Evening star., 1918-03-24
BY ANIME R1TTENHousE.

o7 oOMEN are of many minds con-
NAX cerning clothes. Some insist
\N\V that they will have every
" thing made in the house, CIV
ing the seamstresses chance to hVe'
Shat they will study the best fashions
for inspirational work in their own
beving rooms.
Others insist that they will spend this
spring altering clothes that are almost
as good as new. while others say tha'
Il is patriotic to spend.
It Is quite well that there are seq
ments of differing thought The con-
tinent is so full of women that they
can group themselves into thousands OF
units, each with but a single purpose.
and everybody will be benefited
America is quite too large to be gov
armed by one scheme of work in wom-
ems apparel Let the shops. the dress
makers and the seamstresses have their
reward Let each woman act according
to her own conviction, and do what is
best in her own eyes If she must save
money, then she must work out
schedule to do 1t. If she wants 10
that she may broaden out generously in
war relief work let her go to 1t with
the blessing of the government and her
friends
But of one thing let every woman he
certain: That we are not going to a.
as a unit in this problem of cloth'
ourselves for spring.
Some of the best ways in which -
tried to save, under the leadership O.
those who preached and taught and
tofled, have proved vain. This was not
due to insincerity or unwise propa-
!xanda. but to the fact that as a nation
we allowed our emotions and feelings
to govern us too entirely for whlie,
and did not reckon the cost Or rather.
IT might be said, that we reckoned
nothing but the cost in actual dollars
and cents, and that we oio not fechon
with a result
Many creeds have been preached, ad-
fAered to and forSaken in the first year
t.of the war It was so with all the other
ibelligerents; it was to be expected that
st would be SO with US. However, no
matter what the failures have been the
spirit. the conscience and the morality
have been improved by the effort
Every woman does not see economy in
the same way. 1t would be foolish,
therefore. to preach the same sermon to
the mass. There is no doubt that sew
eraI thousands of women are debating.
1ng effort at sacrifice. this question of
spring costumery. but, far as the
prophet can see into the future business
will not suffer by this discussion.
There will be hundreds Of gowns re-
modelled in the sewing rooms of homes;
there will be thousands of gowns bought
for less than fifty dollars by women who
once paid over one hundred for them:
there will be a revival of Individual
work on clothes. and less will be left
to the shops and the dressmakers; but
there is enough money in this country
and sufficient need and desire for spend
ing to have every one made easy and
comfortable.
AS for the business of altering
clothes at home, words of wisdom and
Kindness should be said in favor of it.
Much can be done to augment a ward
robe in this manner: but there will al
ways remain the necessity for one new
costume, no matter how earnest
worker the sewing woman may be-
1t will not be an easy season for her
who contemplates Transforming her old
clothes into new ones. At first glance
she may think that things have re-
manned much as they were. but as the
season advances she will find that the
changes have been drastic
The French have subtly inserted into
1very garment, and every detail of the