The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-08-01

noticed any freak hats? Where were
your eyes? And what else could yog pos
sibly cali one Of those things THAT look
like a dishpan turned upside down las to
SHAPED. with a semi-circle OF a fral cross
ing it amidship's? Then many of the
nose hats displayed a downright tendency
to be freakish, such wild uprisings at the
rear and such tremendous swirls and
curves of material careening both fore
and aft. No end of freakish, too, were
some Of the earlier floral hats. Springs
earliest offerings hobnobbed uncomplair-
ingly with people they had never even
met before, and many a time spring
times gentle violet found itself planted
tight up to autumn's queenly cosmos, not
to mention the roses of glorious summer.
Freakish, certainly. but in this instance
SO charming that one really had to smile
instead of frown. This is the time when
the fashions settle down to what proves
itself best suited to comfort and elegance.
Hast noted the different shapes which
the festive little yoke has taken unto it
SELF 1t started out rather a modest little
thing that we might take or leave as 1t
pleased US. Look at it nowi Not content
with mere yokehood, it. too, became a
slave of the expansion habit, extending
over much additional bodice area and
then out over the arms. Afterward it
had to cover this same ground, but for
variety's sake went about 1t in various
! ways. with many a point and curve. It's
up she goes and down she comes Qf not
ninety times as high as the moon) with
a vengeance. And isn't the result clean,
and crisp. and pleasing? One sweet thing
In a deep shirred white null yoke and
sleeves with no shoulder straps even)
actually looked sweet enough to steal. 1t
did, however, give her unpleasant atten-
tons, for some queer, uninitiated ones
stared hard, thinking her arms and Shout
ders bare.
Though one would naturally fancy we
thought nothing but yoke, 1t is not so.
Trim little jacket suits require us to put
up a brave 'front.' It's frightfuMy sham
ming, of course. but then some fair ones,
when their variety Of pretty blouses gives
out, or appear with tiresome regularity.
add to their apparent changes by re-
sorting to those little contrivances which
consist OF front pFettiness attached to a
suitable stock-this much shows when
the Jacket is on. Taking all sorts of
weather into consideration, and ones in
ability to carry every sort of blouse on a
short trip. these little arrangements are
very convenient, and many range from
; heavy. draped velvet TO the merest cob
webby material.
Does the glove subject worry you, or
are you one of those emancipated beings
who dress according to the thermometer?
OF course, one feels most at home in
dainty SUICIDES, but when they refuse SER
vice moro than npoQ (oc fJaax5fx,a hoar
known to do on melting days. economy
drives us elsewhere, for all save nice
wear, that is. And right here both the
chamois (they are made very neat and
trim these days. and the suede Isle nhey
also are neat. being silky and tightly
woven,) come In handy-excuse me. Even
ings the idea seems to be to go comforta-
bly, ungloVed whenever possible. For
driving and riding IF anybody rides this
hot weather) the heavy, masculine glove
must be three sizes too large, and, as
for hiking, many go further and invest
in perforated gloves. Though being well
gloved is a woman's first duty, duty's
voice doesn't sound very loudly at this
time o. year.
What in the world would Mrs. Grundy
lave said, some fifteen years ago, of any
woman of fifty, or even of forty, who did
not wear a cap? 1t was a part of the
regular livery of middle age, which in
cluded long and heavy NANTES (the wear
ers being of an age when they begin to
cease to be weight carriers), gowns of
stodgy materials, usually over-trimmed,
and bonnets of the emphatic sort that
was easily distinguishable as suitable by
the spectator. The owner could always
gauge its suitability by the amount of
headache the headgear gave her. If she
was a docile creature and found herself
with no headache at the end of a days
c~all-paying, she trembled for her reputa-
ton, and went early next morning to her
milliner to get something of the hob
nailed sort In the way Of bonnet trim
ming. Dress could not proclaim too loud
~ the absence of youth or the beginning
of the descent into the vale of years,
the first few steps of which are apt to
be SO tragic.
But now the elderly woman may dress
as lightly as she chooses. Naturally
enough, she often overdoes it, reaction
being the natural consequence of long re-
preston. But on the whole it is good to
be allowed to consult health and con-
venience in ones dress rather than the
dictates Of those self-constituted authors
ties who spend their lives in passing
structures upon their fellow creatures.
Why should old ladies wear great caps
upon their plentiful and beautiful white
hair? They had to do so in the past on
account of Mrs. and the Misses Grundy:
hut there is emancipation for them in the
present day.
Is it because life is now so much fuller
for women that they remain younger in
heart and looks, than they did in the
last generation? The elderly women Of
today live in the fullest sense of living
They do not vegetate. Their peers of a
couple of decades since found their chief
interests in paying their tradesmen's
books on Tuesday, detecting the laun-
dress ~delinqueneies on Saturday. COM
pairing the prices of meat and poultry,
and marking the clothes for the wash.
Everything is different now. These things
are not neglected, but they are not per-
mitted to take up the whole of existence.
A soul above buttons and a capacity be-
yond the chronicling of small beer are
the heritage of the up-to-date old lady.
and wider interests keep her alive and
awake.
For a hand bath "a bath given to the
1.xa.- ~ .,ea If tho hands an1x, o.. NV