Year: 1868

his memorable conversation with Mother Eve,


did not give her some sound advice on the
| score Of dress, when that article should become
necessary, drawn from his own example. He
casts his slough only once year. and is con-
tent with new dress every spring. but the


daughters of the lady in question want new
toilet every time they get their husbands or
parents in good humor. Spring is, however,
the season of fashion revolutions, and generally
gives the tone to the styles Of the entire year.


Hence the awful responsibility felt by the


nodistes before opening day, when they meet


in solemn conclave and invoke the deity of
! fashion to inspire them They sit as a high


court of impeachment on the styles Of the pre-


ceding year, and not all the remonstrances of


their fair constituents have any effect ON them


when they take it into their little heads to remove


an obnoxious bonnet, an arbitrary dress or


cloak which has been guilty of high crimes and
misdemeanors There have been some changes


in the toilet administration this spring, and
bonnets-those marvels Of the milliners art
have shrunk to such degree that the Queen of
Liliput would have some trouble in trying one
| on her head. Yet the m00istes have en-


deavored to effect compromise by making the


trimming of one of those ''fearfully and


wonderfully made" articles as extensive
| as possible. The back Of the head and


the neck are now sheltered by lace veil
| instead of the time -honored cape, and


coronet bridges the bump of benevolence in
| front of the bonnet. The fanchon may be con-
sidered the General Grant Of bonnets in point


Of popularity, and poor Marie Antoinette,


whose head sat so uneasily on her shoulders


during the dark days of the sans culostes,
until it fell at last victim to their fury, has


now namesake nesting amid the curls of
our most distingU5es bellies. In the matter Of
| cloaks the na01istes deserve unanimous vote
of thanks for the handsome styles they have
| brought out this spring. Last year a lady
carried on her back bushel load of jet
| and beads which had disagreeable habit
of fastening themselves in everything,
and the cloaks looked for all the world
like propositions in Euclid worked out in
silk and passementerie. Now the ladies have
charming little Sacks basquines and paletots,
with surplice or mantilla fronts, lapes like
those on gentleman's frockcoat trimming of
silk, satin and Lace and coquettish sash tied
behind. Since the warm spring weather has
removed every trace of the late severe winter
and our thoroughfares have again become fit
for pedestrians Broadway and Fifth avenue are
constantly dotted with those exquisite cloaks,
and the ends of the sashes futter in the April
breeze like flags and streamers on the shipping
on national festival. Our beautiful metro
pOlitan garden, the Park, Is also beginning to
bloom again with those human exotics which
are carefully preserved during the winter in
the paror, ballroom or opera, and toilets of
more hues than Josephs coat ornament the
commence there and Dodworth's band calls to-
gether the immense Saturday afternoon host to
the Park we may expect even greater variety
and beauty in ladies' costumes


Our lively Paris fashions correspondent has
something to say this week about fashionable
Lenten concerts, which are all the rage over
there. AS nearly all our concert managers
have succumbed to the depressing influence
of the times, they have now good opportunity
to retrieve their losses and achieve fresh tri-
umphs. Let us send over few of our Ameri-
can concert artists to the French capital, and
the Sale Herr and Sale Erard will resound
with applause as enthusiastic and sincere as
that which has greeted them on all occasions at
Steinway Hall. Pauline Lucca, the wonder
ful sprite of the opera, had a novel presenta-
tion made to her on the occasion of her return
to Berlin. At the close of one of the acts
huge bouquet, which seemed like small con-
servatory, with lace and satin, however, instead
of glass to shield it, was handed to her. Its
dimensions may be estimated from the fact that
she is going to have complete toilet made out
of the satin fastening and frnges. Speaking
of bouquets would it not be well for the adj
mirers of some of our artists in the theatre and
concert hall to vary occasionally the floral
tributes they cast on the stage? A basket of
natural flowers will not stand many presenta-
tions and artificial ones might be detected
The first performance of Hamlet Ambrose
Thomas opera, congregated together an
audience Of beauty, mourning and diamonds
TO sit in Judgment on Christine Wilson's
Ophela. The verdict was one of the most
unbounded approval, and the recent death of
the old King of Bavaria, for whom the aristo-
cratic ladies present were in mourning, was
forgotten in their sympathy for the fair-haired
Ophelia. When the Lenten season Is over we
may look out for another return to the fetes and
parties which usher in the penitential season.


OUR New STATE CONSTITUTION. bill has
been ordered to a third reading in the Assem-