The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-26

piauuets all a-gap. Those were the day.
when the full, gathered or pleated backs
of our skirts made plaquet fastenings
less necessary h now, and only the
woman whose dressmaker was thoughtful
enough to add hooks and eyes to the
treacherous slit bothered to moor il into
position.
Now we are afflicted with the skinny,
glovelftting skirt. stretched across the
back inNa way which demands that the
plaquet be sealed. or all who run may
read a story of bright-hued Innings and
petticoats.
So, fashion having offered us our choice.
of buttons, hooks, straps, fancy pins or
lacings, says OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, I've
done my duty. See to it, you women folk,
that you don't neglect yours. Remember
the plaquet to keep it fastened; ignore the
means 1 have provided, and you will be
known as a dress sloven.'
And this is why the woman who goes
fitting along with a rich taffeta rustic to
jher tailor clothes. her hat correctly dip
ping noseward and her neckwear up to
date. loses caste among the dress rites
when the plaquet straps are discovered
awry or the silk cords which should neat
ly span the tricky vent are futtering
loosely about.
Before you women were all SO rugged
up in the back remarked a man the
other day, 1T wasn't and sight
to walk in the rear of a lot of yawning
skirts. Looked mighty untidy, but nobody
seemed to mind them. Now that I've
noticed you've grown more particular
about this ?-what is it you call it, plaquet
business? Pit looks queer to see one of
them pulled apart. l was walking down
street recently as there was a nice-look-
ing girl ahead of me, dressed to beat the
band, but everything was spoiled because
her skirt was stretched open in the back
to an alarming extent. She had on a
vivid sort of petticoat, too, and it was
faring out like a signal flag.
"At first l thought l wouldn't say any
think she could go on making a show of
herself, but / couldn't help feeling sorry
for her, and when she stepped into a door
way and stopped to look in the window
I moved up beside her and said, as brief
ly and politely as possible:-Pardon me,
but think you would like to know that
your skirt is open in the back Then L
raised my hat nd was hustling off as
fast as l could, but the girl turned and
gave me a look-such a look! Honestly,
it almost scared me. If there had been
a policeman in sight 1 believe she would
have called him to protect her or to
punish me. My chivalry having passed
for an instant, L made up my mind not to
interfere with women's clothes any more.
But did l really do wrong? What is the
etiquette in such a case?"
1.-The etiquette" I answered, sis never
to point out 10 q. woman any flaws in her
get-up. Her vanity is up in arms at the
merest ~insinuation that one item Is at
fault. The gaping plaquet, though, ought
not to annoy you this season. Nobody
but the woman who refuses to call upon
her mirror for a back view can overlook
this detail"
A word must be said for the admirable
new golf glove, that has been through the
process of regeneration and has come out
with a perforated palm of antelope skin of
gray castor, and a back of flexible reshed
silk or linen. Also a little praise must be
sung for the benefit of the white hats
made of tough linen braid, and SO pliabie
that they can be twisted into any shape
that the angle of the sunlight or the golf
er's idea of her own features may require.
Inc usual ItSWOIDdIl ldShiOi L.
to turn the brim up behind and down in
front, and tie a white sewing silk or ehif-
fon veil around the crown, letting the ends
foat out at the rear. If a chiffon veil is
not used, then the hat crown is left quite
bare, for this special gear is meant only
for active work on the links. A smart
fowery thing of straw is put off at the
clubhouse or given the caddy to nurse,
and the inen shield is doubled up and
thrust into a pocket when the game is
over.
The five-gored pattern for skirts is
growing more and more in favor for cot
ton goods. The fashion of strapping the
seams has found its way with the wash
gowns. Ginghams. piques, cotton home
spuns have their seams stitched and
strapped with a contrasting or a like solid
color.
French women have become alive only
lately to the possibilities of costuming on
the links. The Partisan golfer warns up
to her work in a smart short skirt of
black melton, gripping the hips and far
ing at the knee, and with this she adopts
a wonderful shirt waist that is usually
green. These same ideas of dress have
come across the water, and if a stout
woman knows what she is about she will
meekly accept the modish generalship of
her sensible French sister and golf in a
black skirt: also she will abjure coats,
skirts, waistcoats and the like that are
red.
Skirts worn in the warm afternoons
with these are of black, brown or white
linen, their hens turned up SO high on
the inside or outside that they may well
be cherished as double skirts. The hip
deep hem serves as a lining, and then,
in many cases, a choice ornamentation is
given the surface linen with rough brown
white or black pack thread braid. So
tailor-like and frm-knit are these skirts
that there is no effect of unsuitable elab-
grafton about them, and if braiding is
not used, fanciful stitching serves in its
place.
With few exceptions, the sportswoman's
skirt now opens directly down the front,
and this ~plaquet placed before fastens
with a series of stout French hooks. Be-
meath all go long skirts. From now on.
black wash Japanese knickerbockers, are
the proper garments, and their very
slight fullness is caught at the outside