The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-02
WELL DRESSED WOMEN.

A brilliant woman in the early annals of New England made the deeply true ob- servation, that to be appropriately and be- eomingly dressed gives one moral sup
 port supreior to the consultations of re-
 ligion, says Margaret F. Sangster in the
 Chicago Daily News. That is not exactly
 he way she said it, but it is a sufficient
 iy close paraphrase. What she meant was that woman who knows herself to be well dressed has the greatest pos sible advantage in whatever situation she is placed. It requires a tremendous amount of mental strength to triumph over conspicuously il-htting and mani festly inappropriate clothing.
 Beautiful dress is to the lady of fashion | what war paint and feathers are to the | savage chieftain. They fit her for con quest.
 ] teacher in one of the public schools, assuming charge of q class of boys who | lad baffled the disciplinary skill of sev- eral 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 capti-
 vating stocks, belts and ribbons. | You dress as nicely as if you were | going to a party" said a friend. Why | do you not wear your old clothes in | the school room?"
 | Because" came the instant answer, "I | wish to subjugate my boys without an | tagonizing them and l have proved a | good many times that a becoming gown | is great help to keeping order in the | classroom
 | Apart from any other reason for wear l ing good clothes, they pay a compliment | to ones company. It is worth while to | dress in such a way that people are happier when they look at you. | Shakespeare's dictum, "Raiment as cost l ly as the purse can buy" has good deal | to do with helping man or woman to get | on in a world which Is full of competi- | ton.
 l We sometimes think that our dress of | today is exceedingly costly. So It may l be- but we may also dress beautifully if | we choose without spending much money. 1 Southern women understand this and look bewitchingly pretty in costumes that cost only trlfe to begin with. The many ex- l quisite stuffs that are made from cotton | set off woman's beauty, particularly when she is youpng, quite as well as the richer fabrics, satin. silk and velvet l A matron Of Virginia in 1660 had a ward | robe that was fairly representative of the | times. She owned an olive-colored silk | petticoat, another of silk tabby,, another | of lowered tabby, one of velvet and one | of white striped dmity. In those days | cotton stuffs were very dear and were
 more prized than silk, so this ladys calico | gown had silk Things Her bodices were
 of striped dimity and black silk, and with | these she wore scarlet sleeves and ruff fled sleeves of linen and lace. In the cos tunes of POO years ago we find pettieoats
 of silk of various colors, jackets, man ties, aprons, hoods and separate pockets. l On the whole, tie dress was not so peau- | tiful as that worn today, though bro- l cade gown over quilted satin petlcoat | was not without it's charm.
 | The dress of men was formerly very l sumptuous and elaborate and allowed of l much more ornament than is permissible
 at present. A mans dress today is ex- | ceedingly 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 | be for the time of day, the outing, the | iaunt. or the occasion. One should not | go to dinner or a dance dressed as 1T | one were going to market, nor should l one wear to church or in any religious gathering the style of dress reserved