Evening star., 1916-12-24
By ANNE RITTENHoUsE.

By ANNE R1TTENHOUSE.
o0 0HEN Mr.. Tarkington's Penrod
wv Illumination %ss' 'Hss s' sss s:'ss ss"''s s.@ %!
" PEELED to appear at festival
In costume evolved by his mother
from his fathers neither garments he
symbolized the grief of every child.
A poor relation may feel sensitive
over appearing in the half-worn
clothes of the rich who never discard
these clothes until the fashion for
them is entirely past, and a woman OF
slight means may feel Respondent over
having to wear last seasons gown with
the sleeves that are wrong and the col
lar that is not right, but this is only a
leaf of sorrow in forest of grief as
compared to what a child feels wearing
garments left over and cut down.
*
Booth Harrington must have gone
through some such tragic experience
of the soul when he was young. and
in doing so he only shared the expert
ence of thousands of other boys who
feel that life can never offer them SO
bitter a cup as to be humiliated by
their clothes in the presence of fasci-
mating young petticoats, whose own
ers they hope some day to marry.
1t is curious psychological fact that
little girls are insanely anxious to wear
their older sisters finery and that little
boys dread being the victim of their
elder brothers cast-off garments.
There is no moment of more delight
full glee to the boy of ten who can
stick out his tongue at his brother of
eight and say, You've got on my
clothes that are too little for me-" And
1t takes a soul full of the philosophy
which life rarely grants to the young
to be able to say in answer, What if
/ have?"
The psychology of chiIds nature is
that 1t adores the idea of dressing like
that grown-up's clothes cut down to its
own measure There is a great differ
ence between the two.
A girl masquerading in train and
q boy in his first long trousers are the
high-water levels of pride and gratifi-
cation that come to people between the
cradle and the grave. You may think
that life will offer you something as
exquisite as that stolen moment when,
asa little girl of ten, you dressed
yourself up like sister going to a ball.
with your hair on top your head and
a train swishing behind like an angry
snake. the mirror rejecting your pride.
but life does not offer any better mo-
fuents than that. 1t may try to do it,
but that first fine, careless rapture is
gone.
girl. A nation may make him it's Pres
fdeht, a great corporation may elevate
him to its head and literature may
Claim him as it's chief delight, but no
fn tic
being the ecstasy of his first long
trousers. starched collar, real crayat
and pockets.
In the ever fascinating history of
dress. which has reflected morals. man
ners. epochs. battles and religions-and
reflected them in such a way that ap-
parei has become a symbol of the
worlds ups and downs-the role of
Juvenile dress has only recently been
placed Throughout all the centuries
children from the cradle to maturity
were dressed according to adult
methods. 1t would be well il some one
would write an authentic and readable
story of Juvenile fashions. Few of US
know just when they started and what
Was the historic or moral impulse that
lnaQenced a nation to look out for its
young. sartorially speaking. Much has
been written. good and bad. on the i'm
porfance of all fashions, as SYM
bolic Of world movements, but no au-
thorfty seems to have taken the trou-
BILE to specialize on a really interesting
part Of this history, which is the dress
ing of children.
A great specialist said the other
night that the two important things
that have happened in the world dur
ing the last century are the decrease of
infant mortality and the increase of
sense in dressing infants. He did not
say that one was dependent upon the
other, but he elaborated on these two
facts as being factors in the upward
swing of life on this planet 1t was he
who suggested the a1luring possibili-
ties in a comprehensive book on chill
dren's clothes and the part they played