The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-29

You women always judge another
woman by her clothes,'' said the man
scornfu1ly.
and why not - 1 asked. There's
no better criterion. A woman gets
her politics from her husband; her
theology from her preacher, and her
opinions from her acquaintance, but
her clothes and her way of wearing
them are her own.
IF men," 1 SAID, Thought women
as well worthy of study as women
think men are, you would long ago
have found out that our clothes con-
stitute a whole signal code for your
guidance. We are always wig-waS-
ging to you with this kind of dress.
or that sort of a scarf or ribbon,
but you have never taken the trouble
to learn the key and find out what 1t
all means. The loss is yours.
"Observe, for example, how much
unpleasantnesS n married man might
witching hour when madame has
donned her most becoming frock, and,
consequently, her most melting and
forgiving moods, when he has to
make to her unpleasant communica-
tions about the size of her bills or the
necessity of her staying at home this
summer. Instead of that, he blurt5
it out when she has on a wrapper
and every signal is hung out for rough
and squally weather.
'Wha a 0lIIeTeHl duSNci even
laundering Tom might have gotten if,
instead of proposing to Belinda in the
morning when she had on her tailor
made frock and felt amply able to
take care of herself and tote her own
latch key, he had only waited until
evening when the very fr&gility and
J perishability of her chiffons would
suggest to her that it is not good for
woman to be alone in life and have
| to pay for her own frills.
| who was that MISUNDERSTANDING,
wasn't ito-who could take a single
bone and from it constitute the ami
NAL to which it belonged ?? con
| tinued Women can beat that. 1t
doesn't take more than one fleetinS
glance back over our shoulder to en-
able us to tell to what type woman
belongs, just by her clothes.
Take for instance, the genuine
shirt waist girl. 1 don't mean the
woman who wears shirt waist IKE
| meal sack. nor that miserable SUD-
| terfuge who wears ribbons around her
neck in place of a collar. 1 mean the
genuine thing. The woman who can
put on the ugliest and most trying
garment ever devised and give it a
! style that makes everybody else look
slipshod and dowdy- Her skirt always
| hangs exactly so. Her collars are al
ways immaculate. Her tie has just the
| correct set, her shirtwaist is always
pulled down taut and tight, and a
shirt waist that stays down is a final
| triumph of mind over matter, and of
looks over comfort, that is nothing
short of heroic.
| 1.-The woman who achieves that is
sure to be methodical and orderly in
all her ways. She will never run off
after fads. Her views will be correct
and she will manage her husband and
her children and see that they walk
| in the orthodox way of which she
approves. She puts appearances be-
| fore comfort, and her house will be
furnished with sofas and chairs too
good to use. She makes a thrifty
wife. a good mother and a satisfac
tory friend who always keeps you at
discreet distance. For the young
man who is seeking to rise in the
world, should highly recommend the
genuine sinirtwaist girl as a wife.
The woman whose clothes always
look as if they had been thrown at
her with a pitchfork is the exact OPP
posite One look at her tells the
story She wears soiled fnery, so you
know she isn't dainty She is lazy
and slovenly Her clothes are mussy
because she will take neither the time
nor the trouble to care for them or
put them on properly. In character.
she is generous and good natured.