Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-06
THE FADS OF WOMAN
HER MANIA FOR TRIPLES TO CARRY
IN HER HANDS.

ny DAlRNt 4llEEOESp anu SS-AAAC
RetieuIes, Vinaisrettes- and Mn2e-
Ever since civilization began, women
have always liked to have some trifie
to- carry in their hands and amuse
themselves by lingering. Men have no
such prediction. They may swing
q stick or an umbrella in the street or
put their hands in their pockets, but
they are perfectly at ease without, and
many of them very much dislike car
rying anything, be it ever so small.
Nine. de Stael, who was so well
known as a brilliant talker in days
when clever women were comparative
ly few, always carried a twig Of will
low. Without it, she had hardly a
word to say and continually dropped
the threads of what she was talking
about, but with it she declared that
the rustling of the leaves as she han
died them or waved the twig formed
an accompaniment to what she said,
and she went on fuentiy. She, how
ever, was one by herself. Very few
would care to carry the willow, and in
a general way the small objects car
ried in the hand have some semblance
of utility or even of harmony with the
toilet and surroundings.
Long ago in France ladies carried
canes. They were, indeed, in ordinary
use in the time of Robert the Pious,
for history records that his queen, Con-
stance, was on one occasion so enraged
with her confessor that she put out
both his eyes with the cane which was
her habituaI companion. What pen
ance the lady did for this rash and saw
age act is not told, but canes went
suddenly out of fashion at the French
court. Perhaps King Robert forbade
them, and a sumptuary law may have
been enacted for putting them down.
They did not reappear till the eight
zenith century, when high heeled shoes
came in. Ladies at first felt rather
crippled in them, and as they got high
err and higher canes were used to sup
port the uncertain steps of those who
wore them. High heels went out again
for a time, and women walked fat
footed, but under the second empire
they were revived, and out came the
canes. There was not beauty or a
WOLlldl VI NhoI OoS
golden period who did not walk with
al ebony gold headed stick whenever
she appeared on pier or promenade. 1t
is not at all uncommon to see lady
now with a pretty cane in the park
or in the country, but the habit is not
general enough to be called fashion
The contemporaries of Catherine de-
Medici generally wore small black
masks when they took their walks
abroad and frequently held them in
their hands while talking. Under
Louis QuatorZe ladies carried hand
mirrors in deliberately chased and dec
grated frames. Considering how the
dresses were covered with lace and
frills, what wonderful edifices the Golf
fures became and what quantities of
pearl white rouge and black patches
improved the compilations of the ma
jority, it stood to reason that a lady
liked to take every opportunity of peep
ing at herself and seeing that she was
exactly right, without a hair or patch
awry. During the same period every
woman of ton carried a small gold
snuffbox, and many of these recepta-
cles were artistic treasures, as may be
seen by those that survive and are kept
in curio tables or cabinets, and some
times the mirror was in the lid Of the
During the few years of extravagant
folly that preceded the French revolu
ton ladies used to "parfiler,'' or I'M
ravel gold fringes or military orna-
ments, and became so passionat ely fond
Of the amusement that they did it in
season and out of season The wave of
blood that swept over the land carried
away a great deal of nonsense, and
this among the rest; but. curiously
enough, it was revived in England in
the early part of the nineteenth CEN
fury and was frantically pursued by
many rich and idle women. They used
to besiege officers for their CASTOR
epaulets in the greediest manner, and
when a pound Of bullion was got to-
gether in threads and pickings it was
sold. "Parilage" neces-
STATED the carrying of satin or dam
ask bags to put the gold threads in,
and when it went out of vogue ladies |
were wearing very skinny gowns that |
did not allow of pockets, so they re-
tanned the bags and called them reti- |
cuies.
Scent bottles and vinaigrettes were |
the next favored trif1es. and serious
minded people INDUCED in more or less |
hideous bottles of Preston salts, which |
they carried to church with them and |
used to keep themselves awake during |
the long, dry sermons of the day. Then |
lnce handkerchiefs had their reign, and |
humble folks who had no lace hut de- |
sired to carry handkerchief on Sun |
days used carefully to wrap their |
prayer books up in one. In spring and |
summer posy was carried-not by |
any means nosegay or a bouquet, but |
a little bunch OF something that smell |
ed spicy-southern wood, wallfiowers, |
rlove pinks, balm and lemon thyme. |
That was the real reason why quaint |
ties of sweet herbs used to be grown /
In old foGhfopad o., rf4aps oud rnpefdar