The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-29
A Study I'm Vanity.

If you are a woman, and particularly IL
you a woman past the springtime of
youth, you will find the dressmakers and
miliners and other purveyors Of feminine
wares a comfort to your soul. For instance,
some morning your grandmother says:
What a pity it is that Mary has the
sandy hair of the family" You had almost
persuaded yourself that your locks were
Titan, or at least mahogany in hue. but
this remark takes the wind out Of your
sails completely. And then father says.
anxiously. STAND straight daughter, you
are getting round-shouldered' Perhaps
your little brother remarks, We'll, IL you
ness sake pin up that curl that is stray
Cling down your back"
Now, at this point, instead Of worrying
over your freckles and over your nose
which is not built strictly on Grecian out
lines. you will, If you are wise woman,
leave your ill-natured family to make their
unkind remarks to the empty air and be-
take yourself down town on a shopping
tour where you are certain Of being ap-
preciated. Suppose it happens that you go
to try on corset. While she pulls and pats
and laces the corset. the filter keeps up
a running fire of comment along these
lines: MY goodness, but you've a lovely
form. / says to Dayse. 1 says, there amt
anybody wears the new style corset like
Miss Mary. Talk about straight fronts, I
never seen anything finer. You don't need
any building out, you're just right, amt
she. Dayse?" Dayse. thus appealed to,
sures you cordially that you are lust like
the figger in the window" and this re-
mark puts you in such a pleasant frame
of mind that the frantic efforts of the fit
ter to squeeze your twenty-six-inch waist
into an eighteen-inch corset disconcert you
not in the least, and by the time you have
regained your street attire your i'll humor
has vanished like the mists Of the morn
ing. Then, possibly, you go next to select
a coat. The tall blonde young person who
waits upon you assures you that you
'just too perfectly swell for anything In
that garment" She calls you MY DEAR"
sometimes she calls you Honey" ''Of
course" the young person goes on, "those
long, loose coats are rather shapeless and
are trying, very trying. but you wear them
too stunning for anything" The fact that
while she speaks the young person is
gazing at her own charms in the long mir
ror the while she adds another layer of
pink powder to her complexion, and is
scarcely glancing in your direction. does
not materially detract from the friendliness
Of her observations. You leave the shop in
a glow of self-satisfied content
Your next visit will, no doubt. be to
madame, your milliner. Madame is an art
list in more ways than one. She meets you
at the door and her manner is all anxious
glides about with an accompanying rustic
of silk and the atmosphere in which she
moves is permeated with an odor Of trefie.
Her accent is of the cultured East. Nor for
worlds can you imagine her sounding the
vulgar ar" Somehow you family connect
her face with that of an Irish lassie who
went to the ward school with you back
in the little-girl days. The color of her
hair is different, and of course, madame is
French, but still However, you modestly
select a little gray toque. Madame throws
up her teringed hands in horror. THAT hat.
at your age, my dear? Never! Wait until
you are older" You utter a faint disclaim-
er of the implied compliment. but madame's
unblushing innocence of demeanor is reas-
suring. She produces a lovely green Gre
alton that would be overgorgeous for the
Queen of Sheba, which she assures you
she bought for you and you alone the min
ute she laid eyes on 1t in "N'yawk." She
puts it on your bewildered head and gazes
into your face and assures you that you
are sweet enough to eat. Perhaps,
though, you would prefer this blue hat.
Well. don't know, my dear. OF course this
green tint brings out all those lovely gold
en- lights in your hair, but must say that
this cornfower blue exactly matches the
color of your eyes. Yes, of course. I'll
send both of them up on approval. No
trouble at all, my dear. it is such pleas
ure to have ones pretty creations go to-
ahem, pretty people"
You go home, tired to the limit of ex-
haustion, and with the knowledge that you
have spent a good share or your allow
ance for some time to come, and with an
uneasy consciousness that everything you
have bought is too tight or too loud or
too expensive and that they will all have
to be exchanged on the morrow, but you
are blithely happy, for, Notwithstanding
the evidence of your family and your mir
ror to the contrary. you are quite per-
suaded that you are a charming and orna-
mental member of society.