The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-02-12
Style and Comfort.


ing fashion and common sense. One
may be long on style and short on com
fort, or he may have comfort to burn
and give fashion the shake; but there
seems to be no all-around good thing, so
one may be swell and comfortable at the
same time. You must choose between
them. There is no good reason for this.
1t is an arbitrary and unnecessary in
Fiction, laid on suffering world, and
one is forced to the conclusion that
nothing short of utter malignity could
have inspired many of the fashions I'M
der which we groan. There is not even
the excuse Of beauty. for which one
might well endure many pangs of dis
comfort. There is nothing artistic in
q linen collar so high and stiff it looks
like an understudy Of terra Gotta
chimney fue. But it is full of suffering
and style. No one since the days of
Mephistophelese ever had feet built after
the architecture Of the pointed-toe
shoes. There Is no beauty in them
nothing but aches, and corns and fash
ion. When nature made lovely women
it wrote beauty in every soft curve of
her body, but fashion never rested until
it squeezed and compressed her into the
shape Of an hourglass. She was too
comfortable in flowing draperies that
fell in loose grace, and she was girded
up in stays, and smothered in frills,
and weighted down with ornaments in
the interest Of the theory that style
and comfort could not be amalgamated.
Such being the case, remarks the New
Orleans Picayune, it gives great pleas
| ure to notice that new fashion has
been introduced which happily com
bines the very latest wrinkle of fashion
with the most admirable common sense.
Recent dispatches from New York bring
the information that it is now custom
airy among the smart set to have dane
ing between the courses Of elaborate
| dinners. The swell dancing is varied
with cake-walks, skirt dancing and
other edifying aids to digestion. The
possibilities this opens up to people OF
epicuIean taste are simply limitless
and it is also beyond praise as kind OF
life-saving measure, as everyone at a
long dinner must have at some time felt
that the next course would be the death
of him. Then, too, this scores heavily
for us as showing the advancement in
| refinement that has been made since
the days Of the banquets of Lucullus
and other swell dinner givers of an.
tiquity. When their jaded appetites
gave out, they took disgusting, il
simple, means of refreshing them, SC
as to be able to take fresh start all
pver again. Now, we will simply arise
and execute short but violent dance
and be ready to do justice to the further
triumphs of the chef. No more dishes
served with sauce piquant or sauce Hol.
landaise, but with an accompaniment
of Virginia reel, or a cake-walk, or 9
highland fling, and good digestion will
wait on appetite. Another advantage
it offers is the suppression of the after.
dinner orator. Fellows like Chauncey
Depew will no longer have monopoly
on good thing because they can talk
don't you know On the contrary
young fellows whose brains are in theil
heels will be the bright, particular
stars that people who give fashionable
dinners will seek out. On the whole
this readjustment of the etiquette o.
dinner giving has everything to com
mend it, and will stand as a monument
to the genius who devised it.