The Washington herald., 1914-09-15

ZION, she was forever shut in between
those high walls following the path Of
life down through the years without
ever touching the great throbbing world
Of humanity that lay just on the otheI
side.
But those days are over-the girl Of
today is not only independent, she Is q
dominant factor in the life of this coun-
try and most notably in the cities, and
the Salamanders, as Owen johnson has
dubbed them, not only sway the social
world but the business world and even
the sacred circles OF politics.
The Salamander, which started out as
the girl Of a book, has since become
not only a play, but q fashions catch
phrase that stands for youth in Amer
icai and Mr.. Johnsons quaint name for
the girl who comes from the small town
into the city, eager, curious, yet armed
with innocence, is oddly enough most
consistently backed up by no less an
authority than good old Noah Webster
himself, for In the dictionary a Sala-
mander is shown to be not merely an
amphibian SO cold that It can even put
out fire with the chill OF its body, but
a poker, a cooking utensil and molten
metal: and who can deny that the Girl
Salamander of today is able to play with
fire without burning her pretty fingers;
can be stiff as a poker II she desires;
can, II need be, cook her own meals over
convenient gas Jet, and yet is, after
ALL the molten metal from which at
last comes the mold Of fine womanhood
the mother Of future generations7
Girls of To-day.
Thus, the Salamander, capricious, in
consistent, harum-scarum as she is, vet
retains, as Mr.. johnson has said, hush
ed echoes OF retreating generations, old
memories of childhood faith" and the
strength to protect her youth and inno-
cence not with the ignorance Of the past,
but with the wide. clean knowledge of
the present.
She stands for the girl Of today in
every sense, for while there are thou
sands Of girls whose lives are protected
and watched over by indulgent parents
there are untold thousands who are Iiv-
ing alone, earning a precarious livelI-
hood in the cities and to these as well
as their more fortunate sisters fashions
are ever of interest, and Salamander
fashions stand for youthful styles this
autumn.
It is characteristic that the sala-
mander styles are almost exaggeratedly
youthful, not with the tailored simplic-
ity of the sailor suit. but with a piquant
youthfulness that Is charmingly becom-
ing.
Perhaps you remember that in the book
Dodo's first costume was Of velvet ma
terial made simply with a short skirt
and Russian blouse. and these simple
Russian blouse suits. with their straight
lines, the rolling collar Of the soft white
shirtwaist that is worn with them and
the piquant little hats Of the moment,
make the girl of twenty-five look eight
cen, and the girl of eighteen. sixteen, so
charmingly do they accentuate the youth |
and not the. age Of her.
And 1t is the youth Of her and not III |
age that should be accentuated: youth |
and the delicious audacity of the teens, |
and thus the fashions for the autumn |
for the girl all have abokt them a touch
Of daring. The splash of a vivid red |
feather on a demure little black hat, |
green enamel buttons on a simple little
frock of dull blue with plated skirt
and broad girdle OF a tie Of Roman
plaid finishing the simplicity of a soft
white blouse.
All these fashions are quite distinc-
tive from the fashions Of the older