The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-17
Ball G0qUns and the
NJ ON en- Who
Weav Them

| add to the train, subtract from tho
neck. divide the sleeves, multiply the
lace--and the result depends on WOO
| man, spelled with q capital.
For there are women who become
trained ball gowns. Note that the
woman In every instance should be-
come the gown. The reverse puts ths
\ gown above the woman evidently
where 1t does not belong. To become
a train a woman must know how to
manage it, and unless she be born
with such a knowledge it Is never
gained by acatiirenent It is part %
the heredity linking together the es-
sentlal generations that have formed
the wearer. while she yet lay in her
cradle. Perhaps some ancestress who
ran up the steps and made a curtsy
beside the gulIlottne, sdaintily holding
her brocade away from the dust and
/ CRIME about her. taught this far
away descendant the art that even
the mob stopped Its howlinss to adj
m,re, during the French Revolution.
Colonial Capital School.
1t Is said moreover that the
the Colonial capitals OF Virginia were
specially redolent of elegant breeding.
because OF the ease and grace with
which rnatrons and maids disposed OF
their trains That great granddauSh-
4 ters of such women have given a later
day edition OF the ballroom trinmphs
of former generations, seems as nat
ural as that they have inherited
| traditional charm OF speech and man
ner
THE subtraction from the neck" de-
ponds on the woman with vengeance.
Not unless the neck be white and
smooth and softly nodded does the
wearer become a baby waist and di-
vided sleeves. The directoire renais-
sance Is not an unmitgated blessing
to the eye. but its adoption has one
thing. to commend 1t. Womanhood at
large can no longer fail utterly to
become, In many instances, abbreviated
sleeves worn until recently during
summer irrespective of age or station.
time or place, the shopping attire of
the morning being almost the sa,re
In this respect as the diaphanous
draperies of the evening, the arlth-
metic of the latter having been mis-
appropriated to exc out the account
of the former
MuItiplieation of I3nces.
When 1.-THE multiplication of laces"
Is taken into consideration one rsckons
with satisfaction. for lace is an ad-
junct that matron and maid alike be-
come. There is point and duchesse for
the one. and Baby Irish and Valen-
ciennes for the other, and there IS
hardly ball gown with lace used III
Its makeup that blonde or brunette,
young. middle-aged or elderly. may
not with nropriety select, provided In
other respects it is harmonious
THE PASSERBY.
Elixir OF Life.
1t has always been held that women
look old and faded at an age when
men are in their prime. This no
longer holds, at least, not with those
thousands of American women who
are self-sustaining, or. having happy
homes, are also interested in matters
outside the home and themselves, says
Tho Delineator for May. But 1t obvi-
ously is true of those who settle down
to a humdrum life, combining it within
four walls, such as an only daughter
who sacrifices herself In devotion to
g. parent. and grows old long before
her time.
Get In the van with the young peo-
plo and adopt their gait. This is the
surest elixir of Life" A celebrated
phys clan IN notable address advised
his hearers (many or them old fogies)
to walk with the boys meaning that
If they wanted to keep abreast Of the
times, and do their best they must
march with tho advance guard "or be
irrevocably lost"
Contact with the world, instead OF
aging anlmates q. woman' IL puts new
life into her; it rubs off the angles
- and gives her q polish she can acquire
In no other way
The eyes Of the world are directed
at the matured women who are doing
things. She Is not a Hedging, nor
. merely pretty thing but woman of
gracious tact and wide sympathy, who
: has lived down many q bitter dis
mt appointment and crushed many sor-
30, row. but who is imbued with the OPP
H.. timistic spirit OF Young America; she
- knows that In order to do her best she
NJ must look her best she inspires old
hit and young with her youthful enthu
az sasm: she is sincerely interested In
~ every humane question of the day:
y thus unconscicusly does she cultivate
In those endearing qualities of the heart,
or tho daily exhibition of which In the
y course of years ipnparts an atmosphere
. of soft, sweet femininity. and gives to
" a woman when she reaches middle life
81 that delightful subtle spirit we call
" Charm" This is perhaps what the
wv satirical Bernard Shaw meant when he
rs asserted that no woman is possible
a until she has reached her thirty-ffth
Is year. and not worth talking to until
OF her fortieth!
's Color of GOwns.
IT. No woman is so hopeless that she
S. cannet be improved Few women in
Nv middle life realize tho value of dress
IS ing the hair suitably; for instance, a
Vn tall. sthtuesque woman observed the
au other evening, wore q mass OF puffs
an ana coils on top af her head--she
q. would have looked us classic as tho
ell Venus of Milo and twenty years
Younger had she parted it In the mid
NV die and worn it low. Then why Will
he some women accentuate their ago with
III, colors that only genuine youth can
TO carryp An old lady strutting about In
guy plumage Is a pitable sight. and
IL the middle-aged woman who neglects
'es herself. wears somher colors and IL
en- indifferent TO the effect she produces
nd upon others, Is Just as guilty. II NOE
led nore so, OF a2hreach Of good manners
to and good taste
is
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