The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-06-08
FACTS ABOUT SHOWERS
A PROVINCIAL FORM OF ENTER,
: TAINMENT MUCH IN VOGUE
The Bride Is Asked What She Wants
and Friends Shower Her With Hand
kerchiefs, Stockings or Linen-The
Weather Man for Showers

What a remarkable form of enter
tainment is a shower AS there may
be benighted reader of this page here
or there who does not know what a
shower is, let me say that within the
last few years when a girl is to be
married. some friend of hers will give
a "shower" for her which is an after
noon affair to- which her most intimate
friends come bringing gifts of various
kinds 1t is a sort of glorified dona-
ton party If it is a linen shower the
friends arrive with doilies, center
pieces, towels, napkins, even sheets and
pillow cases. Sometimes there is
stocking shower which helps the trous-
seau; or kitchen shower provides her
with pots and pans. All of this seems
slightly provincial and one would i'm
agine the bride would put on her invi-
tations: Friends will kindly omit
showers as is put in the paper for
funerals with change of a letter or two.
1t must be quite embarrassing to go to
one of these donation parties. 1 re-
member seeing st. Paul bride going
home from an affair of this sort a year
or two ago. She and friend were
carrying between them a huge clothes
basket weighted down with the things
which had been showered upon her.
OF course there is a difference in peo-
pies tastes; some persons might like
showers very much and others not at
all
A very alarming variety of shower
was mentioned in the social column of
a paper in a small town recently which
recorded that Miss Mayme Brooks
was the recipient of a household uten-
sill throw on Tuesday. One hopes that
8Fayme was not badly hurt, but it
makes one shudder to think of the
danger involved in a throw of that de-
scription A throw is evidently the
masculine of shower, and probably a
mistake was made and the throw was
intended for the happy groom. Of
course few grooms would object, when
about to enter the holy bonds of mat
rimony, to having household furniture
thrown at them, for it is sometimes
the. very lack of Wherewithal to pur-
chase furniture which prevents the
contamination of their hopes. So a
throw under some circumstances would
be very acceptable to the groom, and a
shower Invaluable to the bride. Mat.
rimony should be encouraged, even if
one has to be married at the state fair
with the furniture coming in the shape
OF a throw.
Showers may, of course, be of all
kinds and frequently the bride is asked
whether a handkerchief, stocking, glove
or linen shower will be the most ac-
ceptable. Then she takes account of
stock of what she has, and what she
has heard her friends say they are go
ing to give her, and if she finds
deficit in the dolly line, she intimates
that shower of linen would be hap
py thought. That is the nice thing
about shower; you can have any
thing you please. A hat shower would
not be a bad sort, but it might tax the
purses of ones dearest friends, so it is
not often done. OF course the Wander
bilts and Astors could have one, and
probably 10 have them, as well as dia-
mond, pearl and ruby showers, not to
mention silver soup tureen showers and
other little things of the same kind.
But for a steady thing, old reliable
in the matter of showers, give me the
present weather man. Some one should
intimate kindly to him that he has
done his part in the rain shower bust
ness, and ask him for a change to give
us a throw of bright sunshine and
warm days; he can't hit us too hard.