The age-herald., 1897-10-10
fcopyrIght. 1s97.l

around and displaying with much glee what is known as the French figure. l It means "Avaunt all spider waists," l It means "Go to the demnftion bow VOWS all ye who lace!" and it also means Good morning to the woman l who wants to be healthy." The why and the wherefore? Because that most
 fascinating bodice, commonly called.
 the Russian blouse, properly called the
 blouse jacquette, demands good broad l shoulders, a waist in harmony and 1 well developed hips We may expect l to see innumerable loose, slovenly look l ing blouses, suggestive of breakfast
 jackets drawn in under belts. and
 these will be called Russian bouses.
 Now, the real Russian blouse, or blouse l jacquette, is a veritable joy forever. It
 is cut out of one huge piece, fits prop
 erly in the back is adorabIy loose and
 yet well fitting in front, and so per 1 fectly shaped that it would retain it's l position without a belt or a sash ribbon I if any dainty woman were willing to 1 omit it. The Russian blouse q call it l that, since the world at large does) de-
 mands not the high busted, long waist 1 ed, many boned stays of the past, but
 1t calls for the short. healthful little cor 1 set that has in it but few bones and l that is simply intended as a comfort
 and not as means whereby, through 1 tight lacing, one may gain a red nose.
 dull complexion and the dyspepsia. | No. These stays, making fashionable 1 the low bust and showing the easy.
 natural curves of the form, could have 1 been worn with comfort by Eve when | she started in to assume fig leaves. ] Probably she made just such stays out of big leaves and laced them together with ribbon grass. There is no telling
 what woman will do But to wear
 with your black skirt, if you wish to l look smart, have your dressmaker
 make you the proper Russian blouse.
 wear those most comfy of stays under | 1t and let the world see how beautiful
 is the natural figure as permitted by l civilization. The woman with an IS | inch waist is g fright. Nine times out of ten she is laughed at by men, and | ten times out of ten women who un- l derstand realize that she has no end of | bodily woes and is abominably bad tempered-the result of tight lacing. A famous French corset maker ad- vises, in lacing one's stays, that three sets of silk laces be used. One starts from the top and ends midway be- | tween the top of the bust and the waist; the next begins there and reaches to the same distance below
 the waist; then the next is placed so | that it goes through the remaining l eyelets. Then when your stays are put on the upper lace is drawn so that | the bust expands properly, and that
 lace is tied not to be undone. The sec l ond lace is kept loose, for there are
 as every woman knows, changes in hn irl I lace, like the top one, is arranged. to fit and does not need to be changed from l time to time. The Frenchman who ad- l Nlsed this understood the feminine fig ure, and # you, who are feminine, l doubt his wisdom, all that I can ad-
 wise is that you try his method. But
 remember that for the winter we are
 to have the Russian blouse and the
 French figure.
 When l saw the new short gloves 1 in their wonderful fawn and gray l shades, with pale blue, bright scarlet
 or rose stitching on the back, said to myself, my most complacent confidante,
 This means the revival of the brace l let!''
 And it is here A well known matron wore at first night a brace 1 let that told that it came from the | l ] ground was of that soft gold in which
 the Indian workers take so much de- | light. and on this circle was set every l known, and I do believe every un-. known, gem, uncut. The effect was | marvellous. A pink pearl claimed your eye resting on an opal, next to which | was black pearl that simply made | more brilliant a glowing ruby. There l were turquoiseS in three different col | ors; dark and light amethyst made | a wonderful contrast, while perfect | emerald seemed to be throwing out a ray of hope as it rested closely to a l milk white pearl. The ordinary every | day bracelet, designed even by the ex- | traordinary jeweler, sinks into insig- nificahce beside this wondrous band of l ever changing color, color which can be
 traced to the opal and pearl, turquoise and emerald, ruby and diamond, chrys- oberyl and chrysoprase, onyx and amethyst, Alexandrite and moonstone, garnet and sapphire, and all the mag nificent family of gems that are a de- light to the artistic or poetical mind The bands of rubies, or of rubies alter hating with diamonds of emeralds al- ternating With diamonds and of tur- quoises alternating with diamonds con- tinue in fashion and will be seen at even the most quiet evening affairs By the bye, speaking of diamonds, when I heard that they could make diamonds, concluded that would at once have a pair of diamond buckles for my slip pers; but, oh, dear me! the people who know say that made diamond costs exactly three times as much as one dug from the soil.
 But to return to bracelets. All of us can't have bracelet from India, but some of us can get such a circle as is worn by the Chinese women. My lady of the Chinese Four Hundred wears a bracelet of gold; she of the One Thou sand chooses one of silver, while that one of the many millions who has no social standing. doesn't choose at all but has to take the kind of bracelet which she can get, and that is of iron. Tn pat tern these bracelets do not differ, being twist of the metal large enough to be slipped over the hand: not. however, q onp1nlata hiro1o ha