Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-03-05

ridiculously put upon by Dame Fa-
shion? Why do they now, for that
matter? In the lifetime Of a pair Of
sleeves how often do we change them
to keep up with the racing fashions :?
If women would get up a club for the
suppression Of the vice of changing
sleeves and skirts so often, it would
be the most purely philanthropic move
they could make. But they won't,
and l am diverging to sigh for the IN
attainabIe. l wonder how a man would
look wearing an otherwise conven-
tional overcoat, but with "balloon'
sleeves.
The other day was admiring a large
and beautiful diamond ''locket'' a lady
wore; she laughed and said that it was
an old-fashioned earring. Earrings
used to dangIe down in prodigious
lengths from the ears, and some of
them were no light weight to swing
from dainty ear; you would have to
look long for an old-fashioned set"
of jewelry in the shops today. Brace
lets were also considered an indispen-
sable part of attempts at elegance, and
some were made of jet beads strung
on elastic cords. Kid gloves were
ridiculously short at the wrist, and
fastened with one hook; for more
common wear there were thread or
cotton gloves, puckered into band
and "cat-stitched" across Some dear
old ladies kept on their black silk
mittS when they went out to drink tea
My dear, does your mother have a
second best dress now Of bombazine,
or Thibet, or all-wool delaine? What
color is solferino? AS for your own
winter dresses, they would have been
made with low necks and short sleeves,
and even then you would have worn d
little flannel sack or a long-sleeved
apron. Your mamma protected her
shoulders with a Sontag, garment
long since relegated to oblivion.
doubt if you could buy Shaker at a
Fifth-avenue milliner's now, but Shak-
ers were once la mode for suffering
little girls, whose poor little ears they
pinned forward and whose vision they
cut off, except when looking straight
ahead A child crossing a railroad
track was in deadly peril. Bundle
bees sought shelter under their capes,
whether of silk or Bingham, and alto
gether they had but one advantage
they were easy to trim. | doubt if ia
shion will ever call them out from a
past where they worked so much woe
You who study the birds so much
cannot classify one l know; it is made
of silver or steel perhaps, and has a
little round red velvet cushion in the
top of it's head, into which you may
stick pins ad Hbitum, with no fear Of
rebuke from the editor of Dumb Ami
mails It's wings are spread for flight
and its bill opens and shuts, but other
wise it leaves the scheme of Ornitholo-
gy behind and becomes a mere appara-
tus for screWing on to table and
holding a long seam "taut' in its bill
while you sew. The SeWing-bird has
taken flight because long seams are
weaving cloth in so many ways and
widths, but seamless sheets and tubu-
lar pillow-casing, so familiar to you,
are comparatively recent additions to
your linen closet.
Here is fluid lamp" it is extreme
ly simple in design, with no chimney,
and with a round cotton wick, whose
light was extinguished by putting a
brass cap over it; the cap (when it
had not come Off was hung to the
lamp by piece Of chain. What the
fluid" was, | do not know, but it was
used in pre-kerosene days. This scrap
of black leather is part of the top OF
an old-fashioned baby carriage before
the era of perambulatOrs; it was
drawn by means Of a handle with a
crosspiece on the end, and when the
vehicle was not in motion it rested up
on a V-shaped prong Of iron; some
times the prong. like that of a big
double tooth, broke off, and great care
had to be exercised, when the handle
was dropped, to see that the baby did
lot roll out head foremost. Not even
a self-respecting doll would be seen
riding in one today, nor could be seen,
for where could such a carriage be
found?
Surely time is long, but art is fleet
ing-happily some art AS children
we used to visit a friend who did
wax work. It seemed to me then she