The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-07-03
Euening Chat
The Story of a Gown.
BY RUTH CAMERON.

MY neighbor, like Flora McFlimsey,
has nothing to wear.
what" said I (like F1ora's inter
Iocutor), has become of that pretty
blue crepe?"
Mercy" said she, that's SO indie
Gently scant, 1 can't move in it.
You could last year." said /.
"Oh, but it's much scantier than 1t
was last year" said she.
I smiled.
IT know it, said she isn't it
funny? 1t really looks about half as
because I'm seeing wide skirts. Isn't
style the queerest thing that ever
Was?"
And I agreed.
We know that it is absurd to cease
to admire an attractive, becoming
gown because the lines are different
from the lines the greatest number of
people are wearing today. But some
how we just can't make our eyes see it
as they saw it yesterday. And yet the
gown hasn't changed a particle. 1t is
just as becoming, just as attractive.
Look at a picture of yourself taken
ten years ago. Do you remember how
you loved that gown? Do you remem-
Der the day you brought it home, how
smart you thought it was and how
graceful? And today how ridiculous
and awkward that gown looks. 1t
could ever have felt weH-dressed in it.
The history of a single gown-what
a range of emotions and memories it
would contain.
Start from the day the idea of the
gown was first conceived. Even before
it was materialized as an actual gown
it had a big place in your thoughts
The cut, the color scheme, the lines,
how much thought you put into them
And then there were the delicious
hours in the shops when you coquetted
with one possibility and another, and
finally made your choice and came
home elated, and then, in the reaction
which your WEAKNESS made inevitable,
regretted your decision and almost
hated the whole business.
And then the day when the gown
arrived from the shop or the dress
maker, and after trying it on and per-
hitting all the family to admire. you
took out the satin covered, sweet
scented Christmas present hanger and
hung the gown in the best clothes
press. There it hung for a few hours
until you took it out to show your next
friend, pretending to her not to think
much of it, while all the time you felt
in your heart that it was the prettiest
dress in town.
Next came the first day you wore it.
What n sense of power, what self
possession it gave you! How much
more wittily and easily than usual you
talked, They WHO say that beauty is
only skin deep should remember that
the health of the skin is the health of
the body.
How long it was before the best
dropped back into second best depend
ed on the length of something else
your purse. Sooner or later, however,
it's freshness wore off. perhaps some
thing defaced it, familiarity bred con-
tempt, and a new gown usurped it's
place on the best hanger. By-and-by
you wore it on minor occasions and no
longer felt dressed up when you put
it on. Perhaps it got second wind
from making over, but eventually the
paths of glory led in the inevitable
direction. The rag bag or the charity
bag yawned for the prey and received
it minus any salvagable portions which
were to appear later in a reincarna-
ton.
The story of gown-Sordid in some
ways, full of vanity, and yet with its
big moments and its romances. After
all, much time and money as we
would save, one can't quite wish we
were born with our clothes on like our
dunn friends