Evening star., 1897-06-12

lam, and yet they express the truth to a
stranger trying to understand London.
have seen Englishwomen punting on the
Thames, and Englishwomen at the state
balls In honor Of the jubilee: .Englishwo-
men at the afternoon teas and Englishwo-
men at the Academy exhibition and in the
New Gallery; Englishwomen on Pail Mall
and on the continent, and have found
them always great, incomprehensible. They
make innumerable blunders, they know
none OF them. They are happy because
they believe themselves infallible They
are not sensitive, and cannot see the gulf
that yawns between their sailor hats and
their art gowns that are Botticelli filter
ed through Burne-Jones. They never see
themselves as others see them, because
they do not care for any judgment not
English. They are rosy-cheeked, angular,
OF Of tired eyes. They believe themselves
hve-meal, meat-fed' women, while they
are exhausted nervously as any victim of
"Americanetis." They play tennis all day.
dance all night, look used up and pity the
physique Of other nations. The French
are fussily anxious as to details, Ameri-
cans are frankly initiative but the British
are supremely themselves, thoroughly self
satlshed So In all contingencies. Therefore
the British, sailor hats, poke bonnets and
all, are to be envied. They can never feel
humiliation.
1 have mentioned poke bonnets. They
are among the most wonderful things in
england. Women who can wear them and
not feel themselves the butts of ridicule
are born to be the mothers of great men.
one cannot contemplate them without
understanding why Great Britain feels
nerseif lnvincible. There were several at
an art exhibition this afternoon. They had
crowns foot or thereabouts in length, and
they were shaped like an hour-elass, with
one flare about the face and another nu;ta
icto
nind There was one all in white and one
IN PINK and one in heliotrope silk and chif-
ION. Ih1s last was worn by woman IA
ugued with living, sallow under her now
der. and wrinkled. 1t was trimmed with
white feathers that stood assertively erect
upon 1t, and it looked-quite as 1t ought T
suppose, since no one Joined me in staring
Are Very Gorgeous.
Women at the preparatory jubilee func.
tions are very gorgeous, when they have
no art leanings. Englishwomen who
take to nothing worse than texture get on
ramously, because such considerable num-
pers OF them have money enough to have
textures better than most other people IT
taxes particularly swell ball in New
d,o Iork TO bring out anything like the
to be seen six nights out of the seven
az each OF twenty or thirty London
.neaters. The quality of New York
una, may De equally good, even better, but the
quantity In London is Overwhelming. If is
the nrst requisite of successful painter
IN London to be able to do satin, for if he
is 10 hve. ne must paint gowns. The
1l,ths,. 1pt,ms exni2itions - IN Paris are all women
London are Clothes that might as well be
without women. There are fall dresses
ana reception dresses: enough on the walls
smart shops of any city but London.
And yet with all this devotion to the
toHet tondon Is queerly careless and be-
hind the times. 1t does bigger busi-
Gle known as the blouse than any other
city on the globe. and yet in the shops the
blouse, like every article of wear supplied
ready made except the corset, the glove
size. The cheapest blouse is Supplied at
apout eleven pence. ha'penny; the dearest
! have happened to notice cost eleven
guineas. but both alike aim to at that alb
abstraction has never been incarnated. hut
remains an unrealixed ideal is evident from
the fact that In experience blouses take
the attitude OF the unintroduced toward
their Wearers. Without that ceremony no
cordial relations can be established In Eng
land. and accordingly the blouse as worn
rides up the back and Is often asl1ew other
wise. The refuge Of the dissatisfied is the
shirt, which IL cut straight and beited. Not
being expected to fit, It has clear con-
science and b self-respecting garment,
but not exactly beautiful one.
Gowns That Do Not FIT.
The same laxness In the matter Of ut
is noticeable occasionally In beautiful and
costly gowns. The aristocratic folk who
follow the good old English custom Of liv-
ing IN the country have considerable part
Of their wardrobe sent down to them from
London. on the ASerASe woman principle,
ana when they appear II Mayfair Tor .sthe