Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1895-06-20
WHAT ONE WOMAN THINKS,


| law w vssAVoo AAtSA& NaAAV Aa4eAAA
and collecting has reached point d
which 1t assumes the aspect not Of
kleptomsnia merely, but Of thisvery.
A more or less cultivated taste and
leisure combine to produce . fsddiat II
the temperature is right, and when the
fad fever Is well developed. nothing Ia
sacred from its 'scorching. Webster
says fad Is . trifing pursuit. The
end OF the century Is characterized by
trihing Is much - It il by earnest
measures. They are the extremes Of
the swinging pendulum. To fully sp-
probate how easily . fad may become
. vice you should 10 victim, and
your attitude suggests the reaction
that 10 near at hand, and that the fad
is Of short duration; that It's days are
even numbered. You remember how
1t was with crazy patchwork; It must
be even 70 with the souvenir spoon and
Its companion crazes.
The spoon collector no longer buys
the souvenir spoon; he Just takes 1t.
In the collection Of souvenir spoons
owned by New York man 10 spoon
belonging to nearly every frst.class
hotel in the United States, and to every
ocean steamer. He regards the fruit
Of his systematic pilfsring as a rare
collection Of mementoes Another man
has collection Of napkins, and anoth-
er a collection Of pewter things, such
as cream pitchers and sugar bowls and
match safes, ash receivers and beer
stems. The hotels have long been &C.
customed to relinquish large in
voices Of towels with every travel.
ing theatrical company, but this
towel collecting fancy has fastened
itself upon the ordinary traveller, and
the woman who wouldn't like II at all
II she were called thief tucks clean
towel that doesn't belong to her in her
travelling bag with almost sang froid.
Just when this fad will receive Its OBJ
ject lesson can not be foretold, but l
learn that hotel and acknowledges
are wrestling with the problem in Sc
cret. Shall they chain the spoons down
as the public-drinking fountain does
the tin cup or as the householder does
the door mat, in order to remove tempta-
ton from the path OF the acquisitive
traveller?
Systematic thievery killed the crazy.
quilt fad. Nothing was sacred to the
silk.scrap collector. Tapestries, wheth.
err in hangings or in furniture uphol.
steries, were all subject to the knife Of
the crazy patchwork fend. She be.
sieged the silk counter, or she begged,
borrowed, stole Or otherwise iurrepti.
tiously acquired silks to embroider, to
paint and applique, to defsce, to cut
up and sew together again, to be used
in this malignant and awful affair.
Men puta paddock ON their hat lin.
ings and cravats, for all was sacrificed
at the shrine Of the crazy quilt, soul,
nerves, brain, health, happiness, saliva.
tion everything. Women are 10
earnest in their fads and SO industri-
GUS, and the crazy Guilt fad was field
not often found. The soul OF decora.
tive art was In 1t. but il BECAME a dis.
honest and thieyipg soul and Il wss
cast out, and the fad and fashion died
together.
Industry has gone out Of decorative
art, and the principle is novelty and a
suggestion of the orient. We crave the
thing that drives dull care awav md
SO we classify A.. collect. One man
gathers butterflies. and another she'll.
and, after attaching the scientific
names and mounting them they are
perhaps presented to n museum and
rebound to his credit. Another man
collects canes and another one pipes
and another man idols. Egypt and
Napoleon are woman's fads, and she
is arduous and enthusiastic. All
fads die sooner or later, Just as
we outgrow the fancies Of childhood,
but there is something so very Aippant
and initiative about the present age.
There was even sentiment in the crazy
quilt. In the bosom of the one who
invented the idea blossomed the flower
Of economy and thrift; which, Of itself,
is sentiment. Stray bits Of silk stray
bits Of thread, stray bits Of time, the
whole fascinating diagram Of per-
sonal history, memorial to gowns and
the dear ones who wore them and who
had passed away. There must have
been more than ordinary warmth in
the coverlid, more than ordinary soft
ness to the pillow it covered. Is there
sentiment in stolen souvenir spoon?
'Twere difficult to close this para
graph without abiding to the stamp
collector-the philatellst. Nothing but
red ink and the peu of one who has
suffered can do Justice to this fad. DO
you house philatelist under your roof?
Anthem you know You know how
absorbed he is, and how deal and blind
he is to all save stamps; you
know how he transfers them from one
AlDtlm 10 An0LnSt. ana HOW OllnlnrPxs