The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-10
RANDOM NOTES.
By JOHN McNAUGHT.


any sunny afternoon a thousand proofs
that San Francisco is an Eden, where
every woman not only has her own way,
but her own style of going it. In other
cities there is certain uniformity and
established fashion in walking costumes,
but here we have all the infinite variety of
lie and millinery that the whole round
year affords. One woman goes by in furs
and another comes along in pink shirt
waist; one is so brilliantly arrayed that
her spiendor mashes the eye and another
IS IN dress so subdued the average man
is liable to mash her by mistaking her for
shadow and stepping on her. OF course
the Climate does it all. Any race in this
atmosphere is bound to evolve sooner or
later INTO go as you please.
Ii the artist who drew up the pictures
for the November Harper is correct New
ork society is as variegated at horse
show as ours on the street. In one of these
pictures the women at the show wear high
necked frocks, pulled sleeves and stunning
hats, while in another a woman In box
seat has an extremely low-cut dress with
dlmlnutlve bonnet for q headplece. Ac-
counts OF the show state that large num-
Der OF Western people paid high prices for
boxes, and perhaps the Harper artist drew
on his prophetic powers, and intended his
dame of exposed shoulders for one of the
Western annex. In that case we must as
sumo she came from no further west than
Chicago, for the picture is cut Off at the
knees, and if she had been California
girl there would have been room enough
on the page to put in her feet.
One advantage of having people from all
parts of the world and worthy representa-
tives of the art and culture of every nation
whose culture is worth anything is that 1t
enables us to enjoy festivals OF all coun-
tries without going abroad. 1t is not long
since we had French fete and at present
German one entertains us and lnstructs
US by pleasing us with music and revelry
at the Pavilion, while enticing lis to read
Goethe and Schiller at home. A fetc of
Italy or Spain may come next In fact,
year of San Francisco is as good as tour
OF Europe with night in China thrown in.
According to the latest computation the
American heiresses who have married for
elgners during the last twenty-five years
have carried abroad more than $l61 ,000-
600. This is large sum and not few
are fretting about it. The loss of the
money is, of course, a drawback to the
country to that extent. but we have only
ourselves to blame in the matter if there
be any blame. An heiress does not care
to tie herself to man to whom life is a
mere matter of business and bundle OF
industrious habits. She naturally desires
some man who will find time to dance at
tendance on herself little bit. The for
eigner does that and the heiress takes
him in preference to some home product
whose enterprise runs in a different direc-
ton. If we are proud of the fact that our
young men are not fortune hunters let us be
content with that pride and not complain
because we lose the stakes when we won't
play the game.
A question of fashions is now being dis
cussed in Paris with great vivacity. 1t is
question of stockings, and of course there
is much in it. The discussion was begun
by Gabriel Provost, the art critic. in pa
per vehemently denouncing black stock
ings on the ground that they are utterly
inartistic and have ian alternating effect"
1t seems Provost is a critic OF high degree
and his opinion on this important subject
was of sufficient weight to disturb the
equilibrium of all Paris. Interviews with
many artists, actresses and literary men
on the subject have been published, but,
like every other question widely discussed,
it has become a muddle. 1t has been
noted that In the whole controversy so far
no one has advocated white stockings.
The prevailing dogma among actresses is
that black is the only classical color. We
must let it go at that. Perhaps everything
classic has an alternating effect.
In a recent address at st. Louis ban
quet, Lyman Gage of Chicago thought it
worth while to say to his listeners with an
imprisoned eloauence: Cultivate faith.
Let the men of the East visit the plains
and mountains of the West. They will
find everywhere wide-browed men who
love justice and right. Skip Europe. Study
America. Do not think that all intelli-
gence lies eastward of the great lakes.
You may have more culture, but you posi-
sess no more power of brain and heart"
Surely now that is pretty good from the
voice of friend. You may have more
culture indeed2 Lyman Gage, instead of
staying East to cultivate faith, you mad
better come West and learn something of
the subject before you talk about it at
another banquet where the wine inspires
to dithyrambic oratory.
Herbert Spencer has descended from
the heights of his lofty philosophy and
touched earth long enough to think out
something of Importance in daily life. He
proposes system of classifying colors
that will be boon to every mortal man
who is sent by any of his womankind to
match a color. His plan is to divide col
ors by subdivisions like those of a COM
| pass and thus give to each shade specific
| name. This would rid US forever of such
names as ''elephant's breath, "Vladim;roff
green" and all other such denominations of
nomenclature. The round of colors from
| red to blue, from blue to yellow, and from
yellow back to red, could be easily di-
vlded into as many shades as humanity
can invent and as soon as a man once
learned to box the compass of them there
would be no further difficulty for man or
woman, shopkeeper or artist.
The illumlnatiOns of the tall-tOWer build