The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-06-22
JUST HOW HOLE-Y
MAY PEEk-A-ROOBE

When Congress has disposed Of the
beef scandals it may be called upon
to consider the peek-abOO waist.
The Rev. Father George NJ. A.
Schooner, of Rochester, Pa, who in
%terrupted the sermon at St. Cecelia's
Roman Catholic Church last Sunda.'
to order two women in peek-a-boo
waists from the building, has created
a precedent. He told his Pensioners
to go home and take off those bath
ing SUITS" adding: This is a church,
not a bathing house."
The attention of purity organi-
! cations is hui %pointedly directed to
! a threatening evil, and legislation may
presently be demanded to prescribe
the number and size of the holes in
| the Lingerie" waists, which shall Hd-
| NIT the breezes and incidentally at
ford tantaliZing views Of the shoulders
of the wearer.
: Since the hue and cry over open
! work hosiery, which began with the
merest pin-pricks and has now come
| to a finish no thicker than a face veil
the matter of our national mOdesty
has had some fearful shocks in wo-
mans wear. Mere nan might have
worn open-wOrk socks and peek-a-
boo shirts till the crack of doom, and
no one would have credited him with
more than an ingenious desire to keep
cool. But the vision of pink plump
ness throgh these ri~de-and-seek ar
rangements which meet you on all
types of the female form divine Is "a
horse of a different color"
Had Father SchOerner been con-
versant with preSent-day fashions he
would have realized that, as a matter
of fact, he was casting an undeserNed
aspersiOn on the bathing suit in COM
pairing it with the p~eek-a-boo. The
bathing dress of today is infinitely
more discreet than woman's street
garb. OF silk or mohair, it exposes
only the throat. It reaches below the
knee, the black stockings are without
an aperture, and the arms are Gov
cred half way quite to the elbow.
Set this demure figure of a girl in
cut out embroidery waist and MARI
the difference.
LARGE CHUNKS CUT OUT.
The linen is cut out in large chunks
to accommodate the design n b e.
feet is luminous. A large leaf of warm
ly tinted flesh is charmingly outlined
in eyelet embroidery, or a piece Of
satin skin looms up as he center or Il
rose. If it is a conventional pattern,
you have flesh formed in squares snG
angles. More often-and by far the
most piquant-it is Just holes; holes
that have increased in dimensions
through the seasons; holes that give
you Kaleidoscope and embarrassing
visions. You gasp at impending rev.
elations.
At first the excursions into the peek
a-boo were as mild as the first open
work stockings. In the summer Of 300
ii was confined TO a modest little yoke
which outlined a pretty girls neck and
gave such feeting glimpses of the in
terror decoration that it was hailed rs
a positive inspiration. Our descent has
beer rapid: BY 1902 we had adopted
graphic openwork border to the yoke
which left in a question no flight. The
year 1904 found us with VS. hat stray
ed to unaccustonled depths and apollo
g1Zed for themselves with large blue
bows ON the lingerie beneath. By 1905
we had arrived at panels" with is
lands of modes1y between, and in the
present year Of grace We have ALI
overs-an occasional dot on the open
work to save the situation. The sleeves
have risen from elbow length half way
the shoulder.
NOW THE OPENWORK CORSET.
But this is not all! Some genius
doubtless TO keep pace with the times
has introduced the open-work corset.
We now only await shredded lingerie
before the fashions Of the FIJI Islands
belle are accurately followed. Law or
the brown-tailed moth alone car save
us!-New York World.