St. Tammany farmer., 1905-09-23
BY MARGARET a sANGsTER.

exactly the way she said it, but it is
sufficiently close paraphrase. What
she meant was that a woman who
knows herself to be well dressed mas
the greatest possible advantage in
whatever situation she is placed. 1t
requires tremendous amount of men,
tai strength to triumph over conspicu-
ously ill-ftttng and manifestly inap-
propriate clothing.
Beautiful dress is to the lady Of
fashion what war paint and feathers
are to the savage chieftain. They tit
her for conquest.
A teacher in one of the puolie
schools, assuming charge of class of
boys, who had baf1led the disciplinary
skill of several young ladies before
her, took especial care Of her toilet,
She arranged her hair attractively.
wore the daintiest and trimmest shirt
waists, and the most captivating
stocks, belts and ribbons
you dress. as nicely as if you were
going to party" said a friend. why
do you not wear your old clothes in
the schoolroom 2"
Because" came the instant answer.
4 wish to subjugate my boys withou.
antagonizing them, and have proved
a good many times that becoming
gown is a great help to keeping order
in the classroom.
Apart from any other reason for
wearing good clothes, they pay COM
pliment to ones company. It is worth
while to dress in such way that peo-
pie are happier when they look at you
Shakespeare's dictum: .'Raiment as
costly as thy purse can buy" has a
good dea. to do with helping man or
woman 10 get on in world which
is full of competition.
We sometimes think that our dress
Of to-day is exceedingly costly. So it
may be, but we may also dress beau
tifully il we choose without spending
much money. Southern women uude$-
stand this, and look bewitchingly
pretty in costumes that cost only a
quisite stuffs that are made from cot
ton set OF wonnan's beauty, particu-
larly when she is young, quite as we'll
as the richer fabrics, satin, silk and
velvet.
A matron Of Virginia in 1860 hal a
wardrobe that was fairly represents
tive Of the times. She owned an o:ivc-
colored silk petticoat, another OF silk
tabby, one of flowered tabby, one Of:
velvet and one of white striped dim
ity. In those days cotton stuffs were
very dear, and were more priced than
silk, SO, this lady's calico gown had
silk Innings. Her bodices were OF
striped dimity and black silk, and with
these she wore scarlet sleeves ard
ruffled sleeves of linen and lace. In
the costumes Of 200 years ago, we ind
petticoats of silk Of various coiors.
jackets, mantles, aprons, hoods and sep
arate pockets. On the whole, the
dress was not SO beautiful as that
worn to-day, though brocade sowr;
over a quilted satin petticoat was not
without it's charm.
The dress of men was formerly very
sumptuous and elaborate, and allowed
of much more ornament than is per-
missible at present. A mans dress to-
day is exceedingly comfortable and
convenient, and women with their
short skirts, broad-soled walking shoes
and neat shirt waists have little to
complain OF. The essential thing is
to be dressed as one ought to Oe for
the time of day, the outing, the jannt,
or the occasion. One should not 60 to q
dinner or a dance dressed as II one
were going to market, nor should one
wear to church or in any religious
gathering the style Of dress reserved
fora wedding, an evening party, or 4
large reception.
/ hope very much that the day may
come when picture hats and all coz
spicuous head-gear may be abandoned
for use in church. In any public az
sembly where bonnets and hats are
much in evidence it is far more agree
able to all If the hats are small, or il
they are laid in the lap Of the wear
ers. In places Of amusement this
change for the better has gradual;
been adopted, but conservative wom-
en- would almost feel that they were
committing sin II they took OF their
hats in church.
A beautiful Quaker lady whom I
saw not long ago seemed to me to
have solved the problem. She wore
q closely fitting frame covered with
gray silk, which fitted around her heaa
much like q baby's cap, and was tied
under her chin. So severe ID shis
style OF head-gear that few women
would have the courage to adopt it,
hut as most of us look much better
without hats than with them, It may
yet be possible to introduce the Gus
tom Of wearing no hats at ali in pub
lie assemblies.
One feature Of woman'a raimcnt-
her shoes deserves comment. No
woman can afford to neglect the neat
ness Of her feet. A well-6tting boot
or shoe, properly laced or buttoned
and n no way sIovenly, has great
deal to do with the aspect Of the wom-
an Who wears it. French women un-
derstand that shoes and gloves are the
really important parts Of elegant
dress.
The care Of clothes has more to do
than we think N keeping people we'll
dressed When clothing III taken an