Year: 1870

i 8


not only the future kings would be. bu


what their subjects will be, and thest


last make the real grandeur of the ma


ton. So you see that to write abou


what the German boys and girls wear


is to write about the very smallest thing


that concerns them. Indeed it is so small


that want to get it off my hands a!


soon as possible.


4 Some people say that all fashions begir


in Berlin-nOt in Paris. One would think


so for there are so many Of them. Al


home you know, there is a sort of style


for children of a certain age, and YOU


can guess at the age of a strange play
mate by the cut of their clothes. Well


it is not so here. Little boys of ten


years often dress like their grandfathers;
little girls of six have their dresses made
plain wasted and buuoned up before


like that coat of father Grimes. And


the worst Of it is, that this is not Kt


style, but only one of the styles. There


are so many of them, as we said, that


one begins to think it is the fashion for


a person to be as different as he can
from every other person. And perhaps


this is the case. Our landlady has a
son thirteen years old who wears long
| tailed linen coats, standing collars and


a black stock. He is a very gentleman
! ly boy too. His name is Paul-pro-
pounced Poa0l-lile on in house. His
1 younger brother is named August He
is four years old. He eats at a little ia
BILE by himself, and is served with a nap
kin like any other man. But he grins
at us over the table like any other little
boy. On Sunday, when August was
dressed for a promenade, he wore spot.
ted chintz or calico pants which reached
nearly to his ankles, and a calico sack
which looked pretty much as if some
body had just laid the cloth on the floor
and cut out half circle with hole in
each side for the arms, 1t was short
sleeved, and when August went out,
have no doubt he cut fashionable fig


ure. A few days ago we saw a boy
about ten years old with a coat on which
also resembled father Grimes, for il
was very long. If 1 am not mistaken il
nearly touched his heels, and he was a
well-dressed boy too. To make up
for this waste of cloth, others wear very
long stockings with very short, narrow
pants which are fastened together ab00e
the knee. Then one sees little boys in
dresses, big and little boys in blouses all
sorts of boys in roundabOuts, and in mill





and roundabouts are cut almost anyway
and hung in like manner. The blOuses
are loose or confined with a belt or cord;
the belt or cord is seldom fastened down,
which gives a Berlin boy an appearance
of being somewhat short-waisted. And
if one happens to have a good-sized bow
and ends tackled on his back he looks
as if he had on some part of a lady's pan
nier Only very small boys, however,
are imposed on in this way These are
all children of well-to-do trades-people,
wealthy merchants and, perhaps, per
sons of rank. The very poor are quite
another thing. There are many places
of amusement where one can see all
these classes except the last. People go
to the gardens, to concerts or to the
promenades in families and they chat
together without restraint; they hire
few chairs, sit down, order and eat their
supper there, as unconscious of the crowd
around them as if they were in a howl
ing wilderness. With any number of
such groups about one it is easier to
form an idea of each than it would be
in America, for in America what a
man is rated at depends very much up
on himself; in Europe it depends rather
more upon something he cannot help,
nor his parents before him. In Ameri-
ca he is expected to become of as much
personal consequence as he can. In
Europe he is expected to behave hand
somely in the place where he finds him
self. And SO it happens both that
lines between different grades of society
are sharper drawn here, and that the
people on each side of them are better
Contented where they are, less anxious
to seem to belong where they are not,
than in America.


These are the reasons why it is so
easy to judge of people here,
that is, in such outside matters as
dress.


There are so many kinds of uniform
worn here that it is not best to try to
describe the bOy-soldiers until we can
distinguish them better.


The little Berlin girls are. still more
than the boys. They are
very fresh, and neat, and happy look
ing, however. Perhaps, one reason why
people here are apt to have nice COM
plexions even when they are old, is that, |
to begin with, they have the fine, soft, !
fair skin that goes with pale, brown or
sandy hair. Such a complexion does |
not easily look aged or Sallow or with |





why the Germans are so fresh |
looking is that they drink beer
Nearly all the little girls have a peachy |
complexion; that is, until they are half |
grown. Two out of three we meet wear /
low-necked and short-sleeved dresses
and if not far from home, have nothing !
on their heads. So their necks, arms, |
and finally their faces, are very much |
sunburnt. On holidays, against hand |
some white dress, tied with blue ribbons, |
they make a fearful contrast. But even |
then they are sweet looking, because |
they are not heayy-eyed and pale. Then, !
as I said, they are dressed with ex-
ueme neatness. They wear pretty light
calico or muslin dresses, fine white
and light colored CATERS
1t is true their dresses are not stylish ac-
cording to our way of thinking, but our
way of thinking is only one way, you
know and they have quite as good a
right to theirs as we to ours. 1t appears
that their idea Of a pretty dress for lit
tie girl is to get very nice chintz, or mus
lin, or pique, or any handsome white
goods, and cut it with plain waist and
darts and buttoned before, or more often |
a very full short infant waist, open be-
hind, with sash tied but little below the
arms,-if white dress it is frequently
embroidered, ,-drab CATERS, not so close
fitting nor so high by two or three inches !
as the ones you wear embroidered or
pantaletts, which are as apt as
any way to reach the ankles; a low
crowned hat of leghorn or finest straw
a broad-brimmed, dropping thing with
a very few flowers and more black trim
ming, which, instead of floating in ends
at the back, has a long loop reaching
nearly to the waist. And-oh yes l
have forgotten the hair. 1t is long and
silky. It is braided, and hangs in two
long streamers at the back. 1t is short
and straight as an Indians. or it is wound
round and round in knot that stands
out two or three inches at the back of
the head. Sometimes a large lock is
combed back from the middle of the
forehead, and braided in one long queue
behind good handle to hold on by.
But the common fashion is the two long
streamers. and next to that the short
,seN. II.