Middletown transcript., 1898-04-23

vi I'll maid for all the
good she will derive from them this
year il she makes any pretense of fash
ionabie toilets.
The up-to-date shirt waist is either
cut absolutely on the bias, or bayadere,
or trimmed with more circular lines of
minute tape than there are rings
around the planet Saturn. There is
nothing. about it that suggests the gar
ment Of last summer but its name.
The stylish materials are plaid, check
ed and striped cheyiots, white linen,
pique, Bedford cord, embroidered lawns
and white pique with embroidered
white and colored dots. One Of the
prettiest materials is called ribbon
goods" 1t is sage-green, and seems to
be trimmed in plaid effect with "baby"
ribbons of pink and green. There are
really no ribbons about it, bat the ef-
feet is delightful.
In addition to the bias or bayadere
cut, the waists are made with yoke
only at the back, which has one or
three points to it. The fronts are
made full to the collar. and have about
two inches of shoulder-yoke, like a
mans shirt. Some Of them are full
under the arms, but such are not strik-
ingly pretty. The sleeves are cut
straight on the length of the goods,
are not very full and, finished with
cuffs, the lines of which run up and
down instead of around.
The collars may match the cuffs, but
are mainly of plain while linen, over
which some Of the fetching neckwear,
now 30 fashionable, is worn. The
marked departure this season in every
department of woman's clothes from
severe lines to the picturesque is no
where more pronounced than in the
SHIRT waists.
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MASSAGE AS AN OCCUPATION FOR
THE BLIND.
Bennett, in a paper read before the
New York medical association, Octo-
Der, 1897, suggested massage as an
occupation for the blind. According
to statistics not more than eight per
cent. of the entire blind population Of
the United States are able to support
themselves. Probably the actual 6g-
ures would show even a smaller pro-
portion than this. The idea that blind
persons are especially musical and can
earn their living by such talent be
showed to be an erroneous one.
The proposition to make mass age the
profession of the blind seems rational.
Their touch is more delicate than that
of o seeing person, presumably from
practice only. However that may be.
few seeing people possess such sensitive
fingers as blind persons. A second re-
spect in " which blind masseur would
be superior to one not blind is in the
blindness itself. Many persons object
to expo,e themselves and their little
imperfections to such a stranger as q
massage operator usually is. With q
blind person this difficulty would be at
once removed. In the third place, II
the custom became general the fees
charged would be SO small that mas
sage could be taken advantage Of by
people in moderate circumstances, espe-
cially as a blind person would be salts
fed with such fees as would insure him
a comfortable living. A fourth advan-
tage would be the development physic-
ally of the blind themselves, as they
would require strength and health in
order to carry on this occupation. The
tremendous therapeutic value of mas
sage win be recognized more and more,
and the time seems ripe for such plan
as Bennett proposes. He advocates
for it o fair trial in institutions that
can afford 10 support a massage opera.
tor.
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