The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-11-05

destruction of their own credit and
good name. For they openly show
their admiration of women's clothes
more than the women clothed-that IS
to say they are more easily captured
by art than nature. No group Of male
hatterers is ever seen round a woman
whose dress is unstylish or otherwise
'out of date" She may have the
sweetest face in the world, the purest
nature and the truest heart, but the
dressed woman, the dyed, the artist
icaIIy faxed" woman will nearly al
ways score a triumph over her so far
as masculine appreciation and atten-
ton are concerned.
The faxed" woman has everything
on her side. The drama supports her.
The press encourages her. Whole col
unlns IN seemingly sane journals are
devoted to the description of her at
tire. Very little space is given to the
actual criticism of a new play as a play,
but any amount of room is awarded to
glCrifed 'gushers, concerning the ac-
tresses' gowns. OF course it has to be
borne in mind that the writing up" of
actresses gowns serves double pur-
pose. Firstly, the creators" of the
gowns are advertised, and may in their
turn advertise,-Which in these days of
multitudinous rival newspapers, is a
point not to be lost sight of. Secondly,
the actresses themselves are advertised,
and certain gentlemen with big noses
who move behind the scenes and are
the nneal descendants of Moses and
Aaron. may be thereby encouraged to
speculate in theatrical shares"
Whereas criticism of the play itself
does no good to anybody nowadays.
not even to the dramatic author. For
if such criticism be unfavorable. the
public say it IS written by a spiteful
enemy.-if eulogistfc, by a friend at
court" and they accept neither verdict.
They 20 to see the thing for them
selves and If they like 1t they keep on
going If not. they stay away, and
there's an end.
But to the gowns there is no end.
The gowns, even in an unsuccessful
play are continuously talked of, con-
tinuously written about, continuously
sketched in every part of pictorial
small and great fashionable or merely
provincial And the horid language
or shall we say the fine writing ?f-
used to describe clothes generally, on
and off the stage. is so Tavingly SEN
timental, so beWilderingly turgid, that
it can only compare with the fervid
verbosity of the early eighteenth cen
turv rornancists, or the biting sarcasm
Of Thackeray's fBook of Snobs,' from
which the following passage, deserip-
tive of Miss Snoblzy's" presentation
gown, may be aptly quoted:
"Habit de Cour composed Of a yell
low nankeen illusion dress, over a slip
Of rich pea-green corduroy, trimmed en-
sprouts, the body and sleeves hand
sonaeIy trimmed with calimanco, and
| festooned with q pink train and white
radishes. Head-dress, carrots and lap
pets"
By way of a modern pendant to the
above grotesque suggestion one ex-
tract from q lengthy clothes article
recently publish ed in a daily paper gvin
suffice:
Among the numerous evening and
dinner gowns that the young lady has
in her corbeille, one, a rImperatrice
Eugene, is very lovely. The founda-
ton is of white Liberty with a tuIle
loverdress on which are four hounces
of Chantilly lace arranged in zig-zags,
connected together with shaded pink
gloria ribbons arranged in waves and
Vreaths. This is repeated on the low