Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-11-30

which the Romans and the Greeks and
the Hebrews or even our own ancestors
of hundred years ago in the widest
flights Of their Imagination could never
conceive or dream. No wonder all the
menus or the bills of fare Of all our
large city restaurants are printed In
foreign language. Foreign lands con-
tribute great part to all American
banquets. Thank God, japan can fur.
nish Massachusetts her rice as we'll as
Louisiana her sugar and China her tea.
A striking Picture.
But as I go and study Byam ehaw's
picture and watch that crowded room
Of the British museum l see the men
and women dressed In the most beau
tiful OF garments. OF course these gar
ments are not in up to date fashions.
They are dressed az people dressed
thirty years ago. When we say thirty
years ago we instinctively know that
the styles are old fashioned, for when
we realize that every winter Our moth
ers and wives and daughters must
have their clothes made &pver again
completely or else they feel that they
look ridiculously out Of style, then we
know that the garments Of quarter
of century ago must be out Of style
indeed. II our wives wore big sleeves
In their dresses last winter, then they
must wear very small sleeves now. II
small bonnets were their headgear last
spring, then this fall their hats must
be shaped like Mexican sombrero,
for thus DEGREES Partisan style. And
the average woman would sooner wear
a convict's garb than be out Of style.
But, though Byam Shaw's characters
were dressed in garments quarter Of
a century old. yet. like our own clothes,
they were all machine made garments
The linen came from the Belfast mills.
The woods were woven not with Pris-
cilla's spinning wheel. but by the looms
Of the Manchester factory. The silks
came from the silk mills, the kid gloves
from the kid glove factories The poke
bonnets were made in the hat factories.
The high silk hats, without which no
British aristocrat feels that he is dress
ed as gentleman, also came from the
hat factory And when we 60 through
our own wardrobes we hear machinery
humming one perpetual sentence: II
made you. l made you. made you.
made the cloth Of that coat. l made
the cloth of that dress. I made that
underwear. l made those shoes and
those hats and those gloves. made
you. l made you." And why has ma
chinery made all our clothes! For two
reasOns-tirst. because machinery can
make our clothes much cheaper than
the human hand can make them; rea-
son the second, machinery can make
those clothes much better and more
suitable for comfort and ease.
"Oh," says some cynic. II do not see
any benefit from machinery in regard
to clothes. True, the sewing machine
Is able to make six dresses for my
wife where her grandmother had only
one, but the difference between modern
times and ancient times Is no difference
in the amount Of work done. My wife
keeps saying always. I must have six
dresses SO every time l come home
from business she meets me with q re-
quest for new hat or new coat or
new dress or new pair of evening
slippers, and for my part would like
to go back to the old times when wo-
men and men did not think or talk
about dress. This talk about dress
nearly drives me insane" Would you.
my brother, like to 60 back to the old
ways and not have the comforts Of the
modern machine made garments
Well, let me see how it Ats in your
case.
Old Fashioned Clothes.
You say you like the old handmade
which, after they were made. never
wore out. How would you like your
great grandmother to knit for you a
pair Of stockings like those your great.
grandfather worei You say these
modern stockings are always getting
holes in them. Yes. they are, but there
was no danger Of your grandfathers
stockings having holes in them. Why?
They were made as thick as a bed.
quilt. Then the beauty Of them was
that, like modern Mother Hubbard
Dress they would continually stretch
and be made to ut any one. or, rather
they would never truly fit any one.
Then you grumble about your wives
and daughters always talking about
dress. oh" you say, 1T is dress
dress, dress from morning until nigh
and from night until morning whenever
the women get together" But who i.
prouder Of his wife when she is dressed
we'll than you? Are you not little
more willing to go to Thanksgiving
service when You are walking by hel
side and you think she has prettiel
winter hat on than any other woman IL
the church? DO you not feel nightly
Inundated when she does not keep her
self neat and up to date? No. l fol
one do not want to 60 back to the old
poetic times Of the spinning wheel.
do not wish my wife to wear her we'd
ding trousseau. composed OF one or two
dresses and n shawl. made SO strong
that they will last for twenty, thirty
forty, fifty years, and then have hel
will them to her children and grand
children Us family relics. For my part
I thank God for the comforts Of mod
ern dress. l thank God that for q
mere song the sewing machine and the
big factory can give Inc light garments
for summer and heavy garments to-
uyiNtor and hriOhton my EAatQr sorry