The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-06-03
for dWomen



delphia Inquirer" says
Now hat delightful spring days are
with US again, the bicycle girl is very
much in evidence. All Of the cafes i'll
the Bots have their many bicycle racks
lined up in rows with a fresh coat OF
green paint. which gives them a cheerful.
cxpectant look. Each bright afternoon
brings its throng Of cyclists and Oh Sum
days the b~oulevards are literally given
over TO wheelmen.
The bloomer girl is in the minority this
spring. for nearly every smart woman has
adopted the short bicycle skirt. AT all
the shops where l went in search Of new
models they Shove me invariably jack
cts and short skirts.
Only two years ago the bicycle woman
who rode through Paris b%ouleyards with
a skirt was a conspicuous person and the
French people explained the absurdity Of
the costume of applying the one word,
English to it.
Perhaps the couturieres are 10 blame
for this waning of the bloomer popular-
ity, for, try as they might. they could
devise no means of embellishirg bloom
ers.
1t is the one garment on which braid,
stitching and all the many devices OF
the ~couturieres prove fatal to chic.
On the short range there is a wide
range for the artistic arrangement of the
very popular soutache. and as for the
rows of stitching, they are innnumerable.
A young woman who always affects
blue in all of her costumes went in quest
of a blue bicycling costume the other day;
but her choice of color met with such
hearty disapproval from the tailors thai
she really didn't nave the moral courage
to stick to her demand for dark blue.
She compromised by ordering a gown of
military blue cloth, a shade of blue that Is
tolerated this season by Dame Fashion
The skirt fitted close over the hips and
was cut with rather straight front, and
side cores so that there was but little
flare. The fulness at the back was laid
in narrow underlapping plaits. At the
front gore, where the skirt fastened,
there were narrow stitched straps of the
cloth. Around the bottom Of the skirt
there were numerous COWS of stitching.
The Jacket was a close-fitting affair
with short scalloped basques. 1t hooked
in an invisible way at the front and
turned back to form straight narrow re-
yers that reached from the collar to the
bottom of the jacket. Small blue pearl
buttons trimmed the outer edges of the
revers. A finish was given to the
basques and revers by rows of stitching.
The sleeves were the closest fitting jacket
sleeves I have seen and were practically
without fulness at the tops. The collar
was a high, straight, military affair, fin
ished with rows of stitching.
The usual headgear worn by a French
woman with her bicycling own is any
thing but appropriate. She somehow
can never get her own consent to wear
a severe English sailor hat. 1t must be
embellished with bows and wings or it
doesn't suit her taste. The felt Amazon
shapes all. nod with coque plumes till they
can boast no air of chic.
So tina the only headgear that recon-
mends itself in any way is the jaunty lit
tie Tam o'Shanter, lifted at the side with
quilts.
AS for footwear, it all seems to be a
matter of taste-sometimes of necessity,
If the fates have not been generous. In
that case one may resort TO leggins of the
same material as ones costume, or to golf
stockings. rolled down SO as to build out
ones calf. If the fates AVE been kind
and generous, then black stockings and
pretty up-to-date ties are preferred.
The English tailors make bicycling
skirts that reach nearly to the ankle;
while the French tailor insists on making
them short enough TO show a suspicion of
the calf.
The "Woman's Home Companion says
it is well to remember that most vege-
tables should be put on to cook IN
freshly boiling water.
That salt should be added when they
are about two-thire5sd
That lying in very cold water for an
hour or more will partially restore to
wilted vegetables quality and freshness.
That every green vegetable should be
cooked rapidly, and uncovered, to retain
its color.
That if the water is very hard, a tiny
bit of soda, not larger than a pea. added
will make the vegetables cooked in it ten
derer and Of better color. Ordinary wa
ter does not require such addition.
That when soft water is used the salt
must be in from the first. to prevent loss
of flavor and substance.
That cooking a vegetable after 1T is
done IOuSHeISy udfhSHS II
from its flavor.
That the best dressing for vegetables
at their perfection is butter. pepper and
salt-cauliAower and perhaps asparagus
excepted.
That cider or staler vegetables are i'm
proved by a cream or drawn butter sauce
the basis for the latter the seduced
LIQUOR left when the cooking is finished.
Women of leisure have a new occupa-
tion. They have taken to the fancy work
of their ~granddames and g~randaunts.
Flimsy knotted tatting is to be seen these
days in the slender hands of fair maids
and young matrons. Scores of years &
it was the fashionable handiwork of wora-
en- when spending the afternoon at the
homes of their friends. In those far-off
days, too. it was the favorite trimming
for dainty underclothes, and also the
fancy aprons in which no grandmamma
of fond mammals daughter ever failed to
appear. And now. after all these long
years, some clever maid has resurrected
from some long-unused work-box a tor
toise shuttle. After weaving 1t in and
out with the finest linen thread the trim
ming of her long-dead ancestors appears.
R1t one thing is sl1re. the maid who