The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-04-06

EtHhL WHICH mas only tne name. Inc
Ibeauty and poetry Of existence lie in
1.-THE understanding we have Of II. Our
Ihome, our table, our dress, should be
1.-THE interpreters of intentions. That
these intentions be so expressed 1t is
E6rst necessary to have them, and he
hwho possesses them makes them evi-
kdent through the simplest means. One
Rneed not be rich TO give grace and
Echarm to his habit and his habitation.
1t sutices to have good taste and good
Twill. We come here to a point very
important to everybody, but perhaps
tof more interest to women than to
linen.
Those who would have women con-
Tceal themselves In coarse garments OF
the shapeless uniformity OF bags vio-
late nature in her very heart and mis-
understand completely the spirit Of
things. II dress were only precau-
tion to shelter us from cold or rain a
piece of sacking or the skin of beast
would answer. But II Is vastly more
than this. Man puts himself entire
into all that he does. He transforms
into types the things that serve him.
The dress is not simply covering; 1t
is symbol. call to witness the rich
Towering Of national and provincial
costumes and those worn by our early
corporations. A woman's toilet, too,
has something to say to us. The more
meaning there 10 In It the greater its
worth. TO be truly beautiful 1t must
tell us Of beautiful things, things per.
sonal and veritable Spend all the mon
ey you possess upon It; II Its form IL
determined by chance or custom, II II
has no relation to her who wears It, It
il only toggery, domino. Ultra fash.
pnabIe dress, which completely masks
feminine personality under designs OF
pure convention, despoils 1t of Its prln-
apal attraction. From this abuse 1t
tones about that many things which
women admire do as much wrong to
heir beauty as to the purses OF their
husbands and fathers. What would
Fou say OF young girl who expressed
Heed but taken word for word from a
phrase book? What charm could you
Ind In this borrowed language? The
effect of toilets well designed In them
selves, but seen again and again on
I'll women Unfortunately, Is precise
/ " the same.
cannot resist citing here passage
from Camille Lemonnier that harmo-
nizes with my idea:
I Mature has given to the fingers of
woman charming art, which she
knows by instinct and which is pecul-
larly her own, as silk to the worm and
lacework to the swift and subtle spi-
der. She Is the poet, the interpreter OF
her own grace and ingenuousness, the
spinner of the mystery In which her
wish to please arrays itself. All the
talent she expends in her effort to equal
man In the other arts Is never worth
the spirit and conception wrought out
through a bit OF stuff In her Hkillful
hands.
h ,"Well, wish that this art were more
honored than 1t Is. As education should
consist In thinking with ones mind,
feeling with ones heart, expressing the
little personalities of the inmost, invis-
ible (which, on the contrary, are
repressed, leveled down, by conformi-
ty-I would that the young girl In her
novitlate of womanhood. the future
mother, might early become the little
exponent of this art of the toilet--her
own dressmaker, In short-she who one !
day shall make the dresses of her chill |
dren, but with the taste and the gift |
to improvse, to express herself In that |
masterpiece of feminine personality |
and skill, gown, without which wo-
man Is no more than bundle Of rags"
The dress you have made for your
self is almost always the most becom-
ing and, however that may be, 1t is
the one that pleases you most. Wom-
en- of leisure too often forget this;
working women also in city and coun-
try alike. Since these last are cos
tuned by dressmakers and mllliners
In very doubtful imitation OF the mod
ish world, grace has almost disappear
ed from their dress. And has anything
more surely the gift to please than the
fresh apparition of young working
girl or daughter Of the fields wearing
the costume of her country and beau
tiful from her simplicity alonef
These same reflections might be ap-
piled to the fashion Of decorating and
arranging our houses II there are tot
lets which reveal an entire conception
of life, hats that are poems. knots of
ribbon that are veritable works OF art, ]
so there are interiors which after their
manner speak to the mind. Why, un-
der pretext of decorating our homes,
do we destroy that personal character
which always has such valuef Why
have our sleeping rooms conform to
those Of hotels, our reception rooms to
waiting rooms, by making predomi-
nant uniform type of official beauty2
What pity to go through the
houses OF city, the cities OF country,
the countries of vast continent, and
encounter everywhere certain forms
Identical, inevitable. exasperating by
their repetitlonl How aesthetics would
gain by more simplicity! Instead OF
this luxury In Job lots, all these deco
ratIOns, pretentious, but vapld from
iteration, we should have an infinite
variety; happy improvisations would
strike our eyes, the unexpected In
thousand forms would rejoice our
hearts, and we should redlscover the
secret of lmpressing on drapery or
a piece of furniture that stamp OF hu.
man personality which makes certain
antiques priceless.
Let us pass at last to things simpler
still; mean the little details OF house.
keeping which many young people OF 4
our day find so unpoetlcal. Their con- a
tempt for material things, for the hum ),
BILE cares house demands, arises from !,
1 confusion very common, but none the =
less unfortunate, which comes from =
he belief that beauty and poetry are !
within some things, while others lack n