The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-05-13

sasiopai costume expect at hoteaf-Ex-
acfsy ne nme kind Of treatment N iAdy
In ordinary dress
| Lord Coaeesfxe came hack to the theateT
and Lady Harberton said she would a.
soon think Of cycling In = taeaser dress
gosng to the shezisr IN cycling attire.
There would De sense In it, said her
la6ysh.p with decision. and 90 left the box.
The secretary Of the cycling club fol-
lowed ms lady on the Witness stand, and
allowed that the nar-parior OF the Haut5oy
was no good place for q lady TO lunch.
and after some skirmishsng over the rules
o. the club and test cases" Mr.. Avoey.
counsel for the defense asked for dir
rssssai On the ground that no case had
been made. holding that Mrs Sprague had
not refused 10 serve Lady Harberson. but
had exercised her right TO say in what
room a guest should be served.
Put" inser5ected the chairman Of the
sessions. suppose the innkeeper said, I
will serve you only in the coal cellar -
Mr. Avory thought that was q reductio
zd 45surdam and let II 60 At that He
declared the Dress Reform League was
simply looking for advertisement In bring
ing the case. Mrs Sprague. the innkeeper
was called and declared that Lady Har-
berton had stated the main incident cor
rectIy, but she went on, she offered q
private room. but Lady Harberton refused
20 pay extra. and 80 she placed her in the
bar proper. where ladies had often lunched
before IL was Ia no sense common
room nor were the men workingmen.
One was a retired architect. another gen
tIeman OF independent means. She had
admitted ladies In rational dress TO the
eofYee-Yoom when they brought skirts with
Them and put them on. but on no other
condition.
Had Lady Haroerton been in ordinary
dress she would certainly have admitted
her to the cofYee-rooH. AS an innkeeper
/ have no right to make = remark about
the dress of my guests. but have right
TO consider my business. Lady Harberton
and her friends are beyond reproach, but
cannot make one rule for certain people
and another for others. There In class
OF people in the Portsmouth road who
would ruin nay business-they might come
In skin tights and ! should lose all my
good people. whom I have been at great
trouble to get Therefore l draw the line
~ nationals in the conee-room. unless
covered by skirt"
The waitress said Mrs. Sprague instruct
ed her to serve lunch <vr Lady Harbcr-
ton; the chairman OF the parish council
gave the hotel an excellent name. and said
the bar parior was good as need be.
He had seen girls having tea there and
they preferred IL. because IL was coy.
photograph OF the room, handed to the
jury, showed IL in the light Of q very
comfortable apartment.
Al last the speeches Mr.. Avory said
this was not a case ar to whether a lady
should or should not be allowed TO wear
rational costume. Lord Coleridge quoted
the law which compeis innkeeper to
serve all who can pay and do not behave
in AN improper and indecen. manner"
The chairman made 1t plain to the jury
that they had nothing to do with bloom
ers. that the pubic would not submit
to an innkeeper debating what dress Gus
toners should wear. Many people do not
like rational dress. Many people think Il
ugly and unbecoming But that Is not the
issue In this case" The only questions
were: Was there refusal To supply food
In a suitable apartment, and was that re-
fusai given without sufficient cause?
The jury considered the problem for ten
minutes. and found Mrs. Sprague not
guilty. Then" said the chairman. "she
Ia discharged" There was applause In
court. the gallery being on the side OF the
innkeeper.
The representatives OF the Rational
Dress League do not look upon the verdict
as reversal for their cauee. as the man
issue was not before the jury-that Is.
whether or not IRA .sonal' dress is entitled
to the same treatment as ordinary dress.
Miss Edith Vance. the secretary. said:
I'VE ara not cast down-far from 1t. OF
course we would rather have won. We
think that on the real facts OF the case
we ought TO have won. But although we
lost the verdict tina, Is all we have lost
and the decision OF twelve Surrey jurymen
on the facts as placed before them will
have about much effect on the rational
dress movement AS had the former preju-
dice against ladies who rode on bicycles
or even i'm hanson cabs
I'VE shall continue 20 send out members
OF the league. deeentiy and properly at
tired and for whose Behavior We can
vouch, 10 every inn against which We re-.
ceive complaint. All that ! hops Is that
some innkeeper will misread the RUE OF
the case-as II has already been misrcpre-
senIcd In one newspaper-and imagine tina,
he has the right to refuse accommodations
altogether to a lady dressed In knicker-
bockers
The case was really determined by the
photograph Of the bar parior handed To
the jury. That photograph was quite mis-
leading as IL was net a photograph az tho
room II appeared at the time Lady
Uarh-rton went into II. II had never
seen the actual room and had 10 form
my Judgment by the photograph I should
any lady TO lunch In,
SO far the costume and it's rights
are concerned. the position Is pretty much
as 1t was before. The case will however
teach the Mrs. Spraxues one thing and
that Is that they are bound TO serve lad es
In rational costume without prrsuming TO
insist on the addition al a skirt. The only
result OF the case IS that they may please
themselves where they do II. provided the
room il suitable or course We don't CT.
poet any special drawing room or non
sstse ~ that Kind All We say Is that We
must hs treated as other cyclists, ire
se~ctive 90 sex or costume, What Mrs
Spragus meant by women in skin tights
| cannot imagine. II any woman career~d
through the strssts IN skin tights she
ough, so he arrested 10y the police That
argument reminds me OF the method adopt
sd few years age by q fashionable west
esa customer Afraid that the advance
AZ :he 'ga.aunai movement might inture
trade that customer supplied n number
n. the women who walk about p!ccadillv
with ISsurcate<, garments in order tn bring
fidiesste on the movement
YEA nsCat well try 20 sweep back
tire Atlantic. Il is ni>~n secret that the