Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-02-05
NOT AN UNPLEASANT
WAY TO SERVE OUR
COUNTRY.


way Of conserving coal. At any ratio,
wc have been told that she who
vesre,h wool in abundance u robbin &
the soldiers OF their due. or words to
that effect, and though there has been
no actual restriction as TO the amount
OF wool that may bc ueed In q single
frock or suit. somo OF the leading
manufacturers OF women's clothes re-
fusc TO accept models that call for
more wool than . minimum amount
set for their own standard.
Tho conclusion Is that II is our duty
TO wear silk. and 20 silk has been
doomed and advocated TO an extent
quite unprecedented. The shops are
full OF silks OF exquisite texture and
designs enough to satisfy the most
particular. There Is no one special
kind OF silk most In favor. for all
kinda OF silk are seen. silks that arc
soft and ciingins and silks that have
body and crispness. silks that arc
transparent and silks that are thick
enough TO make q substantial cloak,
silks that simmer and silks that
glis,en. silks that are subdued In tone
the rainbow.
TIL within decade or 80 ago
silk frock was always synonymous
With a best frock" and all little girls
a generation ago used TO suppose that
only princesses wore silk dresses FOR
"eyery day" The young lady famed
in nursery rhyme who sat on
cushion and sewed fne seam and
fed upon straw berries. sugar and
cream. perhaps showed her luxurious
ness 10 little girls once upon \ time
moro because II was also said of her
hat she wore silk dress than be-
,ause she had sugar and cream on her
strawberries-tha thing that would.
4t - ..p.c-s us most nowadays.
B1t though silk has been regarded
8 one OF the most precious OF fabrics,
It's culture is by no means a novelty,
Tor the records In China have IL that
u VAS first woven by lady named
Si-Ling. the wife of the Emperor
HoanE-Tf. some 2.60O years before
the Christian era-that Is, 500 years
ego.
IL was. OF course. from the Orient
dent, and II Is from there that we
stu import many attractive kinds OF
silk, though we are fast catching up
for lost time IN the manufacture Of
silks. American silks are In some
ways quite superior TO those OF the
East. SILK WAS introduced into Eng
land, II IS said. eome 100 years ago,
but IL was never as cheap or as plen-
tifui as fax. wool or. later. SIS cotton
fabrics. Like the color purple, silk
was usually more or less restricted
in use TO royal personages or. at
least, TO persons OF high rank. One
monarch who reigned in England In
early colonial days passed 8 law
against the use of silks entirely.
About a hundred years ago silks
had become pretty we'll popuiarized
both IN this country and In England
and were used more extensively than
they wore later. About the time OF
our own Civil war II was not upcom-
mon for women TO have light silk
dresses that they wore TIL they be-
came soiled and then have them dyed
a darker color for common wear to
enough. after the introduction Of al
paca in about 1s40, silks began 10
fall OF in popularity. Queen Victoria
was extremely fond OF alpaca and her
royal favor helped IL to popularity.
Moreover, alpaca and some OF the bet
ter sorts of cotton and wool better
adapted themselves 20 the fashions
then In vogue-at least. silk had no
special sarto-ial advantage over these
coarser fabrics.
The demand for ciinging and soft
effects that are so generally charac-
teristic OF fashions nowadays has con-
siderable 10 do with the enormous In
crease in our use OF silks. Needless
20 say. any patriotic measure that re-
Cuired the women OF the land to give
up silks would cause more havoc than
one that puts ban on wooden.
The prediction is made that the
vogue for silk gingharns Will be even
greater than the vogue for cotton
ginghams was last year. The SILK
gingham dress will have az much OF
al air OF smartness az did its proto-
type-thAt OF cotton-last year. But
Eiderabiy more expensive than that OF
cotton will keep them from the posi-
oiliiy OF becoming what every smart
dress tends TO become eventually
too popular. The silk gingham frocks
viii be made well because Of the fact
that the material is fairly expensive
and likely TO wear we'll. for this silk
is especially durable and will 20
through hard season in spite OF It's
delicate appearance.
The separate silk gingham skirt in
plaid or checked design worn with q
white lingerie blouse and g sweater
o, some hue to go we'll with the skirt
10 bound to be smart Com nbination
sor spring and summer wear. Slip
IN epeaters, often made Ia the sleeve
ese model, are TO be very popular
sorn with separate skirts this year.
often they have ribbing that extends
rom the bottom for foot. To pre-
vent any drawing across the bust and
o permit OF the display Of blouse
lries. these new sweatefs-or the
ea est Of them-are left open to
ithin fre inches Of where the RIB
bing ends off They look best when
worm With a fairly wide belt, either