Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-11-19

+
damask table cloth with a large medal
lion OF point de Yenise in one corner and
the dozen dinner napkins that 20 with
it, each with smaller medallion and d
smaller monogram in harmony To
the woman with love for beautiful
things the average wedding present
becomes gross beside this, Then there
are dainty little mats Of royal Batten-
burg lace to be put in your cabinet
under some specially fragile piece of
bric-a.brac. Here are tiny, tiny point
edges to outline linen cambria hand
kerchief. There. too, are jacket fronts
OF real lace, and beside them are real
lace borders to finish the most becomI
ing OF veis. And there are butterflies,
some white and some black. to be
gotten by the dozen, and used for
decorating evening gowns. Fancy a
frock OF yellow chiffon having upon it
eight dozen black lace butterflies!
That was a dinner dress worn by a
blonde, and it made her look as IL sho
had como out Of one uf Titian's pic-
lures, for the sunshine of the frocls
intensified the gold Of her hair, the blue
of her eyes and the whiteness of her
skin.
Do you remember an old picture
wherein banqueting table is shown?
The artist has carefully brought out
the elaborate carving and made his
brush show very plainly the square Of
linen damask, outlined with heavy,
rich looking lace; and the lace in the
pictures is just such lace as the busy
worker makes to-day, though now it is
called royal Battenburg. In France, in
the sixteenth century, 1t was counted
30 artistic that they called it only the
lace, . meaning that it was the one that
delighted the heart Of the. housewife,
since it made her hospitable board a
very picture. e MI aga
How many people know that the
reason the Eastern laces invariably show
geometric or floral designs is because
az a religious law? The Koran abso.
lutely forbids the ibieturing In any
stuffs of living things and go the
Orientals have to take refuge 10 curious
windings OF lines, blending of flowers,
leaves and buds, or where colors were
used. in startling contrasts. Thsre is
vulgar streak in the woman who is
satisfied with imitation laces. II one
has but bit of real lace it can be
twisted into jabot, fared into a
cravatte, or curved into coquettish,
looking cap for the breakfast table.
The shopper, dropping LAGOS, picks
up gloves. only to discover that in the
fashion there are II shades OF tan, 12
of gray, though white and black, like
the proverbial poor,i are always with
us With a cloth costume there is
work the tan, or the white glace glove
with four large buttons For evening,
there are undressed kid gloves in which
ever fashionable shade is best euited
to your costume, but the extremely
lorg glove. hiding the best part OF a
woman 81 arm, is counted bad form.
Most women are thankful for one
English custom at dinner. that is, the
serving of coffee in the drawing-room,
80 that 1t is amatter of perfect indiffer.
ence whether, after dinner, the gloves
are assumed or not. remember seeing
woman do the extremely curious aud
underlined trick OF wearing gloves while
at dinner. The other women could not
help. although they were polite, gazing
at her in amazement; but, as the giVer
OF the feaet, was man, none of them
felt bound to countenance her in her
faux pas, and they all did what any
well-bred woman does when she eats.
removed their gloves. The people who
feed may do it in their gloves, because
somehow, feeding always suggests the
repding apart OF the flesh with the
hands, but people who know how to
handle knife and fork usually see no
necessity for keeping their hands
covered, as they will not be touched or
burned.
A feminine letter? | am very much
of woman TO my finger tips. and
never so much of woman as when /
have the opportunity to enjoy the
shops. There is pleasure past des-
cription in going to the shops that
understand catering, not only to femi-
nine desires, but to the feminine eye.
That makes me remember what the
famous artist Carolus Duran said /:
Educate the eye before you educate
the hand. The hand will become
cunning soon enough whom the eye has
learned to SEQ, whereas, il the hand be
educated before the eye. one may never
see. - Isn't that an incentive to the
shopkeepers to make the showing Of
their wares an art9 And who wouldn't
rather spend her gold where she, per-
sonally, Ia recognized and considered,
and, to a certain extent, catered to?
II tickles that little bit Of feminine
vanity that every one of us possesses.
1t is a little bit of vanity, and we
would be very stupid without it. 1t
makes us look our best, especially to
those who care for us. And this is a
vanity to be encouraged. Most women
have il. / don't think it is lacking
in you, l know it exists in your neigh
Dor, and / ara sure it is possessed by
r. .l.,I Bah. =