The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-22

8he Story of Last Summers Gown.
In the days of its glory it was its
owners pride. She had achieved a dis
tinct triumph the first time she had
worn it. to the Brinckerhoff's pavilion
dance. and although everyone had new
frOcks and there were numbers of visit
ing girls she had been blissfully con-
scious Of being, if not the most elab-
Orately, at least the most effectively
gowned young woman there. She knew
Immediately that the creation" was a
success by the way the girls looked her
over and the men hocked around her.
1t may make no difference to the men,
as they are wont to declare, what a
woman wears but every woman
knows that it makes diff
ference in their treatment of
her and although an heiress or the
belle of several seasons can afford to
look dowdy occasionally, the debutante
with an eye to cotillion partners and the
other concomitants of "a successful
social career pays especial attention to
her clothes.
Betty is no heiress although. as her
small brother says with an admiration
which he can not wholly conceal by de-
rision. when she has her makeup on
she looks the part" 1t is perfectly ac-
curate to speak of Betty's toilets as
creations" because she makes them
herself Gowns. hats. lingerie, even the
EAlblOlAtly III ItL udltllN muse. SllG uOeS
them all which is the secret of how she
is always charmingly and fttingly
dressed on ridiculous allowance.
Betty has a perfect genius for clothes.
She is one Of those rare creatures who
dress picturesquely without being I'M
tidy and are Immediately neat without
being prim. Her plaquets never show,
her belts never slip up and reveal the
safety pins. her neck bands never slip
down below her collar. her skirts are
never frayed or be-draggled at the bot
tom and her shirt waists always look
as though they were fresh from the
laundry. She does her hair in picture
styles and affects careless arrangements
and wandering locks and all that sort
of thing, and yet it never looks as
though it hadn't been combed as the
other girls does Betty follows the
modes closely enough but she has ideas
of her own and somehow always looks
different from everyone else. No matter
what she wears Betty is n picture but
she is particularly fetching in her dane
ing efrocks because in the fashioning OF
these she gives full rein to fancies toe
fantastic for use on other occasions
Betty in a party gown always suggests
some sweet old-fashioned flower OF
something else poetical and adorable
But I started to tell you about the
last summers gown. AS said before il
was a dream in it's day and Betty had
been very well satisfied with the effect
when she took the last look DeIOTe snip
ping into her long white cloak to go &c
the Brinckerhoff' pavilion dance. She
felt vaguely that something delightful
was going to happen and her eyes
danced with joyous expectation. She
was deliciously happy and radiantly
pretty all evening and she always aft
EDWARDS declared that this was the very
incest party of her first season. 1t was
here she met the young lieutenant, Mrs
Brinckerhof's nephew, a tall, handsome
courtly hammered young Virginian. tive
years out Of West Point, about whom
all the girls were raving. and this dance
was the beginning Of Betty's first 70
nance and of a swiftly passing, dream
like season of happiness that followed
for the remaining three weeks of the
young lieutenant's stav in town.
One reason Betty liked her gown 81
well was that the young lieutenant
liked it too. He had an aesthetic eye
which is not particularly useful in {
military career. and dabbled little II
watercolor. and he told her she looked
like a sea-nymph in that floating greer
thing and called her Undine. Bett.