The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-13
AN EARLY VICTORIAN GIRL.
SHE IS LADY FREDERICK NAPIER
RR0OME.

trials of Her GirlhoOd when
clothes Were Hideous, Untidy and
absolutely IncOnvenIent-SheC Con-
on the Grace and Beauty of the
Present Fashions.
II used always 20 be my custom at the
various government houses in which 1
have lived during the last twenty years
IN get all my girl friends to come every
Monday afternoon at o'clock and read
history with me. 1 generally read aloud
whilst the girls worked Sometimes
they brought fancy work, but more often
I was glad 20 see a pinafore for little
sister or some useful bit of plain sewing,
for we were very practical people. The
reading lasted a couple of hours; then
we had tea, at which many friends Joined
rs, and after that the young people played
tennis.
My girls-as still fondly call them-of
all those differing, widely separated
homes, tell me that they still look back
on those afternoons with pleasure, but
do much more so. They are nearly all
married; the babies are invariably called
may enter the lists with our own good
Queen. They have still duties and work,
and best of all love around them. 1 feel
like a shipwrecked sailor cast up on
Il desert island, cut off from all the interests
and occupations of my life. Yet 1t is
with a smile and a sigh that look back
4 ON those reading afternoons. We started
H with Green's admirable Short English
History" because 1 had once met Mr..
Disraeh. who speaking of that book,
which was then new, told me he thought
Il every English woman should study it, so
as to be able 90 explain to her boys how
4 and by what difficult paths they came to
q be Englishmen, and he added that it was
the best popular constitutional history he
knew So we read it many times through.
Then Justin McCarhy's picturesque His
tory of Our own Times" kept them en-
thralled for many months, but 1 really
think the books they liked best were Mot
leys History of the Dutch Republic"
and the Thirty Years War" To me
they seemed most painful reading, but
every girl fell wildly in love with VIII
liam the Silent, and such a burst of
weeping as attended the story of his as
sassination!
i 1t sometimes happened that we had fin
ished a chapter ten minutes before tea
4 time. and then a clamor arose for me
Il either to read them a short poem, or tell
i them something about my own girl days,
Il This last subject became so popular that
H I am encouraged 10 hope it may interest
4 other girls in other places.
Ny own girlhood was but short one,
& for I married very young, and 1 always
tried to point q moral-of course quite
uselessly-of the risk of so doing. 1t is
difficult to warn when, as in my own
case, this imprudent step turned out so
happily, and it was quite in vain for me
3 to assure them that l was no example for
ID had been exceptionally fortunate.
However, what they loved best to hear
4 about were the days before any such abb
& rupt termination of my very happy girl
8life came about. The worst of it was
( that my most tragic complaints of the
#hard fate OF the Early Victorian Girl
3 only provoked peals of mirth When 1
q explained that in those days there was
8hard and fast line about good looks which
pressed severely on any girl who fell short
OF perfect beauty, I was rather hurt to
y perceive a tendency to blush and giggle
among my rapt audience. But 1t really
z was hard on a girl, who nowadays
would have been called picturesque and
4 who certainly would have had chance
j if becomingly dressed and coiffeed, 20 be
zreegated to the ranks of the ugly ones
#without a struggle. You see the pretty
3people set the fashicns which, by the way,
Blasted three or four years unchanged and
"A Inc others mao TO lOtlOW lHtiu tAdtllJ
#without the slightest variation or adapta-
q ion. -!
The Absurd Fashions.
N Oh! the hideousness of our clothes. and
*Eet we were all perfectly satisfied and
%delighted with them 1t is nonsense 10
#say that those fashions have been, or
#fre. being revived. No living girl would
#dream Of wearing the garments in which
a considered myself a model of grace and
a sili n NOV
pearIng in a sleeve, tight at the arm hole
#and gradually spreading to nearly half
"a yard in width. OF course it dipped into
#Four plate and cup at every moment dur
ing meals, and inside was worn a small
balloon or puff of muslin, ending in a band
with wide frill of lace which fell over
me band. I wonder who invented that
III ely and untidy fashion. We considered
graceful end elegant as we also did
Faist which rested on our hips, and was
casually outlined by wide sash with
h bow and long streamers in 'front.'
presume that was the reaction from the
IWalst under the arms, but 1t would DO
Is.
M Then think Of the shoes absolutely fiat
hd tied on with ribbon sandals, and the
loves which had TO be kept in their pa 70
~ one single button, and were profusely
rlnmed for evening wear. A scarf was
Rnade Of either black silk edged with deep
Wace' or of white muslin and lace. A more
absolutely inconvenient and useless gar
Wnent could not have been devised. 1t was
Xlnlcuit TO keep 1t on, and it served no
se1ul purpose as a wrap. but we all wore
carts uncomplainingly for years. Hats
we're unknown for all practical purposes
arge leghorn hats existed, but they were
uch inconvenient wear, for a breath of
tlr whisked them off, or buried your face
their wide brims, that except in a pic
ure or on the stage never saw one. We
led huge and hideous bonnets firmly on
ur heads by wide strings which we called
brides" ana protected the back OF our
iecks from sunburn by curtains or "bavo-
e's of the same ribbon. And all had to
rear ana, astonishing fact-wore uncom-
lalhingly, exactly the same shaped bon
Long faces, short faces, blooming
neeks eallow cheeks, all were alike sur
Ouhded by this silken or straw hedge
"lth wreath OF flowers inside it, As
Ior our ears they were as carefully con-
eated from view as though they had been
tilonstrous deformites. Not only did the
nj fralvr