The sun., 1918-09-01

1 \ fiction and as a woman with a
fondness for pretty frocks, the way in
which men novelists dress their heroines
has always had my particular attention,
and, l am bound to confess, very fire.
quently my highest respect-no, not for
the clothes they describe, but for the artful
way they refrain from such description.
When they do describe and describe in
detail they too frequently succeed in being
excruciatingly funny. But most of them
are content-more than. content-to leave
dressmaking with dressmakers
HOpkinson Smith was an artist as well
as a writer, and so he dared complete de-
scription. The picture he painted in
words Of Miss Nancy Carter, aunt and
benefactress of the lovable, thriftless Colo
mel, is as exquisite as any of his famous
water colors
"There was the same old fashioned soft
gray silk with up and down strikes spotted
with sprigs of flowers" he says. "The
lace cap with its frill of narrow pink
ribbons and two wide pink strings that
fell over the shoulders, and the handker-
chief of India null folded across the
breast and fastened with an amethyst pin
Her little bits of feet-they were literally
Severe incased in white stockings and
heelless morocco. slippers bound with
hra,l lNlo, h., h..
waited toward You a perfume of sweet
lavender. When you kissed her
her cheek was as soft as a child's and fra
grant with rose wafer
Are Women Bipeds?
Dear and lovely Miss Nancy, in your
gray silk and India 'kerchief, your cos
tune is charming thing to think of in
these days when so many ladies, both old
and young, are revealing the defects which
were concealed so long as they did not
insist on being bipeds. The khaki clad
biped female, especially if inclined to
flesh, would never have got between the
covers of Hopkinson Smith book; we
know that
Nevertheless, she has got between the
covers of another book, and book that
is mighty good reading, toc-Stewart
Edward Whites Leopard Woman, and
Mr.. White doesn't hesitate to make fun
of the figure that she cuts When that
great hunter Kingozi first saw her and
rescued her from the charging rhinoceros,
Bibi-ya-chui was tumbled out Of her ham,
mock, and when she got up Kingozi OBJ
serves that "the riding breeches were
gathered trinity around an effeminately
slender waist and then ballooned out to
an absurd width" Presently, bursting
into an unexpected laugh, Kingozi ex-
claims (the lady couldn't hear him for
tunately-too far away: at isn't bal
loon brooches; it's hips" So he now
knows that the stranger is a woman!
Tea in the Jungle.
But even a man author isn't mean
enough to leave heroine dressed like
this, so after they pitch camp Bib ya-chul
wears "a short sleeved lilac tea gown Of
thin silk, lilac silk stockings and high
heeled slippers. Her hair fell in two
long braids over her shoulders" She also
has band Of woven gold about her fore
head and a single strange jewel hangs ~
the middle of her forehead. OF course
looking at the jewel, one forgets the hips
But that word "tea gown"-where did
Mr.. White get it, 1t has been obsolete
for twenty years. Very likely he asked
another man.
Even with the tea gown Mr.. White has
progressed in dressmaking since he wrote
The Bldzed Trail. Never once in that
glorious story did he so much as hint at
the style or the color or the stuff of the
clothes that Elizabeth Carpenter WORE
Playing it very safe.
Mr.. Wister's Modes.