The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-05-09

as if the very air itself were nlleu Win
rho possibility of war. Great and little
nations are squabbling among them
selves. and poet-overs are all wondering
who will initiate Byron and go to hsht
for Greece.
In the meantime. nearly all the sprh's
hats are red. You wonder nj my jumping
from a subject of vital Importance I"
a mere question of fashion; put, IL you
will take the trouble, as | did. to STUDY
AID the history of colors. You VIII ma rhat
1hera was never Il time when war rtgeu
when red was not in vogue. l ann tolu
that during the civil war in our own
country red hodiceS were very 1aShloIla-
bic. They called them Garibaldls. VINO
docs NOT remember the red liberty cap
of the Terror: During the time Whei
we held that little unpleasantness with
England. who can doubt that the br1gh'
hue of the English soldiers coats-aS
seen from their backs-lnclted each
American TO greater deeds? Then, too.
at this time. every lady of Importance,
who regularly attended the fashionable
assemblies in New York. Philadelphia.
Baltimore. or Richmond. would have
counted her wardrobe as Il very poor
one unless there had been in it Il red bro
for red.
PAB AS 4 COLOR ENPERT.
Now. what effect does blue have on
YOU? The dark blue is depressing-it
suggests domeSticity. economy, but none
of the pleasures of life. AS Il contrast to
it. take light blue; and without following
Il line of thought, You think of the cold
skies. of the robes worn by angels. but
you are unconsciously chilled. That pale
heavenly blue is too holy for us, who
are essentially of the earth earthly. Vel
low. that wonderfully pure shade, has
no individuality. oddly enough, unless it
is combined with something else. Put
a yellow frOck on a beautiful woman and
she may suggests sunshine, but she never
brings to your mind a strong personality.
Put black and yellow frock on wO-
man who knows how to wear it, and with
this knowledge she can laugh ut beauty,
for as She moves around, and you see
first the bright yellow, then the dead
black this is most effective in stripes)
the individual woman who stands out
us attractive, interesting, subtle, little
mysterious, and distinctly feline. Put
white and yellow on a young woman,
AID She looks like Dresden statuette;
She suggests to you happiness and gaiety;
but You are conscious that, as yet, her
soul is sleeping
Now think of the color Of which it is
said that there are IS distinct tints-pur-
pie. The faint violet. lavender or hello
trope. call the delicate tone what you
will is the color of emotions and of ex-
perienee. and the longer you look at it,
even If it is in the form of 4 bunch of vio-
lets. the more certain you become that it
is not adapted to the young girl. but to
the young matron. or best of all-the wild
ow. The veritable royal purple assures
you tlEft ii has Il will of its own; it con-
trolls. And it makes the elderly matron
who wears it assume a statelier walk,
hold her head a little higher. and causes
her to think of herself as a woman of
Importance. There is another shade of
purple that was affected years ago by the
Greek hetaire-it is that tone which
seems splashed with red until it is nei-
Their purple nor red. but a mingling of
both. resulting in color that tells of
wlckedness, Of power. of gaiety, of sOr-
row and of everything that seems contra
dctory. Green, the color of hope. should
in its light tints be worn by happy wo-
man. Whenever she looks at it it whis-
pers of something better that is coming:
green in its dull, dark. dingy hue, belongs
to a woman who thinks little. who econo-
mizes much and who is rather desolate.
Pink is the color dedicated to the happy
young girl; 1t is really couleur de rose 1t
means ignorance innocence; it means love
without fear, and it suggests
unbOunded faith. Can you i'm
agine woman who doubted
the love OF her husband putting on
pink gown to tell him Of her suspicion?
We all laugh at that character on the
stage'known as ''the woman with past"
and the critics count themselves as very
witty when they jeer at her for wearing
black gown. But that black gown is
just as certainly the expression Of her
wrerehedness as the all-white one is SYM
saOaica, of the happiness of young bride.
But oddly enough, neither white nor
black express anything until they are as
sumed by a woman. The woman tri-
umphs over the colors without color.
1t .swas Balzac who said that woman's
character unconsciously found expression
in .Ahe col0rs that she fancied. He
Thought woman who wore yellow or
green would be quarrelsome. She who
put on black without cause was not to
be trusted. The wearer of white should
he a coquette. To the woman who was I'M
happy he dedicated pearlgray. And
lavender, he thought should be worn by a
woman on her daughters wedding day.
But Balzac did not, at least to my way
of thinking, discover all the sutlety that
exists in the helitrope tints; and neither
did he find out how colors influence wo-
men and nations. How their influence
is "a. strong as the pressure brought to
be8f' by the mysterious waves of thought
that control the entire world at one time.
Those waves of thought that have their
birth nobody knows where; that roll
fr&h country to country like the ocean.
nQkpdy knows how; and that give way,
in their own good time, to new waves,
and nobody knows why.
BY the by, apropos of brides wearing
Write, are you aware of the fact that the
giving Of wedding presents except by
ones kindred or very intimate friends is
a thing of the past? Did you ever happen
tOa think how vulgar it was, this giving
toievery Tom. Dick and Harry, to whom
you send a card to the church to witness
your daughters marriage, the privilege
of saying, "OlH dear. I've gotten cards
from the Grays. l suppose | shall have
to send them present" When good
taste insisted that wedding presents
should not be exhibited. great many
who only gave because of the glory gain.
ed thereby grew less generous Then
when people of good taste only ex-
hibited the wedding presents to the Ia
dies of the two families and the brides
rrI8 81 nd .,n th.