The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-03
POWER OF THE MILlINER,
TRANSPORTATION THAT HATS CAV
MAKE ~ WOVEN.
Ensiish, Partisan and American Looks Given
by Muiiners to their Customer Afternoon
Teas for Tenement women - Trials Of
the Society Dressmsksr and Her Frieads.

1t Is important TOT u Womdh 70 know Just
what effect each New York milliner can create"
said a girl as she Strengthened her hat with the
help Of the elevator glass; to know just what
you may expect when you 60 to one OF them.
Now there's Catenbury- Bantock. who invariably
makes everybody look like an English woman
who happens TO buy from her. like a rather
well-dressed English woman to be sure, but
nevertheless an undoubted product Of New
Bond street and %guiltless Of the slightest asso-
citation with the Rue de- la PAX. At certain times
this style is not 10 be ignored. II Is excellent,
for instance, at the races, and during the first
November days the woman on Fifth avenue
who has this London look is able to hold her
own. But for other periods 1t is entirely I'M
adapted. l have seen Catenbury- Bantock's
customers at a wedding when they all looked
like the shopkeepers OF some provincial Eng
fish village who had been invited into a mar
riage Of some Of the quality. Her hats are an
excellent example of the importance to q woman
OF knowing just what a milliner can do.
For any woman who wants to look French,
distinctly Partisan In fact, and Ia willing to run
the risk Of possibly looking just a little bit fast,
there's no place to 90 but Ovides;. ne will
make her look for all occasions as II she had
just stepped out Of a French fashion-plate so
al ~ lVubktuI Ndi '."s U
suit. He will make her delightfully."- piduant
and smart in the afternoon. and give her q morn
ing hat which has a subdued smothered sort
she could be a great deal smarter II she wanted
TO and II that were really good form so early
In the day. And he will give her, too, evening
bonnets that are almost wicked in , Their N To p.ri.
and the best French taste. But go 10 him
for O hat to travel, for driving, for walking any
further than a few city blocks. and the chance,
- thnf b a mill lUixFA knII -nnNR FldlRlllnlS mi
unbecoming thing entirely unsuited Ia, its pur-
poses. So even the great Divide has his ltni-
%tations: although they are not SO strongly
English and he is French. that explains any
superiority he POSSESSES.
ABoosey Is a compromise between the two,
is neither French nor English, and makes q
woman look. like nothing in the world but a
refined, wcll-bred American. She gives YOU
a sort OF Boston, blie-stocking. conservative
look that IS all very attractive and charming
sort Of Charles Dana Gibson In millinery and
stamps the letter A, meaning American in It's
most attractive sense, right in the middle, OF
your forehead the moment Won phi one Of her
hats on. | heard one woman Sav that she al
ways felt as II she had wrapped up her head
in the Declaration Of Independence when she
has been so discreetly and tsStefully performed
that the effect is rather becoming. BooSey Is
a safe path for young women To keep in: \
nice complexion. well-kept hair and u look Of
innocence surmountcd by a Boosev hat give
the most ordinary sweet girl graduate rather a
distinguished look,
Il suppose in the long run the taste that
Boosey represents is the best. but I should pre-
fer Catanbnry- Bantock for two hats a year
and Divides for all the rest. But how should
hate to want 10 look As Divide make- me look
and wander by mistake into Boo>ey's! II one
knows what the peculiaritieS Of the millinerS
are the question Of millinery becomes less COM
plicated in New York,
= IL, l. a. - ...- -.
next fall. unless one benevolent woman loses
her good intentions on Il European tour. She
went abroad lately, but she amiably outlined
before her departure a scheme by which she
was 10 benefit her sisters who have less oppor-
tunity for tea drinking than she possesses,
Tenement teas" are the words that describe
her elecmosynary scheme, She says she will
go to tenement houses in the most thickly stettled
districts Of the city and give afternoon tea AT
least once a week for the benefit Of the women
who live there. The only qualifications 10
entitle a person to a cup Of tea will he stated
in an invitation hung IN the hall Of the tenement.
Any woman who lives in the house and is willing
to wash up sufficiently 10 make her presentable
AT the function will have the right 10 come in.
When she arrives tea and sandwiches will be
presented 10 her and she is expected 10 conduct
herself according 10 the elementary rules OBJ
served al a tea under any circumstances
just how many Of the women will come and
how many Of them will repeat their visit the
amiable woman who has devised this plan Of
relieving the sufIeringS of the world does not
yet know. She was inspired 10 this effort by the
conviction that the women in the tenement
houses knew too little Of social life. She had
plainly overlooked the efficiency of the GROWER
rs a means for promoting social relaxation
and tho vurinlis nfb.r etr1iItpgtnnp..a nj an,
ment life that serve To bring neighbors together
In more or less pleasant contact. She probably
has no idea OF what power n pail of water thrown
out Of a top window has as a means OF pro-
noting acu,iaintances among the women who
live in the tenements. or what may be ACCOM-
plished by the daily battles which take place
among the younger generation OF tenemen
jewellers.
In the past only these gentle means have served
10 introduce the women OF the one
70 another, and her proposition is 10 ~.upplant
them bv the gentler influence OF Oolong and
toast. That the tea ms a social incident has come
In for its share Of abuse during the last few years
u true. It's defenders now are few. Deserted
by the men, even women have ceased to have
their old interest in II. but in the tenements II
is still unknown. This social explorer may he
procuring new and continued popularity for
the 5 O'Clock tea In its new SURROUNDINGS,
but II will have TO fight hard against The superior
powers Of the mixed-ale party.
More serious obstacles 10 the success OF this
new plan is the objection that these people
iuN' w MY NUS Nih' Tf'llN INV
woman OF the tenements would rather buy her
own cup OF tea II she wanted tea and make
II In her own rooms with a friend Of her own in
wiling, however humble the circumstances might
be, than find herself included ina miScellaneous
lot of tea drinkers, asked merely with the
idea Of doing them all good in some way or
other. Such schemes may be possible In Lon
don, and many similar undertakings have proved
effcacious there which failed here utterly
because the spirit Of the people TO be reached
is very different. Efforts to instruct them and
entertain them meet with favor so long az they
appear in n measure mutual: but so soon az
the element of charity enters in tho scheme
il doomed here.
This benevolent woman who wants to pour
tea In the tenements will very soon find herself
imposed upon by the unworthy RECIPIENTS Of
her favors. while the class that she really thought
10 reach would keep away from her and resent
very decidedly any intrusion into their lives
based on a cup OF tea rs a means Of introduction.
The lot OF the society dressmaker has many
embarrassing features. When she starts to
work TO support herself and solicits the patron
age Of her friends her position ia undenlably
awkward. When her friends become her cus-
toners in sufficient numbers to make her pros
porous her endorsements are not vet over.
They are 40 absurdly critical of every thing
that n woman says or does when she is in that
position" complained a girl whose intimate
friend had lost her money. turned dressmakor
and become successful in controlling an estab-
lishment Of considerable size. They not only
do one a favor when they come to buy clothes
from her, but they are just as e~xactine a. II
they went 10 a stranger; and they expect TO be
fattered, or at all events to be talked 10 in the
most complimentary and considerable fashion.