The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-17
THE TRAGIC SIDE OF
BEING WELL DRESSED
Easier Sometimes to Talk Of Being
Well CIoved and We'll Shod
Than to Achieve Il.
by FRANCES sHAFFER.


1t is very simple, just a matter Of care"
No, that is not advice to the yotaries
of fashion. simply well-meant warn
ing to the less prosperous woman wage
Garner. And one wonders how she takes
Ii.
Because. while IL may be quite simple
to the woman who never has found 1t
necessary to earn a slice Of bread and
butter in her whole life, and perhaps
could not II she tried, ii is not so easy
to the other woman who must think
OF room rent, of board bill and few
other necessities before there is any
chance for the luxury of well-fitting
gloves and smart-looking shoes.
She knows all too well that gloves
and shoes tell an eloquent story, and Bit
ter experience has told and re-told her
that personal appearance counts nightly
with those who must work for a living.
But no one knows better than she that
il is not so simple as il sounds. When
the weekly bills have all been paid there
may be. upon a pinch, barely enough
left to buy pair of gloves, out the
shabby shoes must be shabby still for
many a weary day. And then, when the
shabby shoes are happily replaced, the
new gloves are through at the fingers
And so it goes with the woman whose
wage is dishearteningly small.
sound. simple.
And, YOU know, these well-meaning
folk who never earned dollar in their
lives, tell her to buy zone good tailor
made suit and plenty of shirt waists.
And that sounds delightfully."- simple, very
practical, quite suitable and all that.
But, deary me, the poor woman, with
her mind on the tailor-made suit and her
fingers clutching fiat, nat purse soon
learns, much to her sorrow, that a gooo
tailor-made suit is far simpler TO dream
about than to buy. For the matsrials
that come within her means shrink at
the first rainfall, or they wear up rough
or do something else that good tailor
made suit never would be guilty of do
ing.
And plenty of shirt waists" Now,
doesn't that seem perfectly easy, ana
as smart as smart can be? If only laun-
dry work might be done upon WISH:
But everybody knows II cannot ana
everybody knows that the woman whose
wage is down to a pretty low notchscan-
not snare many dollars, or many dimes,
for the laundering of smart white waists.
To those who have just a fair amount
of money to spend, the ADVICE, quite
likely. falls upon needless ears, out
among the low-paid sisterhood the wom-
en- with pride at hIgh-tide and FUNDS al
low ebb there is a sort of protest, be
cause it sounds as if il were all mat
ter of caring.
And the fact is though there are mtch |
worse things than being poor and earn
ing a very low wage. there is hint ot
tragedy in the problem of clothes for the |
woman whose dress ambitions soar pref |
ty high and whose possibilities are down
to almost rock-bottom.
For while her ambitions may be called |
+h i,1cf irnt n
the glory of purple and fine linen seems
10 he born in mankind.
And say what we like, il makes a
mi~htv diffe renee, the clothes we wear
and how We wear them.
Two Remarkable Pictures.
Awhile ago two pictures we're shown
of Ethel BARRYMORE. the actress. whose
beauty and charm are acknowledged. in
the one she was an undeniably pretty
woman. daintly gowned in the most
graceful of summer frocks, with nothing
missing to add to her charm and nothing
added to draw from ii.
In the other the artist had shown her
as poor working wonan-and she
looked IT, Study her face. and the same
features were there: but somehow the
shabby dress. the worn, ill-fitting coat,
and the pathetic out-fashioned hat were
81 tragically ugly that one scarcely
thought Of the features. 1t was the same
hair. arranged in the self-same way, but
what q difference in the hats that were
~ rched upon il. The feet that in one
picture looked trim and pretty, in the
other spoke volumes On poverty; and the
hands that in one seemed eXquisitely
dainty, arily lingering a light parasol,
in the other. clutching an unwieldly
bundle. looked heavy, work-worn, and
that was all.
Yet the feet and the hands were the
same,
And that is where the tragedy of dress
GENES in.
quite likely there is many a woman in
the social world who feels that life is
pretty unequal because her allowance
for dress does not permit her to vie
with those around her in the splendor
Of Jewels and other adornment. But no
body thinks that she is given a serious
look AT the tragedy of dress for to the
ma jority of the world she is more than
well gowned,' i'm spite of her fewer
jewels
The Rcaf Tragedy.
But the real tragedy strikes home, II
tragedy il may be called, when the
woman, whose personal appearance
counts in the earning Of dollars, finds
fingers persistently peeping from we'll
mended gloves, shoes well past the stage
of repairipG-and no money in her pocket
to replace them.
Yes, it is right easy to talk about al
ways being well gloved and well shod.
but il is not so easy to achieve il. And I
as for me. ] sometimes wonder at the
moral courage of some women who take
their modest wage, wear their ill-ltting
gowns and their hats of many seasons
before, and never show sign OF any,
thing but bravery.
to be So the &orld has a way of show
ing a very smiling face and quite warm
hearted hospitality to the woman who
wears a well-cut gown, and it seems to
be an eloquent sort of passport wherever
she goes. While the woman a bit rag
taggy and worn may find doors sharply