The age-herald., 1898-05-13
GAUDY COLORS
 FORETELL WAR

 Correspondence of The Age-Herald.
 Washington, May 1.-The war between the United States and Spain has given rise to a great deal of speculation as to the subject of signs. It will be remembered that in many parts of the United States there were printed repeatedly stories of tho peculiar condition of the stars in the heavens for three or four weeks preceding the declaration of war.A number of New York papers printed what they claimed were exclusive stories accompanied by H. lustrations showing that directly over Manhattan island was seen frequently at nights a sword of fire as if suspended from a star between heaven and earth. Astrono- mers who made nightly studies of the ] Armament prophesied war. Strange as 1t may appear, those who give attention to prevailing fashions in dress were the most enthusiastic in predicting war. and perhaps not without cause. There is an elderly woman in this city who lives in the house in H street, near Sixth which was occupied at the time of the assassination of Presi- dent Lincoln by Mrs. Surratt. who was hanged as one of the alleged conspirators in that great tragedy The elderly lady. however. poses neither as fortune-teller nor as clairvoyant. She is quiet, unos- tentatious, unassuming woman that ap- parently has made astudy of the fashions of the past. When this lady became fa- miliar with the prevailing colors worn. especially by ladies during the present season. she prophesied war.
 In conversation with her a few days ago she said there never had been a time to her knowledge within the history of the world that flashy colors were not the pre- vailing fashion in times of war. She pointed with considerable degree of pride to the fact that for the past year or more the people of this country were wearing more coIors than had been noticed for the past thirty years. She is the possessor of scrap-books galore containing illustrations of prevailing colors and showing number that indicated that during the civil war there were more colors in the peoples dress than for many years previous. She also produced proof that the same thing existed, but not to such great extent dur ing the war with Mexico. During the revolutionary war, according to her state- ments, though the people at that time were not schooled in the arts of producing cOlOrS, as III ldteT years, tHere was, hcNOA- theless, a great deal of color used. Ske referred to eculiar incident of very re- cent date showing that only few months before the breaking out of war between China and Japan in 1894, the people of these two nations wore more colors than at any time within their history. Yet Japan is at. all times the one nation of the world where wearing apparel is made up of many colors. The same thing proved true in the war between Greece and Turkey which took place last year. While red has been the prevailing fashion of the Turks for cen- turies there were more mixtures of the color in the Turkish garb few months breeding the war with Greece than had ever been known. Falshy colors became the ruling fashion of the people of Greece preceding the war with Turky. The people of that nation had not been unlike the peo- pie of England or the people of the United States in the modest display of color. Even that conservative kingdom donned most gaudy attire short time before the war.
 When she went back to the history of the war between France and Germany in 1871, she showed a most gorgeous display of colors worn by the people of both na- tions France went wild on the subject of colors. No womans dress was at all fash ionabe in France for two years preceding war with Germany, and during the war. that did not possess all the colors known / to the art of coloring The French idea of the art of coloring was, according to the ladys idea, the most beautiful of all with which she had any familiarity. The Ger mans, whose great characteristic has been the lack of colors in dress, made rapid strides in that direction and almost ap- preached the extremity indulged in by France. She spoke also upon the subject of the rapid disappearance of the colors fol- lowing the declaration of peace. This she said was emphasized to a marked degree among the French and Germans after peace had been declared, when France be- came a republic. It may be regarded, of course, as 8 very natural event that som- bre black should become the prevailing fashion after war because of the mourn- ing for the dead, whose lives had been given up in defense of their country.
 According to the lady's information all England went daft upon the subject of highly colored garments for both men and women in 1878, during the Afghanistan war, where it will be remembered young Ma poleon, son of the last Emperor of France, gave up his life. In this case, the extreme colors which became fashionable in Eng land were in measure established by Princess Beatrice, now widow of the late Prince Henry of Battenberg. Princess Be- atrice was at that time engaged to marry young Napoleon, but the good queen was impressed with the belief that he should first do something to distinguish himself before he became the husband of the daughter of the Queen of England That was the principal reason why young Na- poleon went to the Afghanistan war. Had the son of the Emperor of France not been killed by the Zulus he no doubt would have become the son-in-law of Queen Victoria I once heard Archibald Forbes, the great war correspondent of the London Times. relate the story of Napoleon's death. If Forbes statement was the correct version of the affair, the young man showed lit tie Judgment in making his charge upon the