The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-02

Has the death knell of the corset been
rung? Are the days Of the feminine coat
of mail numbered?
At every fashionable function this ee7-
son on ell the fashionable thoroug hlaIes.
and conspicuously around the shonpnr
center of this city the Russian bloJ.. i4
one or another form is In evidence The
blazer and the short jacket are giving
way before. it. When either the one or
the other is worn it is sure TO be over
dainty underwaist made with a Russian
blouse front effect. At luncheon. break
fast and dinner it is seen, and even iu full
evening dress the blouse effect asserts liz
self. The New York Herald has already
told and pictured the story of woman
new figure, brought about by the lowering
of the corsage. But there is something
more to come. Is it the total abolition OF
the corset
Now, well formed svoman docs not need
Ions, stiff boned corset under this novel
and pretty garment. Any moderately
slenderwoman can wear 1t without o. real
corset. She needs only an underwaist well
fitted to her graceful mould of form. Even
the short French corset is Unnecessary,
except for those whose adipose is decid-
eddy pronounced.
The ribbon corset, which is really only
bust supporter. is the only garment-if It
can be so called-that is required. This
dainty little creation allows full play Of
the intercostal muscles and may justly be
hailed as the sure promoter of that sin
uous grace Of movement which always ac-
companies a supple and untrammeled
waist.
A well known dress artist, one who is
highly educated and familiar with art in
the plastic form as we'll as in the history
OF dress, antique medieval and modern;
one who has catered long and successfully
10 the word of fashion and the caprices
of fashionable women. both in America
and on the other side of the water. pre-
diets that the corset is moribund-that it
has been slowly but surely dying for the
last ten years.
The argument urged is briefly this Since
the genesis of the new woman, the woman
who plays tennis and golf, who rides af-
ter the hounds who takes keen delight in
all outdoor sports and devotes herself to
those physical exercises of the new school
known as gymnastics without apparatus,
there has been steady demand for dress
adapted to that kind of life.
This same artist in dress also declares
that the women who fence and take their
daily poses, movements and exercises in
breathing, swaying, pivoting and contrac-
ton and expansion of their muscles are
more easily fitted and more easily pleased
imam those who do not. They have, as a
rule, she says, smaller waists fuller
chests and less adipose development
around the hips and abdomen than those
VINO do not devote some of their time 10
gymnastics and outdoor sports. Better
than all this, she asserts, they have sweet
er tempers, are less captous more intel
ligent and have larger amount of com
mon sense than most women. Now tha
question is: Wan this kind of new woman
be sufficiently in the majority to kin the
old fashioned corset?
Near Bairritz-happy, brilliant Biarritz-
stands the lone, yew-em bordered conve,t
OF the Silent sWomen-the Soeurs Stlep-
cieuses.
Here, not far from sounding waters of
the Bay of Biscay, says the Courior-Tour-
nal, f1fty-seven ladies of birth and breed
ing have seen fit to immune themselves in
what is nothing less than a living tomb
woman tongue has, justly or unjustly.
been centurief byWord; yet the soeurs
silencieuses voluntarily resign their riob+
70 speak, and sentence themselves. for
the rest of their natural lives, TO absolute
unbrohen silence.
The convent, which is modelled on thai
foT men at La Trappe, was founded many
years ago by q lady of the French courr
who, in company with some friends. souoht
this solicitude and gave her life to Goa
Who she washer very identity-is in dis-
quite. Indeed, it was her own wish m ar
the authorities of the Catholic church
should preserve her name a secret. ana
all the women who have followed her mo
seclusion here have likewise endeavored
10 sink their identity
league from Biarrtz, in the direction
OF the Pyrenees, one turns aside from Tho
direct road and enters a narrow rayir.
stretching toward Maueon. Tbrorgn
woods of beech and wild olive an ill-ls6r
deeply rutted lane leads to hiah-walied
enclosure. Over, the walls there is a
glimpse of yew trees; and if the visitor
De a man, that is all he can see Of H.
silent sisters home. Even women fra,,ai-
ers are rarely admitted past the hea,.,.
wooden gates, with their lunettes for Iay
sisters TO peer through.
The convent park is laid ont IN 1o,,,.
straight walks, planted on either side M
yew trees. Each nun has a walk TO her.
self. IL is allotted her when she enfars
and she PAGES it until her death. I'm
and down the walk she goes. with silen,
lreau, never raising HeF eyes save i,
prayer, and never exchanging a svllabia
with mortal being.
A recent visitor to the convent tbus
describes what she saw.
THE lay sister who receives lis ia,
sisters do all the household ana garleT
work and are allowed to talB0 woiIId
not apow us to approach near enough tr
the nuns to get even a glimpse of tbeiT
downcast faces. We saw. however tbsi
they wore long black cowls, with erea,
white crosses between the shoulders a7d
reaching to the hem Of the gown. Say
for the crosses, they were arroyed wboi.y
in black; and black walls draped thei,
faces.
AS we watched the chapel bell toIIa7
out and the soeurs slencieuses moved TO-
ward its door. We were admitted 10 m,
gallery, and saw them kneeling in the haIt
light below us. A mans voice was read.
ing prayers, but no man could we see. Ar
terward we learned that he spoke from
behind a screen. He was admitted /.
the convent chapel by an underground
passageway leading beyond the walls
AT present the chaplain is a reverend
able of nearly 50 years of age, who en-.
lows a reputation for asceuc sancuty
throughout Navarro The only time the