Evening star., 1898-03-05

poseA OF handsome dark blue storm
serge. Ii was the length of the skirt. or
the lack of length, that provoked my aues-
ton.
The little dressmaker's eyes twinkled.
You are too funny. This dress is an Or
der from my richest and most fastidious
customer. .r
'Look!" she chartered, pushing the big
scissors out Of Boys way. THE next
time it pours and the streets are greasy
with mud and slime, look and see what
women are Wearing!"
The small person with swapping eyes
and loose rings of dark hair about her
temples sat down at the sewing machine.
Ihere was silence while she stitched bones
into a bodice.
When the thread broke she resumed:
Does a woman show much regard for
appearances when she's holding up a STAIN
ed and splashed skirt and an umbrella and
SIX and quarter bundles and exhibiting
soaked ankles and a drabbed petticoat?
All tfat is out Of date and high time
l believe Boy has been fooling with this
machine.
Women are wearing rainy-day dresses
even at church; you remember last Sun
days snow furry
The little dressmaker returned to her
bone-stitching. At a second flying of the
thread she remarked: Muddy w'ipv' with
and pushed chairs against the door.
For Rainy Days.
The proper rainy-day Dress" she pur-
sued abandoning the machine, lis longer
than bicycle dress, but it must be short
enough to show that 1t is not afraid to be
short gown. The trouble with most of
the rigs that women have resorted IN in
pad weather has been that the skirts were
close enough to the length of the conven-
tioIidi walking skirt to suggest that the
slight abbreviation was due either to mis-
take OF stlng1ness of the cutter. That sort
OF dress Is delusion ard a snare. You
th1nk you don't need to hold it up and
you get worse fouIed than if Won ,uora a
train.
The new rainy day skirt shows YOU tina.
IL is just what 1t is by conviction. You re-
spect purpose you know, more than acci-
ueht since It's always out of danger, it
@ ian pe smart enough TO compel respect
Tor other reasons"
Longer than bicycle skirt is not defin-
ite' suggested meek!y, wondering how
long Boy could stand in rocking chair
without breaking his nose.
I'VE make tkem'-the little dressmaker
is quite justified in alIuding to herself as
We 1or she is nothirg II not royal in her
oecrees. We make them to cover nicely
the tops of ordinary walking boots.
Ihe best material is the best all-wQol
serge u be bought for love or money. A
real serge Will stand any sort of storm.
GU can have a smart tailor cut and,
for trimmings. either rows or stitching or
hias bands OF the serge. Like the tailor
dress. the beauty of such costume is al
together IN the cut and finish for 1t must
be severely plain
Dark blue is about the best color. The
waist can be of any fashion, but it ought
to be simple and to havaa touch of black
or white or red or whatever suits your
taste for a relieving color.
Some of the Advantages.
Now, these are the advantages: You re-
become two-handed creature; most wo-
men out-of-doors are, effectively. one-arm-
ed. You walk among bedraggled women
smart, clean and dry. By avoiding ex-
pc OF your pieasant-weather clothes
you preserve their freshness and lengthen
their lives. You obtain a new and dis
You show yourself I'm the swim,' in two
senses; you are up with the times
Presently 1 inquired: What sorts Of
dresses & are ordered first in the spring"
Ihe little dressniaker 9called Patty, the
mald to carry off an arnaload that squirm-
ed and demonstrated. She said:
we used to make cotton dresses first
always; they were finished months before
they were wanted, just because there was
nothing else that could be done.
This season my first orders are Cor golf
dresses; golf players are almost too en-
thusiastic to stop for winter at all.
New Golf Dress.
"A new golf dress is made Of smooth
brown cloth, finished with rows of stitch
ing. The jacket is quite short and Is worn
with scarlet waistcoat, which opens in a
square at the neck over a stiff shirt and a
mannish tie. OF course there Is a brown
cape with tartan nning''
Are you French, little dressmaker?
sometimes you speak so quickly you make
me think so'
French? No. If / were what should l
know about golf dresses? But 1 worked
with a woman year or two ago who made