Evening star., 1926-10-23

simplicity is a state Of mind,
said Charles Wagner.
A little consideration makes this
plain. What do ignorant mer
| usually do when they come into q
little money? Generally they buil6
elaborate and ornate homes, and their
womenfolk buy the most costly
dresses, ornamented with large guam
titles of lace, beads, metal jiggers
and so on.
In the course of time, however, as
experience overtakes them, they com
monty see the error of their ways
mansions, while their women take to
severely simple lines for all their
frocks.
Nine out Of ten persons. given the
money and opportunity, will run some
such gamut as that described, going
from the elaborately decorated thing
to the severely simple.
Their search for expression Of them.
selves in their homes, their furnish
ings, their clothes, inevitably leads
them from ornateness to simplicity,
from elaborateness to severeness.
Their first garden was filled with
huge marble benches and fountains,
torn through power of money from
their italian settings, where they were
appropriate, and placed in inappropri.
ate American gardens. In later years,
however, they junk these things and
hire landscape gardener, who
supplies them the artistic taste which
they originally lacked, but are now
getting around to love.
Nowhere is this tendency more
strikingly seen than in the subject
Nf oIo io1l nj !,
ing. Here the whole process, from
costly OVERRIDING to even more costly
simplicity, is brought out in high re-
lief. Sudden wealth but gives it a
higher light. 1t may be seen leaven'
ing the dress of a nation, as salaried
men and women make more and more
money, and thus progress from good
things to better things. Ninety-nine
out Of hundred women, given their
free will in this matter, will choose
elaborate dresses. The more lace and
feathers they can pile on dress or hat
the better pleased they are with it.
After a time, they come to realize
that something is lacking. The orna-
mentation did not give them the salts
eaction they thought it would. They
look around them, and see that those
who are able to buy anything thSy
please, for some strange reason, never
go in for such gorgeous decorations.
They try the idea themselves. and
pay for lines, for style, for fine ma
terial, instead Of for feathers, beads,
laces and so on.
They are delighted, generally, with
the result-and why not, for they
have achieved that happy result, sim.
plicity? ''Simplicity is a state OF
mind" said Wagner.
X X x X
There will be at least one person
out of every ten to whom the severely
simple will come naturally as the ex-
preston of his or her individuality.
These include gentlemen who wear
plain ties, and ladies who go in for
straight simple dresses, no matter
what their station in life. One may
often see the thing worked out to per-
lection in a restaurant where there
are several mattresses. Four of the
girls will wear their hair in elaborate
piles, or, bobbed, much frizzled. The
fifth, however, will have on plain
dress and have her hair absolutely
untouched. The chances are 9 to l
that the latter will wear no rouge,
either, and. after working hours, put
on a severely simple hat.
Life resolves itself at the last on
the part of the discriminating, into