou,
until they burst, or rather until their hus
| bands burst.