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THE PITTSBTJBG DISPATCH, SUNDAY, JULY 20, 1890.
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FOR COMFORT AND BEAUTY.
BMrler Dare's Gathering; of Blld-Somner
Faihlon Hints From Modistes Abroad
and at Iloinp The Proper Bathing Salt
Hooteliolft Decorations nnd Hume Hint.
tvuuvxzx foe tub dispatch.
As little to wear and as pretty as it is possi
ble to make it is the epitome of style for the
month to come. If one could achieve the
art of dressing in soapsuds, as the shoeblack
in "Syrliu" says of the coart ladies going to
the drawing room, it would be the acme of
comfort and splendor.
The nearest we can get to it is wearing
lace throughout, vests of silk, with the entire
front striped in open work or with deep T's
of crochet; lisle vests at 55 apiece, thin as
cobwebs and woven like Valenciennes; lace
corsets with the filling between the slender
xibs crocheted in linen thread in point pat
tern; petticoats of satin surah, with three to
five wide insertions of black lace; white
ones m lawn, with Valenciennes and fine
torchon ad libitum, over these airiest gowns
of the linen batiste coolest and most beau
tiful ot labrics as if woven from the floss
of morning vapors, in delicious rose, blue of
convolvulus and the wild succory or the
lovely pale thistle purples, neither mauve,
lilac, violet nor heliotrope, but a solter and
purer tint than any of them. These robes
have light striped borders in wbit and self
color or embroidery of flowers in the same
shade directly on the edge, which last are
520 the pattern. These are pretty and last
ing gown, well chosen for dancing dresses,
to be worn over silk or satin slips. They
are very beautitul. with the insertions of
Valenciennes now fashionable and a deep
fall of lace under the cut out edge of the
embroidery. Such a dress is good for sea
sons and worth the price paid.
EIBBOX IN PLACE OF SILK.
Other confection it seems absurd to call
them drese are of black and col
ored lace, with only enough ribbon to
bold them together. The graceful mantle
for a lady shown in the cut bhows how
ribbon takes the place or silk. The wrap is
black silk lace ol enduring quality, made
up without foundation, a broad, glossy gros
grain ribbon appearing as a "motive" on
the fronts and shoulders to receive the strain
of wearing.
The gayest, boldest plaids in fine ging
hams are the latest novelty for country
dresses and are made up with as much at
tention as silks. Cauiphell plaids in blue
and green and Fife plaids, stripes of red
and mixed buff and red, blocked into in
definite pluid, or apple green and buff or
ecru, the newest fashionable combination,
extort praise for the skill with which the
modiste subdues their prononce effect. Plaiu
kilt panels showing between breadths, plain
killings at the foot, with the plaid cut to
show the pleatipg, and vests, or plain over
dresses, cut low in the neck, with underskirt,
gamp and sash ol plaid are very pretty and
youthful. A gingham gown, with cloak of
Suit far Elderly Women.
lilfcv fawn alpaca, would be a stylish, cool
traveling dress abroad, but Americans travel
in nothing less than wool gowns and silk
dust cloaks.
SKIRTS FOB THE SEASON.
A good 'colored washing skirt, which
allows the dress to be lifted out of the dust
or dew without displeasing display, is a de
sirable thing, as white skirts have too much
the air ofati exposure. The best skirts sold
this season are plain English chintz, in
gobelin, peiccck and navy blue, chestnut, J
-A Xetr M mllr.
turkey and Eiffel reds, with knife pleating
in gay Persian colors, and wear and wash
forever.
Handsome skirts are of louisine or surah
in dark blue or brown, with quiet stripe of
ITat and Dress for Young Girl.
mixed color, and are worn about one's room
with whits jacket for neglige. The sleeping
gowns of printed linen lawn, made no fuller
than nightgown-, are thrown on for after
noon naps or to lounge on hot days when
people sit about as they do in Chicago, with
doors locked, no callers allowed and the fig
leaves spun and woven into something thin
ner than foliage, only opaque.
Devotees ot dress reform may recnr to
Mrs. Jenness-Miller'sdescriptionof her own
costume at Lake Hahonfc, "Grass linen
combinations trimmed with lace and an
India muslin gown not a thingelse, ladies,
I assure you," for a hotel piazza 1 But few
wilL attempt to rival the costume, which
would seem to suit thedaysof Mine. Tall i en
and the Directory rather than our own. It
makes the greatest possible difference in the
ease of enduring' he.it whether the clothes
worn are thin enough, from the linen lawn
of intimate garments to the almost boneless
lace corset and the lawn or gauze waist
above it.
HINTS FOB BATHERS.
The best imported bathing suits for good
taste and service are the dark blue Jerseys,
woven in one piece from neck to ankle, "in
wiry stockinet, with skirt to button on the
' waist and falling to the knees. Bathing
shoes have a cork sole covered with canvas,
and a long stocking or gaiter top of stock
inet laced at the ankle only, the tops in
color to match the suit.
Short-sleeved suits are often very com
fortable when bathing in privacy or on
cloudy days, but to prevent sunburn a pair
ot old stocking lees are drawn over the arms
and held to the short slaeve by a safety pin.
Safety pins or spring hooks are the" only
astenings to be depeuded on to hold bath
ing suits or riding habits together. Bathing
corsets tor bulky people are made roomy, of
porons Material and with (busks which do
not rnst in salt water. The best brocade
and satin corsets have a large hook set on
the front and back of the waist to catch in
an eye or loop on the corsage to prevent its
"riding up" in an awkward fashion. It is
in such little details that the good style and
adjustment of dress depend.
From new dresses abroad the following
notes are taken: Black crepe dc Chine cos
tume, figured with bouquets indullEifel
red and gobelin blue, upper sleeves, chemi
sette and side panel of gobelin crepe; din
ner dress ol floral crepe, as it is called, with
spray ot pink hawthorn on black- ground,
made with yoke ot drawn black lace over
old rose. "White dotted muslins, muslins
embroidered in sprigs and white net dotted
with silver arc much worn at English coun
try bouses, made with plain skirts, bands of
Valenciennes insertiou let in above the hem
and simple drawn French waists or the Ke
camier bodices. Cream canton crepes made
over pink have the lovely shading of tea
roses and are made with the Valenciennes in
sertion let in slightly full with veilings of
embroidery on the edges, an old and deli
cate style of trimming. Cream color, with
apple or lichen green, or Greek embroider
ies in gold, is the mvorite with elegantes.
AS TO SILKS.
Shot silks, or, as we call them, change
able silks, will be worn a good deal lor
secondary dresses. Simple, artistic gowns
are made in out-o:-the-way fabrics, like
Japanese cotton crepe or the so it, firm
chintz which does credit to its ancient
repute. A model Irom Liberty's, the
English art firm, is cotton crepe, with cream
ground, and old tinge as if gained by lying,
with briar rose pattern, surplice waist in
soltly gathered lolds, rather high in the
neck, full sleeves gathered in a ruffle to
hang over the hand and sash of green
China silk. The bonnet to suit is a cottage
shape of drawn green silk, with ostrich
plumes standing on the crown in a gracelul
cluster.
French dresses are not remarkable for the
fiat, scanty skirty shirts worn in England,
and the sleeves are iull without standing
high on the shoulder and narrow at the
wrist. In place of the stiff, Holbein waists,
apparently made over stays, the elegance of
the simple princess' dress is preferred, with
skirt in long, flat pleats and no other trim
ming, unless it is the insertion of lace or
embroidery let in five inches above the
edge.
White gloves, whether Suede, or kid, are
worn with evening dress, and are also
coming into use lor the day time with dressy
costumes and light colored suits. White
Tyrol gloves of undressed white chamois
come iu monsquelaire shape lordriviug, and
are acceptable, as they will wash and clean
easily. Long gloves in silver and steel gray
are preferred to tan, and should be chosen
with the invisible seams, or at least with the
finest stitching on the backs, although this
may be black tor visiting costumes.
THE CABE OF GLOVES.
All gloves last better and are nicer to
wear for being turned inside, out each time
they are taken off and hung in a draught
until the warmth of the hand passes from
them. Tbey keep fresh longer lor being
rubbed at the tips and in coiled places with
a rubber brnsb or the aerated rubber used
by draughtsmen for erasing lines.
Perfume of a delicate, aromatic sort is
almost indispensable with gloves. The
sachets of Spanish leather or vitivert are
suitable, though one woman I know bangs
ber gloves in a lavender plant on her win
dow sill half days together to give them a
pleasant scent. This Is the place to speak
of the gratefnl devices for perfuming rooms
which are not only agreeable, but reviving.
The perfumed oil with which the large
piano lamps are fed, sold regularly by the
lamp dealers, is perfumed colza, or cotton
oil, which colts from SO cents a gallop up
ward. Perfumed ruby and amber liquids
in cut glass flagons with wicks and burners
fitted to the tops, consume slowly, sending a
faint odor of aromatics and citron through
the air. Paris and Berlin atomizers have
the large scent holder of crystal and gold,
Hungarian glass in rich colors, or in fine
porcelains and jeweled glass with silver
fittings, costing from $5 to $15, and become
as indispensable to the drawing room table
' as its lamp.
PEBFTJME THE AIB.
Spraying the air with a small quantity of
perfumed spirit not only scents but cools the
air, like the spray of a fountain. Such re
freshment is very grateful to sick persons
and relieves even the dying. "We do not
make enough ot such aids to endnrance.
Bags of Italian orris in treble strength are
found to hang in closets, and mats of viti
vert, the root of the East Indian grass,
which perfumes cashmere shawls and keeps
them from the moth.
This root, which looks like fine rough
broomstraw, holds its refined and stimu
lating odor for years, and is. called the
eternal perfume. It is the pleasantest
thing to put with woolen clothes, and it has
more of a cedar-like, clean, penetrating
smell than a sweet perlume, and quite over
comes the odor of dye in cloths. Mats of
vitivert two feet long come to lay in trunks
and bureau drawers to perlume their con
tents or are hung in windows to besprinkled
with water to give a freshness to rooms.
A POINT FBOM POBTUGAL.
Besides these must be mentioned the
Portuguese water coolers, commended by
Minister George B. Loriug, to do away with
the use of ice water, which is really injuri
ous to many persons. What advice cannot
do to bring about the use of naturally
cooled water, fashion and these picturesque
coolers will. The vases of pink or cream
clay in graceful shapes, decorated with vine
and tendril or Moorish ornament, swung by
a silken cord in the window, are too pictur
esque not to immediately take the eye of
artistic people, Xhe clay Deing porous auu
uuglazed, the water soaks it slowly, cooling
the contents by evaporation till it is pleas
antly cold as well water just drawn. Cool
ers holding a gallon arm from $3 to $10.
The great, squat Portuguese vases of sim
plest form, with necks narrow for their size,
of glazed pottery in deep green or pinkish
stone colors, fresh looking lor palm holders
in the corner of halls and porches, or more
prosaically lor umbrella stands, cost from
?8 to $25. They are rather too expe-isive to
be kept for holdiug filtered -water, which
was their original purpose. Tne cost of
these importations leads one to hope that
our own potteries will seethe demand or
such things, and give us something really
artistic and inexpensive tor household pur
poses another season. Give us something
plain, shapely, with pleasing color and hints
of decoration, rather than any wrought out
prettiness to grow tired of, and receive the
profitable thanks of American households.
ABTISTIC FUBNITtTBE.
Light cottage furniture in rattan is up
holstered in flat cushions ot deep red cot
tun, with pale blue and ecru striped ma
terial, diagonally crossing to show half or
more of the red. Decorative shops have the
cheapest articles painted in light colors,
with enamel paint, and beads of homely
flowers thrown across the snrlace. The
wasn bench is the latest article rechristened,
A Prelty Settee.
with the enamel touch being painted in
ground of pale pink, cream, yellow or light
green, with guelder roses, lilacs or thistles
showing fin the side oi the frame as if part
of the pattern had been cut away. A flat
cushion ol linen or Turkey red or tussore
silk is tied to the top by the inevitable
broad ribbon, with bow and ends, and the
wash bench forms a window or hall seat, or
bench for a veranda. Small shaker rocking
chairs are "Aspin walled" in the same pale
shades and flowered likewise.
Better than this flowery bowery style is
the Russian or Friesland or Algeriau decora
tion in gay green, with red and yellow
stripes or scallops that look like inlaying,
and fit far better the idea of use and simple
surroundings. Moorish brackets and small
coffee tables are brought here by one or two
dealers in bric-a-brac and bring fancy prices.
Somehow our artist painters cannot get the
uneven.bomely touch of the peasant furni
ture which charms the eye of collectors.
Modern ware is finished too hastily, is too
regularly alike and looks like machine
work as it is. All we can do is to demand
simplicity of form and sparing decoration.
If we cannot have good art, at least we will
have as little of the poor as designers allow
us. For summer cottages, especially the
little camp cabins where families of modest
means live at ease by seaside or mountain,
the painted wash benches. Shaker chairs
and brackets like the picture are fit and
pleasant furnishings which any woman with
the use of her hands can ornament.
The bracket shows very plainly what it
is a square board with two irregular little
shelves fastened to it in Japanese fashion,
and flowers painted sketchilv between. With
these rude colorings the rice fringes sold at
urieotat snops go very wen, wnich are
simply bead tringes half a yard deep, in
dull coral, green and yellow, for hanging at
the tops of windows or across lower sashej,
or for edging shelves on the wall. They are
lighter than door fringes, and, swaying with
every breath of air, give a pleasant grace to
the interior. Shibley Dabe.
EHGHSH WOHEN'S C0BNS.
Tbey Hire No Iiarser Feci Thnn American
Women, bat HafFer More.
Fall Mall Bodicel,
There is only one lady chiropodist in Lon
don, and there are very few in New York.
Miss Mary Libby, a bright little American
woman, has settled as a chiropodist in Re
gent street. She has well appointed rooms
and an aristocratic practice. Miss Libby is
of opinion that Eoglish women, in propor
tion to their superior height, have no larger
feet than American women.
"They have vastly more corns, though,"
she said. This, she thinks, is partly due to
the fact that English women do so much
walking. American women are bad
walkers. There is no need for them to
learn self-reliance in this respect; locomo
tion is so cheap and easr in their own
country. Of course tight, "ill-fitting shoes
are in most cases the reason for corns. The
fashionable pointed toes have made in-grow-ipg
nails common. The largest number of
corns the chiropodist has yet discovered on
a woman's foot in London is six.
Miss Libby is also a skill ul manicure.
She has invented a remedy to prevent bad
tempered people from biting their nails.
By the way, manicuring seems to be better
paid- than chiropody. Tnree shillings is
charged for doctoring a foot and removing
au uulimited number of corns. Manicur
ing is nsually 2 shillings more. London is
simply overrun with manicures. Every
hairdresser aud universal provider employs
During the past 12 months 25,000
articles left In cabs wcro deposited at Scot
land Yard by drivers without any promise of
reward. - , -
THE CHANGE WE NEED
A Good, Wholesome Philosophy Dic
tates the Summer Outinsf,
RESTING AT HOME ISN'T A SUCCESS.
Busy Hen and Women Can't Enjoy Idleness,
Bo They'd Better PJay.
THE SEA MAKES EVERYBODY XOUXG
rWMTTEN FOE TUB DISPATCH. J
(Itlooksas if people do not go to the seaside
to kill time, but to make the most of it;
and it is extraordinary what things are done
there for pleasure, that they could not be
induced to do at home. There seems to be
something in the exhilarating air that leads
to freedom and ease, a blissful disregard for
the formalities ot life prevails there, that is
to be found nowhere else. The beach is
converted into a casino and people sit and
lounge about, laughing, talking and grow
ing tat, with never a thought for what folks
at borne would say to such freedom. To
this change from the conventional tread
mill life at home, may not as much be due
in way of benefits derived, as to any medi
cinal properties contained in salt-water
breezes and baths?
Much is being written just now, for argu
ment's sake, about people leaving homes
provided with every modern convenience
bathrooms, large, Jofty apartments, shady
lawns, somnambuleut "nooks and corners
indoors and out, etc, leaving said homes
with doors and windows barricaded until, it
a sign were put up lettered "Home for
Incurable?," the appearanceof such house
would verify the words. Let us be glad
the "incurables" made their escape and
believe they will be better when they return.
We make no denial that more luxurious
homes are lelt, than are found at summer
resorts, and that people suffer inconveniences
at such places they would not brook else
where; and that they wear seven-leagued
boots running after pleasure, exerting more
at pleasure-winning than they would at
bread-winning, or bread-baking, attending
to the affairs of a business or supervising a
household, during this same warm season at
home. Then why, in the name ot all that
is rational, do they leave home? is asked.
EVEBYTHINQ IN A. CHANGE.
Such question is fully answered in the one
word, chance, and the wonder is such in
quiry is ever made. Every living creature
requires change, and in it there is to be
found a better tonic than has ever been bot
tled. Realizing this need, people who have
homes at the seaside spend a part of the year
in country or city; those living habitually
in country go to city or seaside; while others
obliged to spend the most of the year in city
seek this change at seaside or mountain re
sort. And this does not mean, as has been as
serted, that we, as a race, "are a restless,
rollicking set of mortals,never content unless
on the move and going at lull pressure."
Neither does it signify that we go because
our neighbors go,nor to obey the "irrational
diction of tyranical Mrs. Grundy;" but we
go because we leel the need ot complete
change; change of scenery, of air, oi asso
ciates, of victuals, of activity,a right-about-wheel
and go-the-other-way life dur
ing these hottest days when busi
ness has grown sluggish and men
have time to get acquainted with their
families; not when "delightful fall shall
have come, with its health-giving, bracing
breeze, its changing leaves, etc., for then
business in every branch will have taken a
new lease on life, and illy prepared lor the
rush are those who have been denied the
boon ot renewing their vitality at seaside or
other resorts.
THE STAY-AT-HOME-POLICY.
Suppose, Mr. Man-oF.the-house, you de
cide to spend your vacation in the "som
nambulent nooks and corners" of your own
ample house and shadv grounds, eating,
smoking, sleeping, reading and enjoying
the companionship of your own family ex
clusively, not going once to the office to
"see a man;" yon are just going to rest,
rest, rest and allow nothing from the
outside world to worry you. Do you really
believe you would, say at the end of two
weeks, be rested, reanimated, ready to cross
swords with your terra cotta complexioned
cotemporaries, when they returned from the
shore bringing you the only sea breeze you
have had? We argue you would not; and
this does not imply that you liked your
family less nor yourself more, hut onlythat
you needed a complete change of environ
ment. And the "mistress of the house" she
who suggests this departure Irom the cus
tomary because she had vowed last season
she would "not go there again to see those
hateful Jonses over the way swell around,
when she kuew tbey had nut half enough to
eat at home;" besides (hear her tell
it to a neighbor), our home
is really too pretty to leave, and
we conclude that it amounts to
a sin for us to leave it;" aud "then Zm
had all the 'iuss and feathers' of getting
ready and for only two weeks all the time
Johu could spare Irom the office, and so we
conclude to remain quietly at home and
rest; and I am not going to do a single thing
lever did before except read and embroider;
shan't go into that kitchen if the cook burns
every dinner to a crisp, and I've warned the
children not to he running to me with
stumped toes and bumped heads, and that
if they tear their clothes they can wear
them, for this is vacation and I am off
duty."
THE SABREB SIDE OF IT.
Mothers, do you think such a line of
action possible even if it could be found en
joyable? You know it is not and you
Know, too, about what would be
heard from the smoker tinder the trees
when the odor of a burnt dinner greeted
his ol lac tor. Poor soull he'is not in just
the frame of mind that would render a bad
dinner pardonable, having had papers and
pipe sent flying into space more than once
by the sudden attacks of a too ardent young
ster; been ridden nearly to death by the
lot, obliged to cut stick horses and pick
knots out oi strings for bridles and other in
terruptions innumerable until he is nearly
out of his mind, and considers himself a
kind-hearted man to allow his children to
live. ' '
And the poor children! Is there no pity
for them? Have they uot ridden these same
horses over this same ground all
their little days? Wherein lies the
change lor them? What wonder they "come
back like gnats and stick like burs" in what
you consider their determination to torment
you and spoil your vacation. If they had
the diversion of digging iu sand or gather
ing shells, you would not be "tormented"
by them, but you would be to them u tor
mentor when you insisted upon them stop
ping for refreshments or sleep. Would not
sui-h vacation spent at home be as ono long
Sunday? And would not business and
housework be recreation by comparison?
Would you not better spend the two weeks
from home with every sight and sound of the
W months spent' amid the same sur
roundings shutout?
ONE GETS A DOUBLE CHANGE.
These two weeks from home would mean
several in the main, since lorsonietimeafter
your return, home would be a new place
and never seemed so desirable belore; and
never were you and John jn such high favor
with each other, nor so well satisfied, that
the children you had considered so incor
rigible before ieaving home are, to say the
least, as well behaved as the majority. You
are all rested out by the change. You are
in love with ench other, with yourselves,
with everybodv,. Like poet Heme, you
"feel like taking the. world in your arms
and kissing it"
Here is another woman's -scheme
for a summer- vacation, so gigantic
and altogether unique, the wonder
is she lived over to the fruition. She
sent her husband and boys on a fish
ing excursion for a week. Then she began
a effpnt a comnlete alteration of anprmfn.
lugs. .Every carpet, even to the one ln the
hall, was lifted and stowed away, together
with furniture, pictures and bric-a-brac-all
familiar objects. The entire place was
refurnished, repapered and repainted, until
no one would know his or her room except
from its loeatinu. Now it's easy to see how
this prelty scheme, backed up by an active
imagination, became a success and in this
instance imagination was not the "lacking
ingredient" for, in the little woman's own
words: "We quite forget we are in town
and fancy ourselves, when the moon comes
up and scent is strong from the honey
suckles, away off in some restful spot in a
second honeymoon, ine boys laugh because
we have grown 'spooney and actually hold
hands." Poor hands! blistered it's safe to
wager. And would you not think that
tired body would need "holding?"
THE BOUTINE THAT KILLS.
When shall we all have learned that do
ing the same thing every day within the
same environment is irksome, be the occu
pation ever so trifling; that it is routine
more than labor performed that wears out
body and soul; and that doing nothing is
not Vest inl. In change of occupation alone
is rest to be found. If your life is habitual
ly an active one, you will find doing noth
ing the hardest work you ever tried to do.
But you need to remember what "all work
and no play" did lor Jack, and take n tew
weeks' play along with other "children
grown tall;" fill your Jungs with invigor
ating salt air; Jfrolic in salt water; bowl,
play tennis, sail, take a bay ride, find out
irom experience where the .tun
comes in tobogganing and ride
the most spirited horse in the merry-go-round.
Of course yon will take
your children in with you, but you do not
need to so far as the fashion goes. The
merry-go-round is no longer dintinctively a
childish sport. "Come on, father, we're
just as young as any of them," one old lady
was heard to remark, and after a little per
suasion "father" assented, and the old folks
mounted the least restive of the animals in
procession and were soon flying around to
Hib tun nf "Little Annie Kooney" and en
joying the novelty of such sport equally
with the young coupie just oacis. oi meiu,
who were finding the lion's share of their
enjoyment in what they considered the old
lolKs loonsnness.
CBABS FOB THE COMPLEXION.
Grabbing is the sport of the hour into
which people throw themselves with the
most zest It Atlantic City happens to be
your vacation home, you can leave Higbee's
wharf any morning at 10 and return in a
few hours" with baskets well filled with
crawling, creeping prey, which you will de
posit in the large kettle Captain Higbee has
Erovided since "the fad set in. Tableswill
e set in the boat house, and there you will
eat more crabs and have more fun than can
be told. Apropos of crabs, a Philadelphia
girl claims to have discovered that they im
prove the complexion, and attempts to prove
it by the clearness of her own brilliant skin,
which has persistently refused to take on the
fashionable, sei-side, meerschaum tints.
The salutition of the day is no longer "how
do you do?" but "how are you coloring?"
whereupon saucy faces will be turned about
for inspection after the manner a man would
exhibit a finely colored pipe.
The sea and sun have a patent on this
coloring process, and nowhere else is it to
be obtained. You can board up the front of
your house and sit in the back yard bare
headed for a month and you get a poor imi
tation of it, and confidentially you don't
want a nearer approach to it, for an uglier
masque you never wore.
Meg.
CELESTIAL TBIUMPES.
A nioit Beautiful Fabric Dlln BIsland
Drought From Japan.
Illustrated American.
Miss Elizabeth Bisland, during trip round
the world last spring, picked up in Japan
one of the most exquisite fabrics ever
brought to this country. The Orientals
called it rainbow crepe, and surely never
was a name more aptly given. The silky,
daintily woven stuff is of silver white, hav
ing a sheen as of moonlight overlying its
minute crepy twill. Then running in diag
onal lashion across the narrow breadths are
faint illusive colors of pale rose, light gold,
the blue of early dawn, a dim green tint
and shadowy lilac. These ravishing hnes,
that are rather suggested than defined, seem
to glimmer througn warp and woof of the,
I..-.-...- ?ll. nn minnta liitrninn in flairtOa"
of color, to be lost the next in vague, melt
ing lights.
Costly and adorably beautiful as this rain
bow material is justly reckoned, it holds no
place whatever oesiue the moon-cloths worn
oy the Japanese nobles. Looking over and
even handling tfVs enchanting silken web,
one can scarcely credit its reality. All of
the golden pallor of Diana's nightly loveli
ness has been caught and imprisoned in its
spidery threads. There are silvery beams
that the cunulng craltsman has shot through
his loom, to be subdued by the warm glow
of the harvester's honey-colored moon.
Here the lights are vastly heightened, and
there the shuttle has thrown in a thread
that hints ol dusk and gloom. So far these
wSnderful triumphs or Celestial skill are
unknown to the Western world.
Alshort time since Miss Bisland appeared
in her rainbow gown at a dinner given by
Sir John Jlillais, in London. The .great
artist had never before seen anything ot the
kind, and grew vastly enthusiastic over the
matchless beauty ot tne stuff.
A WONDERFUL BAE00IT.
Endowed With Almost Hainan ImelllscDco
nnd Expert in Blnnj Thins.
Jack the Baboon, so well known to all
who have ever had occasion to pass through
the TJitenhage (Cape Colony) Bailway
station, has, says a writer in the Colonies
and India, gone to that bonrne from which
no baboon ever returns, much to the regret
of the country side. Jack was one of the,
most intelligent specimens of the ape tribe
ever captured, and he was regarded as
quite a regular railway employe at TJiten
hage. He took his turn at working the
signals and shoving trolleys about. When
required to do so, he would go to his
master's cottage, hunt for and find any
article required, and then, after carefully
locking the door, he would remove the key,
and bring both it and the article he was
sent to fetch to his master. The latter had
lost both his legs, and consequently found
Jack a valuable helpmate.
The baboon wus also noted through the
district as a fair light-weight boxer, and be
had also been trained to Use the singlestick
with sing ular adroitness. He never drank
anything stronger than water, and was un
married. MEASTOIHG OCEAN SPEED.
Encll'b Naval Vcpl. Are imprinted Over a
Meniareil Olile la Tests.
Illustrated American.
The speed ot English naval vessels is gen
erally determined by a run over a measured
mile. This is as if a sprint runner were
allowed to take a flying start and as if the
speed he attained by spurting for 100 yards
pn a good track were assumed to be the
speed he could make in chasing u pick
pocket iu the street. It is notorious that
these vessels rarely, if ever, attain in actual
service the speed with which they are
credited.
It will therefore be understood how much
more accurate was the test imposed on tho
new cruiser, Philadelphia, when she was
made to run 40 miles nnd back along the
coast of Long Island. The record she made
was, of course, materially aided by the work
of the most skill. ul engineers and stokers
employed by the Cramps, uud by the use of
picked coal; but there seems to be little rea
son lor doubting her ability to run 2U knots
au hour in actual service.
The Feather Boa Fad.
fall Mall Eudsct. I
The Princess of Wales has succeeded in
making feather boas very fashionable. They
are mnch affected by the smart people lu the
park; every other woman, in fact, seems to
be wearing one. A feather boa is a pretty!
and becoming addition to the dress, and I
only weighs a coupleof ounces or so.' i
GASH WON'T DO IT.
A Little Money and Good Taste Will
Make a Home Look Better
THAN VAST WEALTH AND NO TASTE
Salesmen Expected to Enow Jfotliing tut
How to Make Big Sale3.
K07ELTIES IN flODSE DEC0KATI0S
IWBITTEN FOE TBI DISPATCH, t
I met the other day a decorator who had
recently left the employ of a large (nrniture
and upholstery store, and his arthitio soul
was racked Dy
A
virtuous in
dignation. "I
estimate,"
said he, "that
54 0,00 0,000
are squander-
S3esV ed every year
i
ny tne people
of this coun
try in misap
plied house
furnishing s.
Listenl I en
h t2i. "J
x7-?m
TTr7.tmnS3
tered a firm's
employ six
months ago as
decorative ar
tist, but I
soon found
I
my services
would be actually detrimental to them
rom a strictly business standpoint, so I
withdrew. Yon are surprised. Let me
explain. I was employed solely to exercise
my best taste and supply room-plans and
color sketches, but to do this conscientiously
would be incompatible with the everyday
rush, crush and hustle of cold blooded busi
ness. The average salesman very naturally
works his utmost to sell big bills regardless
of the proprieties, and if a, woman could be
induced to buy plnsh at 6 a yard whether
plush was or was not appropriate, the plush
sale was made every time. Ifshetooka
ONE OF MADAME
fancy to red and gold wallpaper that would
kill every picture on her walls, you can ret
assured she got it. Sales, sales, big sales
and plenty of them regardless of character,
so long as they run into money, was the all-
day struggle of the sales lorce; and when I
could not see my way to put heavy blue
plush on dainty Marie Antoinette chairs, or
cover a ceiling with gold paper, I was
frowned down upon as a crank with no head
for business."
He paused for a moment meditatively.
"We had a cook," he continued, "that wa.
going back to the old countryon avisit, and
nothing would do but she had to blow in
about $75 of her savings toward fixing her
self up a bit for the tour. The day she
started she was a sight. She had a black
silk dress and a green plush coar, passe
menterie all over her Iront and bestrewn
with lace on her back, while a pink leather,
tan shoes and a red parasol completed the
awful rig. She had selected each article
separately as it struck her fancy, not think
ing of the combination. Well, do von
know nine women ou( of ten furnish a
house In that same way. It is surprising
how little the well-dressed, stylish, intelli
gent, reunea woman or to-day Knows about
interior decoration. And vet the reason is
plain. In dress, a woman, if woman! v, will
follow the fashion plates. Occasionally she
originates details, but generally she feels
safest wheji following what Worth and
Mme. Louise dictate; but in house dressing
she has no f isbion and she falls unconscious
ly into selecting this or that for no other
reason than our cook had completely at
the mercy of the money grabbers. No won
der those fellows look on the professional
decorator, educated iu the various epochs of
house decoration, as a nuisance same as
the wrecker regards the beacon light as an
interference with his vocation.
"But do von know what is being at
tempted now?" continued the speaker, after
a slight pause and with a gratified look on
his face. "There is a strong effort being
made by decorators to organize an associa
tion which shall lorce upon the nublic a
clearer understinding ef the principles of
artistic luruishing. The prevailing styles,
you know, in dress and milliuery are pub
lished, week after weet, day after day, the
country over, in thousands of papers and
magazines, informing all who can read as
they run, what is correct in dress; it will be
the main object of this association, under
stand me, to adopt this idea aud to start on
the same broad road of travel, illustrative
plates of correct interior furnishing. It's a
good idea and certainly worth trying. For,
mark what I tell you, people are just
awakening to the charm and interest at
tached to the home beautiml. Personal
dress has for years been the chief medium
for the indulgence of one's artistic mood.
But in ten years from now tU gratification
will find big outlet in the luruisliiugs of
one's household. And people who now put
all on their back will think more of their
'side walls and desolate alcoves.
"A man on Broadway some time ago
showed me a piece of rose-tinted brocade.
'There's something rich,' said he. 'I have
just filled au order for thewalls of Mrs.
Blank's ballroom 520,000 for the wall
hangings alone. What do you think of
that?' I thought of the cook, but didn't say
so. I thought again: Of what use is a
decorator in a place like this, where ail arc
striving to sell quantity not quality. The
salesman piles up the dollars and the
decorator piles up his protests. Cash
against art. I tell you, my boy, as long as
the Americanjeople are sodensely ignorant
on the subject of house furnishing they are
going to be fleeced; or nine-tenths o the
men who wait on them know nothing what
everof the art side of the sulject. They
are paid lor selling the goods aud the $20,000
sale is what talks "
My informant was right The dense
stnpidity of the average upholstery goods
salesman is thicker than a Congo jungle.
Yougo into some stores and are shown
Louis XVL furniture fashioned i ter the
style of that day, but it you asked the sales
man to show von "Marie Anrninf" thi
chances are he wouIdu'tbe able to do it,
-notwithstanding that history.tells us Marie
Antoinette was Louis' wife and responsible
for' the dainty style associated with his
name.
Last week a man went into a Pittsburg
shop and said he wished a few odd pieces
of furniture for a pompadour room. The
salesman, a conscientious but ignorant fel
low, promptly answered that he had nothing
ot that period.
"What's that piece," said the customer.
"Oh that's a Louis XV piece."
"Well, that will do first rate the very
thing."
"Hardly appropriate for a Mme. Pompa
dour room," rejoined the artistic salesman,
a remark which nettled the buyer, who let
in on him in the fullowiug fashion: "Young
An Old English Table.
man, you may know intuitively that blue
and gold make a lovely combination of
color. Your necktie, moreover, stamps you
as a nice and agreeable gentleman, but,
considering that Mme. Pompadour was a
lady friend of Louis XV., and universally
referred to by the neighbors as 'that brazen
thing up the street,' it strikes me that a few
pieces in Loois XV. style would very natu
rally find their way into the dear creature's
hous- mrnishings, don't yon?"
"Well, yes; I hadn't heard that story be
lore." "Ko? It was all in the papers at the
time. You can see something about it in
the pages of Parker's 'Outlines of Universal
History. "
Speaking of Hadam Pompadour, those
were days of extravagant house furnishings.
When Louis XIV. came into power every
thing united to surround him with splendor.
His reign was adorned by great statesmen
and great generals, ecclesiastics and men ot
literature and science, his lurniture was
all delicately and elaborately carved and
gilded. When Louis XV. succeeded him
the attempt to improve on his fashions led
the decorators into all sorts of excesses, and
POMPADOTJB'S CHAIBS.
bronzes and tints were mingled with the
gold, and hand-painting was liberally in
troduced on panels in the woodwork.
Madam Pompadour, however, ignored this
splendor, aud covered, in her reckless ex
travagance, every particle of woodwork in
her bonse; even her chairs were upholstered
to the very leg tips. Curiously enongn the
whim became a fashion, and to this day we
stand indebted for the idea to this remark
able woman, whose name the song and
dance man perpetuates in the cut or his
hair.
Sing ho for the freckle-faced girl I the girl
With the reddish hair, the girl with the
picnic smile who helps her mother and
isn't at all advanced in classics or music,
bnt sticks to Annie Kooney till the next
song comes out, and is true then to that as
long as there's a note left. Sing ho for herl
for the freckle-faced girl has had her room
furnished, and I can tell you it's a sun
burst. The walls are old ivorv color, the
frieze at the top of the warm tones
of burnt umber, showing garland festoons
on the colonial order. Etchingsin the deep
reddish etching tints are framed in wide
white frames and ban i hm- inHth.m.
the walll The woodwork is in the sixteenth
century finish of mahogony, worn off in
places very pale and -whiii.li Tli tinnr ;.
dead-colored brown, with blue and gray
rugi. The curtains at the doorway are
db and blue, with just a touch of red on
the border; white muslins hang at the win
dows, and a scorched brown-colored toilet
set and ribboned bows of same color on the
chairs help to make a very artistic room.
So the freckle-faced girl doesn't worrv her
self now when she hearsof a blonde's boudoir
in pink or of a brnnette's yellow and black
room.
An absolute novelty has Just been shown
me by an importer known as the spachtel
eilect in Brussels lace curtains. For 25
years these famous curtains have been made
in the same way a fine thread-like cord,
embroidered into designs nnon a delicate
mesh background. The novelty consists of
vU.....s o.,j, i15 raesn n gome parls of the
aesigu and leaving it perfectly open. This
open work has heretofore been seen only on
Uuny, Irish point and Arabian curtains.
For several seasons past, curtains have
been shown in alternate stripes of colored
i?tn j"ch or so deep, running across a
crinkled cotton bad ground. A novelty of
the t ill season will be stripes diagonally ar
ranged. The dainty, delicate and jaunty styles of
trail French lurniture we have been running
fi w the past four years will soon be dis
placed by reproductions of old work. Manu
facturers are now busily engaged on fif
te nth and sixteenth century stains and old
t". I JUiuB Venetian, Flemish and
Hutch. In furniture covers also the leading
makers are giving a great deal of attention
to old colorings. o. K. Cliffobd.
LABGE FAWTTTES IN FBAITCE.
There nre 11S.S08 Thnt Ilnve Seven or
Mori- Clillilrrn Each and Averoee ElcUt.
Pall Halt Uudt.
According to a return presented to the
French Chahiberbythe Minister of Finance,
there are 148.808 families, each with seven
children or more, which have claimed the
exemption from certain taxes recently voted
by the French Parliamsnt. These families
have 1,157.547 children, or as nearly as
povsible eight each, and they inhabit 2S.C32
different p Irishes, the departments in .hich
there are the most families with seven chil
dren or more biing the Nord (7,000), the
Finistere (6,087), the Cotrs-ilu-Hord (5,020),
the Pas-de-Callas (4,848), the Loirt-lnfe-rieure
(4.1C3), and the Marbihan (4,007).
The in oruiation gathered by the Ministry
of Finance in applying the "new law is to
the effect that there are 2,000,000 married
couples in France without children, 2,500,
000 with only one, 2,300,000 with two, 1,
500,000 with three, about a million with
four, 550,000 with five, and 300,000 with six.
A MIXED DIET BEST.
Spencer and Modern Scientists Do
Not Agree With Franklin.
THE STOMACH AT THE BANQUET.
A Common Sense Menu for Hot Weather
Saves Much Suffering.
I
BILLS OP PAKE FOE A JDLI DAI
IWMTTEN rOB TBI DI3PATCIL1
In dietetics there are two systems, as they
may be called, which obtain among those
who concern themselves about it. Each of
these systems has its advocates, and the
relative merits of each have been ably
presented. On one side it is insisted that it
is better to adhere to a diet of plain dishej
unmixed with others, or ralxid with others
as little as possible. This system is the
older of the two.
Dr. Franklin, whose opinion on all
practical questions was held for a long time
as oracular, declared that an unmixed diet
was one of the first essentia s for those who
on account of their health were obliged
to observe a regimen, or rnle in
their food and drink. He main
tained that in his own case the perfect health,
and clear brain which were his to an ex
treme age, were due chie'fly to his habit of
exercise and to his eating but one kind of
food at each meal, which, according to this
system, was intended to be the chief dish of
the meal. Whether roast beer, stuffed
turkey, pork and beans, apple-dumplings
or mush and milk, it was advisable to make
most of the meal on that dish. And itmay
be said that the customs of the country and
the habits of our ancestors conduce.) to this
method; while the physical hardness of the
prople (those we mean toho survived)
seemed to be a conclusive and convincing
a priori argument to the correctness of the
thejry.
THE LATEB IDEA.
But with the 100 years since his time
great changes have taken place in customs
and in habits; and while an unmixed diet
mav be the best for many people, vet the
better opinion seems to be "that a mixed diet
for most is the best. This i the conclusion
to which the foremost scientists of the age
have come. The governments of Europe are
known to be proceeding on this theory in
the feeding of their soldiers and sailors; and
then, aho, contractors who employ a iarge
number of laborers do likewise, having
learned frozs experience that men thus fed
do the most work and are the most regnlar
in their work.
Herbert Spencer a great authority
writes so well to this point that his words
may bo reoeated. In his "Essay on Physi
cal Education" he says: "It is a fact, es
tablished by numerous experiments, that
there is scarcely any one food, however
good, which supplies in due proportions or
right forms all the elements required lor
carrying on the vital processes in a normal
manner; from whence it is to be interred
that frequent change of food is desirable to
balance the supply of all the elements. It
is a further met, well known to physiolo
gists, that the enjoyment given by a much
likcd food is a nervous stimulus, which, by
increasing the action of the heart and so
propelling the blood with increased vigor,
aids in the subsequent digestion."
SUPPOBTS THE THEOBT.
Mr Spencer, in this connection, rerfinds
his readers that only upon this theory is it
explainable how persons can indulge in big
dinners and in banquets of many courses
without that feeling of uncomfortableness
which usually follows when one has eaten
to repletion of a favorite dish. In men
tioning Mr. Spencer as an authority we are
reminded that the popularity of his essays
on practical subjects is, in English, some
thing wonderful. His small work on moral,
intellectual and physical education mav be
read by all women with profit. It costs'but
a trifle.
This system, as we have said, is the one
now received as the better one; aud alto
gether it is more practicable than it might
casually be supposed. The ingenuity of the
housewi'e is more severely taxed at this
season than at any other to furnish her
table with a change, because she is not war
ranted in the use of the heavier and mora
substantial foods adapted to the rest of the
year and prepared more readily.
A YEET IMPOEXAKT MATTES.
It cannot be too frequently repeated that
most of the serious ailments and diseases,
sudden and o.fen fatal, which at this season,
so remorselessly and untimely, strike down
tne strong as wen as the weak: all around
us, are traceable to the improvident, not to
say ignorant, preparation of food which is
seasonable, or the imprudent use of that
which is not seasonable. It is pitiable to
contemplate that results so fatal are to be
traced to causes which are too open to be
gainsaid. There is no excuse for a woman
of ordinary intelligence not to have variety
enough. It is fortunate that the food best
adapted to our needs at this time of the year
is the cheapest. The matter of variety is
not one so much of expense as it is of
knowledge and of a willingness to praoti
cally exercise the knowledge. Here are
some excellent bills ol fare for plain break-
iasi, lunencon ana dinner in July:
BEEAKFAST.
Fruit.
Oatmeal porridge. Cream and sugar
Dreaded iamb chops. Potato balls, fried.
Hot apple sauce. Rolls, tread and butter. .
Coffee.
IXSCHEOir.
Bechamel soup.
Cold sliced chicken. Tomato salad (Mayonnaise)
Peaches and cream. Cake. Chocolate.
Tea.
DKKEB.
Baked fish. Sliced cucumbers.
Potato balls, plain.
Green peas. Boiled cauliflower.
Mayonnaise of cabbage.
Wafers. Cheese.
Cup custard. Coffee.
Here are some simple receipts:
BECHAMEL SOUP.
Reserve the stock from a boiled chicken and
keep It hot.
Put to scald one quart of rich milk and add
to it one large tablespooninl of corn starch, wet
with cotd mtllc. .
Season with salt and pepper, add a pinch of
soda.
Pnur into a tureen and add the boiling soap.
Serve.
CHICKES H1SSOLES.
Cut the meat from the chicken which fur
nished the soap stock, and chop fine.
Add a cupful oC mashed potatoes, beaten
light, with one egg. pepper and salt: moisten
ith some ot the soup stock and Heat in a pan
with a little melted butter.
Stir until hot. then set away until qoite cold.
Make into balls or anr desired shape, roll in
beaten eg, and then m bread crumbs or
cracker meal.
Fry brown in drippings.
ORANGE SNOW.
One package of gelatine soaked in cold water
one cupful.
Mixthejnfca of four large, sweet oranges
and the grated peel of one, with the soaked
gelatine.
Add one largo cupful of white snsar.
Cover for one ho ar, then pour on three enp
f ufs of boiling water and stir till clear.
Ktram through flannel, and whn rnlri vhln
in the frotbed whites gradually till the whole 1J
tiwhitoi-ongc.
Put in a uet mold and set on ice.
bcrve the nexc day.
INDIAN CAKE.
One.plnt or sweec cornmeal, one pint of
nbeauflonr, sifted together, one teaspoonful
of salt, one half cupful of sugar, or less, if no
liked sweet, two level teasponfuls of cream of
tartar, one Isvel teaspoon(il of soda, two eggs
well beaten, one tablespoonfnl of melted batter,
milk enough to make tbick as mash.
iSalto in a moderate oven. '
SPONOE DROPS.
Beat to a stiff frotb the whites of three
cgg.
To the beaten yolks add one cupful of sugar.
.Stir into this one heaping cupful of sifted
ftuur, iu which one teaspoontul of cream tartar
ha been mixed
Beat writ and add one-half tcispoonful of
smla dissolved in a very litle waiter.
Flavor to taste and add the beaten whites.
Butler in sheets with butter washed till free
from salt.
Prop the mixture Dy teaspoonfuls. about
three inches apart. The oven should be hoc
JimcE Sekxna,
3-
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