The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-11

least. I know one woman who moves in Court circles who has velvet gown twenty-six years old. That and sev- eral of her brocaded costumes will probably be handed down to the next
 generation.
 English women are as fond of the durable In dress goods as in furniture and their clothes last forever. The American woman on the other hand, no
 matter how handsome the material of
 her costume may be, gets tired of the thing and won't look at 1t after the sec ond season-sometimes not less after the first.
 She sends for a dealer in second hand clothes and disposes of gowns. cloaks and hats almost for a mere song and then goes and orders some new ones. That Is mainly why the American woman is gaining the reputation of be- ing the best gowned in the world. Her clothes are always perfectly fresh. or almost so, and in the latest style. Nothing makes me and many other New Workers groan louder than to be obliged to wear q made over gown. But my sister, who lives abroad for two and three years at a stretch, Is getting to be quite English in her clothes habits. She has a velvet gown which Is now In its seventh year and her opera cloak wD1cn cost SbUU, W llE ldSl lleE and she is yet under 40.
 Tn my opinion Englishmen are stingy about paying for their wives clothes, and were it not that most English wo- men have estates or private fortunes of their own 1 am sure l don't know how they would manage. At dinner attended in London last winter the Englishman who took me in descanted with favor on the attractiveness or the American girl. and he added: "T think almost all Engllshmen ad- mire her immensely.
 "'Ehy is it. then, I asked. that so few Englishmer of means ever select an American girl for wife unless she Is very rich?
 " They cant afford it, he answered; seriously and fully meaning it. Amer ican women are so extravagant in their dress, you know.
 That man had never been to the United States, yet he seemed to know all about our women.
 What did I reply to that? Why' simply that Englishmen were quite right to avoid matrmony with Ameri-
 cans unless they were willing to pony up handsomely for dry goods. Then l gave him a dig by saying: American men. you know, are aw- fully generous at that sort of thing. " 'YeS, the WnOle Ine
 fashionable woman spends more on
 her clothes than the English woman spends" admitted leading New York dressmaker who for years was con nected with a prominent English firm.
 q am not sure, though. that she is a more profitable customer to the private dressmaker than English women, for
 this reason-English women of the higher class seldom or never go shop ping They don't run from shop to shop, like the Americans, pricing ma terials and picking up bargains, "When they want costume they go
 to an establishment and give their or
 der and without beating down the price
 If they can't afford certain priced
 gown or cloak they quietly ask to be
 shown something cheaper.
 New York women are great at beat
 ing down prices. and several of the
 very wealthiest I know are the sharp
 est at a bargain. The American woman
 throws away a lot of money for novel,
 ties in wearing apparel that an English
 woman would pass by without a glance,
 consequently when 1t comes right down
 to a question of elegant gowns I don't
 think she is any more extravagant than
 the other.
 The London woman's motto is more
 apt to be few, but the best whereas
 the New Yorker wants variety and if
 she could she would have a different
 gown for every day in the year.
 Because she does so little shopping