The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-09-04
WHAT MAY BE.
Bellamy ON Dress I'm the Twentieth
CenfuPy.

In his new and interesting book on
Equality" published by d. Appleton
& Co., Edward Bellamy takes the fol-
lowing glimpse into the future as re-
lating to the question of dress:
The extremely delicate tints of
Edith's costume led me to remark that
the color effects of the modern dress
seemed to be in general very light as
compared with those which prevailed
in my day.
THE result" said, sis extremely
pleasing, but if you will excuse rather
prosaic suggestion, it occurs to me that
with the whole nation given over to
wearing these delicate schemes of col
or, the accounts for washing must be
pretty large. 1 should suppose they
would swamp the national treasury If
laundry bills are anything like what
they used to be-"
sDoubtless we could not do much
else if we washed our Clothes" she
said; "but you see we do not wash
them"
'Not wash theml Why notT
Because we don't think it nice to
wear clothes again after they have
been so much soiled as to need wash
ing"
swell, won't say that I am sur
prised," / replied; Sin fact, ! think /
am no longer capable of being sur
prised at anything; but perhaps you
will kindly tell me what you do with a
dress when it becomes soiled."
eve throw it away-that is, it goes
back to the mills to be made into some
thing else"
Indeed! To my nineteenth-century
intellect, throwing away clothes would
seem even more expensive than wash
ing it."
'sOh, no, much less so. What do you
suppose, now, this costume of mine
cost?"
81 don't know, I'm sure. never had
a wife to pay dressmakers' bills for,
but I should say certainly 1t cost q
great deal of money"
"Such costumes cost from ten to
twenty cents" said Edith. "What do
you suppose it is made OFF"
1 took the edge of her mantle be-
tween my fingers.
IL thought it was silk or fine linen,'
replied, "but see it is not. Doubt.
less it is some new fiber"
"We have discovered many new
lbers, but it is rather question OF
process than material that l had in
mind. This is not textile fabric al
all, but paper. That is the most com
mon material for garments nova
days."
"But-but," 1 exclaimed, "what if i
should come on to rain on these paper
clothes? Would they not melt, and a
little strain would they not part?"
"a costume such as this" said Edith
us not meant for stormy weather, ant
yet it would by no means melt in rain
storm, however severe. For storm
| garments we. have paper that is alb
solutely impervious to moisture on thu
outer surface. AS to toughness,
i think you would find it as hard to tea
this paper as any ordinary cleth. TIL
fabric is so strengthened with fiber a
to hold together very stoutly."
'But in winter, at least, when yo'
need warmth, you must have to fal
back on your old friend, the sheep"
sYou mean garments made of sheep
nair? oh, no; there is no modern us
for them. Porous paper makes gar
ment quite as warm as wooden could
and vastly lighter than the clothes yol
had. Nothing but eider-down coul
have been at once SO warm and light a
our winter coats of paper"
"And cotton!-linen! Don't tell m
that they have been given up, Xix
wool?"
"Oh, no; we weave fabrics of thes
and other vegetable products, and the
are nearly as cheap as paper, but pape
. is so much lighter and more easil
fashioned into all shapes that 1t is ger
orally preferred for garments. But a
any rate, we should consider no ms
terial fit for garments which could nc
be thrown away after being soilet
The idea of washing and cleapin
articles of bodily use and using thel
over again would be quite intolerabl'
For this reason, while we want bea,
tiful garments, we distinctly do nc
, want durable ones. In your day,
seems, even worse than the practice {
: washing garments to be used agail
you were in the habit of keeping you
, outer garments without washing .
all, not only day after day, but wee
after week, year after year, sometime
whole Iifetfmes, when they were sp
cially valuable, and finally, perhap
giving them away to others. 1t seen
that women sometimes kept their wet
ding dresses long enough for the
daughters to wear at their wedding
That would seem shocking to us, an
, yet, even your fine ladies did sue
things. AS for what the poor had
. do in the way of keeping and wearin
their old clothes till they went to rag