20 . FANCIES FOR THE FAIR. Hints at AVhat Easter Will ISrins Forth In the Way of Bonnets Fashions From London and ParN and Odds and Bnds for Women. Xine or ten years ago we had hats with towering crowns that rivaled the silk hats for gentlemen and from that time to this we have gradually changed each season to a lower crown until now the climax is reached the vanish ing point has been reached, writes Ora Seanev.theParisian man-milliner to The Dispatch. Volnted brims are !-.rjSj they r rage and well should be for M uo prettier or more becoming framing for the face has been designed for a many a day. i Latest PamHat. Volnted brims arc seen on large and small hats and on toques and there is no regularity as to their projecting parts as it may be in ihe front or at the back and usually those at the back stand erect. Many a man will see snakes when he first gazes on his wife's Easter bonnet. Gold and silver leads the Tan in stylish decorations and while they lave been sparingly used for severjl seasons past they now supercede all others and hats and bonnets entirely of gold will be no odd sight. The fashion able woman will shine resplendent with mock jewels and the little glass baubles that Tiave to long served as a decoration for the costumes of actresses are transferred to trim mings of spring cbapeanx. As Kipling would say "every other woman was black velvet hattel the past season" but now colors burst forth again. The low crowns are scarcely larger than a teacup. Bern hardt in one scene of "Cleopatra" wears a bodice of pearls and this may account for the popularity of pearl beads in combination "with metaled braids and such millinery de "risings should be in high favor. If every lady would wear one of this sea son's open crowns she would never have cause to complain of baldness. "While in Hew York recently I asked Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller lor her views on hats for health and received the following charac teristic leply: "In summer I like the wide "brim hat to protect tne eyes, and I ad mire the snug-fittin bonnet on elderly ladies. The small close-fitting toque or capote should be worn for evening and es pecially 'or theaters. For winter the hat I should be of sufficient size to insure some warmth." Mrs. Longshore-Potts says: "Nature has provided man with beard, and their hats come far enough down on the forehead to afford some protection.while we women have to exercise our ingenuity and provide our selves with wearing apparel to protect us, particularly in change ble climate. Hence. I recommend the small face veil, not neces larily covenug the entire face, but coming below the nose. For summer I am in favor o! the hat with the brim to protect the eyes. And for theater, I say, wear them a small ss possible For health the hat should be light in weight as possible, and open crowns if prop erly worn are certainly an improvementover closed hats. The hair should be coiled on top of the head for warmth and as a finish ing effect. In selecting hats for the seaside wear, it is well to remember that feathers in plumes and tips and damp air are unfriendly to one another. As the seaside is intended for a health resort it is well to choose such mate rials as will not draw and retain dampness, Tor unpleasant results must nccessariiv fol low such a breach of laws of health. If the evening is to be spent on the piazza or at a lawn fete, it is best to provide yourself with a Spanish lace shawl or a light wool fascin ator, for an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The spring costume here shown is made of pigeon gray cashmere. The skirt has a Jan-pleated back, and a front which Js iirawn up in curved folds on the tips, and is festooned with three A .N; tint Costume. ribbon bow-kuot at the foot. The jacket bodice opens narrowly on a plain close buttoned vtst. The sleeves are catbered to cloc cuSs. The corners of the jacket, its flaring collar and the cufls and shoulders of the sleeves arc embroidered in self-colored f ilk and silver thread. The cut and descrip tion is taken trom Harptit. The sr.d reason !' most uomen donor marry is beciu,-c thoy n.ive iiot had a chance, announces Mr. .Iniin Sherwood in the Xorth American J'cvieic. "When we lead that there aie OO.GUO more unmarried women than ien in Massachusetts alone, what shall we fij of the rest of the so miscalled United U wmA I f 1 ' ( 51 lim 'ill A Vf f mm ill' f. '-H States? yirs. Veils wittily describes some one wno had "half an offer." It is to be feared that some most lovable women have not even reached to that dreadful moment of suspense. It is the "Lost Chord," and deeply to be deplored. It is true that in many a retired village some half dozen very clever, well-educated, good women pass their lonely lives with no chance to "better their condition." Ho wonder that some of them make what their families call very bad marriages. On one point I do agree with Mrs. "Wells, when she refers to the horrible literature with which our market is flooded, turning life into a dissecting room. That, indeed, may well frighten a suscept ible and nervous woman. It is a shocking wrong and nuisance that popular magazines should publish stories w hicli are read by young girls, enabling them, as Jlrs. Wells says, to count "the s vw Spring Beaut. various kind of kisses which mark the ad vent and climax of a lover's regard. Love itselt is just as subtle and unselfish as ever it was; passion is as true and noble; but their parasites are deadly." This is a splen did summing up. But I do not agree that such reading makes a girl "love her mother mora," or that she "stays at home," growing more helptul, and finding "indefinite in terests enough to make single life very pleasant." Nearly all the spring costumes from Paris have the stately, picturesque Louis XV. cat. I saw one in fawn-colored corduroy cloth that had a white satin waistcoat with a jabot of cream lace at the throat. The front breadth of the skirt was of silk, several Gotvn From Parii. shades darker than the cloth, and the coat appeared to be somewhat longer than that which has been the rage. Such a dress would make any woman look important. Skirts are as severe as ever. They look well on a sylph, but a stout figure is at a creat disadvantage in a clinging skirt. In gowns for mature wearers the straight outlines should be softened by the introduction of a few folds in front or a panel at the side. Some of the new skirts are slit open on either side to reveal a glimpse of a silk petticoat in a contrasting color. Sensible women will be sorry to hear that all new outdoor gowns have demi trains. Those who have cleanly notions con- nprnlnfr rtrpec will iffnfiw ttiA innnvttinn Trailing dresses are not only unclean, they j are ingutiuiiy expensive, lor the hems get frayed out before they have been in wear a week. Lozenge spots, rings, line-stripes and wafers are the patterns that will be most in vogue this season. A very distinguished cown in licht gray, patterned with stripes and wafers, had a scarlet silk waistcoat and a smart bodice furnished with long front ends to simulate a coat. The sleeves were slashed with scarlet. The newest bonnets in London, says one of The Dispatch's London correspon dents, are covered with tiny spring flowers, sewn on to a lace foundation. I had a chat with one of the greatest lady milliners in London the other day; she told me that fashionable women now always have their hats and bonnets made to order, in fact, to fit, and she said that for her part she would always much rather make a bonnet to order than sell a bonnet already made up. "A woman's head gear," she exclaimed, "is quite as much a part of herself as her gown, and is 20 times as important, seeing that it serves as a background, and frames the face of the wearer. Madam Virot always makes up her bonnets on a mcdel, txactly as a hairdresser dresses the hair, and I am going to adopt the same plan. No, I disapprove of all set shapes, and preler to work on a very soft wire foundation, that can be twisted about this way and that, so as to suit the shape of the head of the wearer for whom the bonnet is being made. The prettiest flower fc suitable for these new blossom bonnets is the violet. 1 recommend the Russian variety to my chaperon cus tomers, and "the light blue Parma violet here a young face is in question." Every artificial flower made by the best artificial blossom makers is. now scented be fore being sent out. The dresses worn at the wedding of "Peach Blossom" Hugo, granddaughter of Victor Hugo, writes a London correspond ent of The Dispatch, were all designed by Konlf, and formed u sigularly happy combination of coloring and eHVct. Tim 1'ridal gown was perfectly plain, composed of ivory white silk covered with loiae price less old'Euglish pomt,the present of Madam Daudet to her fntura daughter-in-law. Hound the hem of the skirt and edging the A mm An v u Wv'f-ygH ml hn va "If 1 v A THE train ran a ruching of real orange blossoms and white tulle. . Tne bride's mother wore a purple velvet costume with corset and sleeves of amethvst and silver-gemmed em broidery, the "bonnet consisted of a silver butterfly with purple velvet body, and jew eled strings. Madam Emilc Zola, the wife of the great realistic writer, sported a dark green gown trimmed with black Chantilly lace, and. according to a fashion which bids fair to become very popular this spring at weddings and receptions, carried an ivory mounted "Watteau fan fastened to her girdle A Hat of the Season. by a thin gold chain. All the undercloth ing of the trousseaux was composed of finest batiste, trimmed with the finest torchon lace, one rather exceptional peculiarity being that every garment was edged with a thick rufflaof lace, an old third Empire style that has entirely died out of late years. A white satin dinner dress, desijned by "Worth, is covered with small gold butter flies, the bodice of silver gilt filigree-work specially made by a Milanese jeweler carries out the butterflv idea, and behind by an in genious arrangement of white satin and silk gauze, two wings seem to spring from the shoulders and fall back over the train; this unique gown is one of the finest costumes ever produced by Monsieur "Worthrand will probably be worn by Victor Hugo's grand daughter at the Presidental ball thai will be given in her honor by Madame Carnot, at Easter. The new spring gowns made up for the young girls of London are invariably straight and are well off the ground. Some are shaped to lie flat round the hips, all the fullness being drawn into pleats or gathered at the waist, others are gauged equally across the front and side breadths. Most of the newest skirts are completed at the hem with a trimming of braid or ribbon. The prettiest voung bridemaid's dr.esses are finished oft" with a ruching ot flowers and grasses laid right across the skirt, and hang ing down on either side. Both ih London and Paris it is fast be coming the mode to have all the costumes which will have to be worn in conjunction with one another made by the same diess maker or lady's tailor. The effect produced is not only much more artistic, but far more likely to be in unison, for each dress artist now studies a special style and guards his or her designs quite as jealously as a painter his pictures. The rose skirt worn in the new play of the "Daucing Girl" is the rage in London now, according to a Dispatch correspondent. This famous frock is after all a very simple affair, and consists of some 50 fully-blown blossoms, each sewn separately onto the front of the short pink skirt. A word of warning may be given here apropos of these flower skirts; they would look absolutely ridiculous on any but a tall slight girl, but no doubt it will be possibl? to make some thing of the idea that would be suitable to most.figures. Hygienic dressing is really coming to the front in England, thank to Lady Harbcr ton and smart Mrs. Hancock. It is said that the button is getting to be of nearly as much consideration in the capi tals of Europe as in China. Antique but tons are made in great variety and to suit the period the fashion of which the dress re vives. Some contain portraits of the beau ties of the time, others are set around with peals, while more often than pot they are encrusted with gold. These are said to have a reallv fine effect, and as each button worn is of a 'different shade there is plenty of va riety. The "Victoria" is one of the most success ful of the London ladies' clubs, says Pall Hall Budget. It was established in 1875, and has this year moved into a large and handsome house near Cavendish square. The new premisesare exceedingly pretty and com fortable. In the commodious dining room are many tables, each large enough to dine four. These are decorated with flowers, and all the appointments are as nice as one could see in a private house. On the ground floor are also a cozy writing room, a reading room -2M vrK' til for Easter Horning. well supplied with papers and magazines, and a smaller room with long 'mirrors for the useful purposes of having dresses fitted on. Upstairs are the bedrooms and a charm ing drawing room. The Victoria Chib is a favorite residence of county members' wives coming to London for a few days or for the season. GAMBETTA'S GLASS EYE The Mory That He Put Out One or His Optics Purposely, Disproved. At the age of 9, Leon Gambetta was sent to the seminary at Moutfaucon, near the village of Labastide, where Joachim Murat, king of Naples, was born. It has been related that the child volun tarily put out one of his own eyes with a penknife, when he was at the ecclesiastical seminary, in order to compel his parents to withdraw him from the charge of the priests, says Paul Armand, writing in a syndicate letter. The accident really happened iu the following manner. Leon alwavs spent his holidays at home at Cahors. Next door to his father's shop a cutler named Galtie had established him self, and the child was constantly in the cutler's workshop. One day as a workman was boring a hole in the handle of a knife with a steel drill, put in motion by means of a sort of bow, the steel rod broke and one of the pieces struck the child in the right eye. Henceforth Leon Gambetta was blind ot an eye. "We all remember his protuberant eye at college, coeied ith a whitish pellicle which gave him the appearance ot a Cyclops. His school- ellows used to call him Cocles on account ni it. His eve remained in thjs way till 1867 when Dr. AVecker took out tie diseased eye snd substituted a glass one in its place. w i .n . 09L& PITTSBURG- DISPATCH. CAPTURES BY CUPID. Komantic Tales of the Little God's Conquests in Washington. A EICH BELLE'S FAITHFUL KARON. Adventures of a Beauty Who Was Petted by the Prince of Wales. A S1X-110XTIIS' TRIAL ENGAGEMENT ICOHHESrONDENCE OF TnB DISrATCU.l "Washington, March 7. Every season Washington furnishes the materials for half a dozen three-volume novels. The romances of society here are stranger than fiction, and the best of them seldom get into the news papers. The marriage last June of Miss Lena Caldwell to ISaron Zedwitz, Minister from Germany to Mexico, was the happy culmin ation of a romance begun some years before in Washington. During the winter the Misses Caldwell occupied the old Knapp house, corner of Seventeenth and I streets. Baron Zedwitz figured prominently in so ciety as Secretary of the German Legation. His infatuation for the younger of the two sisters at once became apparent to all who knew them. Fired with that spirit of re peated endeavor which rendered the name of Robert Bruce, of Scotland, famous in all ages, liarou Zedwitz persistently followed the beautiful young object of his affections from one place to another. Whenever the two girls appeared at a summer resort, the musical Secretary was certain to-loora upon the horizon and renew his protestations of unalterable love. Wedded Iu the University. Finally he was piomoted by the home office and sent as Minister to Mexico, while Miss Caldwell and her sister went abroad for a long stay. Dist.iuce, however, seemed in no wise to have affected the lover's ardor, for several times a year he regularly went abroad until at last his devotion was re warded, and Miss Caldwell, returning to this country, was married to him in the chapel of the new Boman Catholic Uni versity, which hersisterGwendolin endowed with $300,000. The romance which first brought Miss Adelc Grant into public notice as a beauty was enacted abroad. Yet it is in many ways allied to her life in Washington; as the sen sation which her appearance in any assem blage invariably created during her resi dence here several winters since, is unde niably due to the fame which now envelops her as the American girl who had the good sense to sever her engagement with the Duke of Cairns, a real live Duke, albeit a thoroughly unprincipled man. According to report Miss Grant, upon whose beauty the Prince of Wales had set the royal seal of his approbation, consulted no less a per sonage than His Highness on the momen tous subject of her engagement, and upon his august advice it was formally annulled. She Was to Pay the Expenses. The titled lover, like many another be fore and since, reckoned without his host, or more properly speaking, appears to have gone ahead without much attempt at any sort of reckoning, for no sooner was it noised abroad that the engagement was declared off than bills began to pour in from every di rection upon the astonished young lady. Not only was she expected to nay lor the jewels lavished upon her in prodigal pro fusion, but the caterer's and florist's ac counts for innumerable entertainments were also presented to her lor liquidation. The first thing which appears to have caused any apprehensions as to the disinter ested devotion of the Duke was his action in seeking to borrow a large sum of money from Miss Grant's mother on the eve of an entertainment at Nice. Miss Grant then re turned to this country, and it was scarcely more than a year thereaftc that the Duke, falling heir to a large fortune, immediately married an English girl. Miss Audenried nnd the Nunnery. Miss Florence Audenrid. daughter of the late General Audenried, United States Army, who within the pas' few months has married a count, though one of the youngest of Washington beauties, has already had an unusually eventful life, replete with ro mance and adventure. In the height of a successful season, surrounded by admirers, Miss Audenried suddenly becamesated with the gay world of fashion, and, deciding upon a venture ot religions enthusiasm, without warning, abjured the Episcopal laith to be come an ardent devotee of the Church of Iiome. Hardly had society recovered from this sudden announcement before it was startled by the intelligence of a still more unac countable move on the part of the young debutante. Kenouncing the world, the flesh and the devii, Miss Audenried under cover of night hied her to a convent, leav ing behind as the sole clew to her actiou the time-honored note on the pin cushion. In vain Mrs. Audenried wrote and implored her daughter to come home. In vain she applied for nelp to the Mother Superior of the convent, from both alike came the same answer, namely, that the young girl having entered of her own accord and professinga desire to remain, she was not to be coerced into leaving those walls within which she had sought shelter. State and Churcli in Conflict. Then it was that her mother decided upon an equally bold plan of action, and accom panied by the family lawyer proceeded di rect to Cardinal McCioskey in New York, formally demanded that her daughter as a minor should be at once delivered to her guardianship. At first it began to look as though the Cnurch and State would enter into open conflict over the matter, which was, however, after a few days successfully compromised, there being considerable money at stake, and the mother departed, happy once more in the possession of her daughter. A romantic attachment next en gaged the young beauty's attention, and upon its termination a season of European travel was decided upou. Miss Audenreid appears to have found more than the usual amount of favor in the eyes of His Royal Highness, for cablegrams received by the leading American journals shortly thereafter chronicled accounts of a fete given at one of the fashionable suburbs of London, at which the Prince of Wales trundled her several times about thegrounds in a wheelbarrow. A Mad Chase for a Steamer. Miss Mary Leiter, daughter of Mr. L. Z. Leiter, the Chicago millionaire, has figured prominently iu Lmdon society during the past season. A beauty or the statuesque tvpe, she has a face best seen to advantage under a Gainsborough hat with wide, picturesque brim and nodding plumes. The names oi those accredited by report as her devoted admirers are legion. One of the prettiest stories told is in regard to the at tachment to an English secretary of lega tion. 'Learning that Miss Leiter and her father two summers since were about to sail for Europe, the young lellow at once engaged passage on the steamer which he had heard they were to take. At the last moment, dis covering bis mistake, he instructed his valet to proceed to England in charge of his lug gage, and dashing into a cab with only a hand satchel containing toilet articles," he offered the driver a princely sum if he would insure his reaching iu time the dock from which sailed the steamer in reality selected by the object of admiration. This was suc cessfully accomplished, and hurrying on board just as the gang-plank was withdrawn, the Englishman had the felicity of sailing to his native country in the companionship of Miss Leiter and ber father. Hose Instead of Posies. The story was wafted back to Washing ton tuiil raised tfuite .: little stir which scarcely was given time to comfortably settle down before a rival one was started concern ing the proposal and rejection of another aspirant to Miss Leltcr's heart, hand and bank account. This also was a mem ber of the British Legation; who,.jrhile. SUNDAY, MARCH 8, high in her favor, sought and obtained per mission to give a theater party in her honor. The morning of the evening on' which it was to have been given the attache, full of bliss ful dreams, drove to the florist's, secured a box of choicest long-stemmed roses and then, on more useful matters intent, extended his shopping to include the purchase of a pair of silk hose. With the two boxes in the carriage he drove rapidly home, and after destroying a quire, more or less, of note paper, ended by inditing only the briefest note, and giving it to bis servant, bade him to at once convey it with the flowers to his lady love. The servant took the box, but he got the wrong one, and when the young lady read the note asking her "to wear the contents to-night," she was very much surprised and decidedly bored. The young man was even more bored than she was, and his capital slock in the bank of love shrunk to nothingness. The Carroll-Bancroft Marriage. Four or five years since when it was an nounced after the death, of Mrs. Bancroft, wire of the venerable historian, that a granddaughter, of whose existence no one had previously even heard an intimation, was to come and preside over his house on H street, society was on tiptoe with excite ment. It did not have long to wait, how ever, for the young granddaughter arrived, and from that time until her sensationai marriage two years since with Mr. Charles Carroll, of Howard county, Jd. one of the Carrolls of Carrollton the young lady managed to keep society in a continuous whirl of surprises concerning her actions and intentions. Not a month before the marriage with young Carroll took place the rumor gained currency that a dinner given by the his torian to a coterie ot Intimate friends had been for the purpose of announcing the en gagement of his granddaughter to the Vis comte de Chaunac, who owned and resided in the magnificent chateau de Cibeaumont par Doyne (Dordoyne) in France. It wa3 furtherwhispered that the two costly dia mond rings worn by her were the gift of her titled fiance, who, desiring her to exercise ber own fancy in the matter, had enclosed a check for a large amount to be spent'in this manner. Married to Suit Herself. It was amost interesting story altogether, and society looked on with pitying solicitude when it was told that the young girl was soon to be sacrificed to a mercenary marriage and that her engagement with the Viscomte was an' affaire de convenance arranged by an ambitious sister living abroad. The formal announcement of this engagement was subsequently made at Newport, and it was November 16, shortly after her return from this place that Miss Bancroft electrified us by walking out of her grandfather's house one morning and being married to Mr. Car roll in the parlor of St. Matthew's rectory. The service was performed by Rev. Father Chappellc, tbe necessary consent of Cardinal Gibbons having been secured by the young people going in person to Baltimore. Mrs. Nina Wright de Podistad, who spent several seasons in Washington, has already had crowded into her life experiences so romantic and thrilling that were they made the themes of a romance, the public would at once condemn it as altogether improbable and overdrawn. The Wife of a Fugitive. Coming to Washington as the divorced wife of a fugitive from justice, a forger whose whereabouts are to this day enshrouded in deepest mystery, she at once attracted marked attention. The prestige of her worth, beauty and standing as the heiress of a prominent New Orleans family soon won for her a host of friends. Among the most ardent of her admirers was Mr. de Podistad, an attache of tbe Spanish legation, who, though unable to obtain the consent of his Minister or family to his projected marriage, on account of the divorce, finally decided to brave everything and marry the woman he so madly loved. On the morning of what was to have been their wedding day, the husband-elect was violently ill, and" growing rapidly worse, sent for a physician, who, even at that early stage, professed himself dubious of the re sult. Mrs. Wright was at once notified, and during the few days which her lover lingered never left his bedside. The young fellow was urgent in his desire that the ceremony should be performed, and after a delay of some hours spent in endeavoring to gain the consent of his pries: to officiate, the services of a Methodist minister were finally se cured. Sceno In the Death Chamber. Shortly after the solemn service was con cluded, the newly-made wife was left a widow with the harrowing duty of arrang ing for the burial of the man whom the Minister and members of his own legation refused to acknowledge as her legal hus band. Tbe reason for this opposition on the part of the Spanish Minister, who has re cently been recalled, appears to have been twofold, for when he went to the house to view the body shortly after the attache's death, there ensued a scene which beggars description. Across the corpse of the young Spaniard the Minister hurled defiance at the widow, protesting vehemently that this calamity had come upon her because in the insolence of her beauty she bad dared to spurn his oft re peated avowals of love. Mrs. de Podistad, with the little sou by her first unhappy mar riage, is living in seclusion with her mother on the coast of France. A Siv Months' Trial Courtship. Perhaps the most novel romance is that of Miss Patten, eldest daughter of the late Mrs. Patten, of California, and Senor Rafael Gana, a wealthy man, whose brother at that time was Minister from Chile to this coun try. Senor Gana did not speak one word of English, while his lady-love was as glor iously ignorant of Spanish, but they met upon the common ground of French. They agreed that for six months they would be outwardly all devotion to each other, and though all public aunouncement was to be avoided, thoy were virtually to consider themselves engaged. Senor Gana was to be the attendant of Miss Patten on all occasions, should provide her with flowers and bonbons ad libitum, should secure choice seits at theater and opera, should carry her bouquet and fan at parties, and quietly obliterate himself during the round of dauces, to appear again as surely at sup per time. In return the young lady was to hold berself in readiness upon all occasions to forego such social pleasures as conflicted seriously with the sedate disposition of her elderly lover. She was moreover to meet and walk with him every fine day, and when inclement weather precluded the en joyment of pedestrian exercise was to enter tain him after, the most approved fashion-in her own home. At the . end of six months each was to be strictly honest with the other and state what progress this intimate degree of friendship had made on the royal road to love, and whether, all things considered, a continuance was to bo desired. Strange as it may seem, the two held to their vows of absolute candor, but the end was that they mutually preferred friendship to mnrriage. Miss Gkukdv, Jk. THE GKANDFATHEBS' CLOCKS. Ancient Timepieces Multiply Knpldly in American Homes. Brooklyn btahdard-Uuloii.3 How the old-fashioned clocks, like the one which used to belong to your great-greatgrandfather, are multiplying. When you hear onesf these ancient-appearing time pieces slowly striking the hour, you are apt to say, "There's au heirloom," but ten to one yem will be in error. Theiurnitnre manuiacturers arc produc ing clocks right along now which cm be made to appeir any age desired. Some few years ago there were people who would have given their very eye teeth for an bid-fashioned clock. Now they can be accommo dated. Of course, the ancient timepieces which are produced by the dealers are not really od, but they appear so, and that sat isfied some people. It's Human Natuie. ijomervllle Journal. Blinkb What would you do, now, if you were in my place? Jinks Ask somebody else's advice, prob ably, just as you are doing, and then act ac- .cording to my owaidJas U 1S9L WOMEN OF.THE HOME Contrasted by Shirley Dare With Con vention. Wire-Pnllers. THE MEETING AT WASHINGTON. Action Against the Cosmetics That Was Entirely Uncalled For. HEAT IS A SPLENDID MEDICINE rWBITTEN FOB THE DISPATCU.3 Of course the Women's Convention at Washington cannot get on without its little fling at the frivolity of cosmetics-and the women who use them. The convention represented, perhaps, CO, 000 women at a liberal guess. What are they to the 0,000, 000 good wives, mothers and girls who do their duty of individual responsibility of their own motion, without having to join a society or wear a badge to remind them of it, and who arc not at all above or beyond look ing as well in the eyes of those dear to them as nature will permit? The women' who do the right and pleasant thing naturally, instinctively, by the grace of God, and good mothers who keep their poise and place without needing any annual or triennial round up to get the convention brand, are tbe women of influence in these United States as yet, and the convention mongers will have to work vastly harder than they have yet to begin to counterbalance it. 1'oints on Convention Women. We are told the purpose of the conven tions is to "educate American women to broader views." No such thing. The ob ject of these affairs is to concentrate influ ence and power in the hands of the dozen or two leaders and secretaries who sit in bon nets on the platforms through the sessions and get headaches and shed their hair by so doing. Convention work is very bad for the nair anyhow; and politics turns it gray faster than trouble, while as for wrinkles you might have the serpent's tooth and the thankless child together for graying tools, and you could not write the lines deeper than carking ambition carves them in these leading women's laces. One thing I will say for these women con ventions and associations from somewhat in timate inspection, that no political machine is run with such relentless accuracy or utter ignoring of principle as these women's politics, and no ward or county "boss" keeps such rigid rule over his forces as those convention women in bonnets conspicuously good. One rule is common to women and Jesuits, that the end sanctifies the means and the end and the beginning are never far apart in the consummate "I" of the worker. Where tVoinan's Real Empire Is. I had ever so good an invite to the per formance, inside view and all, but I hate to lose the early fine weather for pruning my pear trees, and then I think too much of my health and nerves to sacrifice them in close convention air to such slight purposes. 3Iy dear women, can't you learn that the indi rect influence of your sex is the only irre sistible one you have? What the mischief does any shrewd woman want to spoil her complexion and temper in stuffy conven tions when she can sit at home in blessed sunlight among ber flowers and control from 5 to 500 votes, not by some irresistible Spell of beauty or amiability, but by that of right feeling and sound sense which men will hear and bow to, whether from prophet, priest, workman or woman holding the force of truth, which comes not of self-seeking and paltry ambitions or desire to rulel Convention leaders cannot hold in more utter contempt than I the beauty worship which makes a cult of cosmetics and by it seeks empiry over man. It is only in stories that the pretty woman wins by a walkover every time, and turns the heads of states men, business men and boys by a look. One may somewhat accurately appraise the worth of vital enduring good looks, as worth naming in t'n scale with polished manners and social talent, not an end at all, but a very clever means toward making life pleasan:. Worshipers of Women's Beauty. It is only half-drunk politicians and naturally fuddled, weak-headed literary men and ministers who pretend to worship women's beauty. But you want a good complexion as you want your boots clean, and' faulty features mended as you want your coat to set well. When all women are good looking there will be very little vanity left in the world. And now my dear young women who honor me with your confidences, about your complexions mostly, it is just the turn of the season you want to secure good health and a clear skin for the twelvemonth. Chiefly avoid taking colds in March and April winds. These thawy, moist days one feels the chill more than in midwinter with dry air near zero. I can't begin to tell you the harm dene by the slight colds, conges tions and checks of perspiration which no body thinks of. Especially do these account for the stray pimples, the rashes, the vexa tious stye in the eye, and, must we say it? the boils which girls have as well as their brothers. It is a mercy when these disor ders pass off with so slight though annoying effects as a boil or two, or.a breaking out. Youth throws these things off and thinks no more of them. The Old Time Yapor Baths. But the old girls, ranging from 33 to 50, married and unmarried, find these checks of circulation a more serious matter. These retentions of secretion, these minor conges tions which leave at first only a feeling of weight and dullness, are the cause of fibroids and tumors with their history of horror. We have got to go back to the old practice of hot vapor baths and fumigations by which the Middle Ages made up lor tbe want of surgery by preventing the need of it. We are behind the Romans and the Norsemen in this provision for health The hardy Finns to-day have their sweat houses in every village, where the weekly or semi-weekly bath is taken, till the bather reeks with perspiration, and the men rush out and throw themselves in the snow for relief. They find by experience that 'such alternations enable theni to bear the rigors of their winters, and centuries would have shown their error if they were mis taken. No Northern peonle are hardier or more spirited than these same Finlanders, with their clear complexions and dark blue eyes. Spite of their harsh climate, they have the most healthful living of perhaps any of the Northern races, and keep equal degrees of romance, daring and good feeling in their natures. You do not find imagina tion, force and adventure iu a race without coarse, plenteous fare, pure air and cleanlir ness. Tien for the Hot Air Register. The only substitute we have for the suda num is the hot air register from the lur nace. If in younger days, led by the voice of other writers, I have ever spoken disre spectiully ot the "hole in the floor" I with draw the expression. Since the great open fire is a thing of the past, we have nothing to compare for saving comfort with the ten inch register and its rush of genuinely hot air, where one can heat a chilled backbone, a rheumatic leg, or thoroughly warm one's sel 'cloaked and wrapped for going out. Doctors have scared women from their best -riend by warning them not to sit over hot registers lest they should make them tender. Living over them is one thing, sit ting over them when occasion requires is another, and occasion requires it pretty often with delicate women. The hole in the wall is a poor conceit, useful for nothing but to warm one's hack by at times, and the modern art stove with' its high footrail and fire half way up the wainscot or there abouts offers little chance of comfort to the chilled mortal. Some Specifics Again. t Colds. f you want a specific against colds and all the "gree cs" attending them, always go to bed warm. S:t over the register in night dress for half an hour till all the joints are thoroughly heated and suppled, and perspir ation start's gently. "If you have any par- ticular acaea m any j?m$ of the trunk, haye a hot soapstone or bag of hot sand to apply and sleep with it. Yonr hot water compress is a fraud, wears out too easily and wets the bed; anyhow it doesn't keep hot long enough to pav for the trouble of filling. When will' druggists keep the nice thin slab of soapstone or white porous brick with cover of cartridge paper and flannel, or the sandbag and cover which keep hot not lukewarm but hot till you get up in the morning? If you have a cold on the chest the hot sandbag is the best thing applied over the lungs. Aches of the abdomen fly before a thorough heating by a hot stone, and hot flannel or silk after, and one of the best remedies for the sleeplessness of flervous persons is to lay a hot soapstone against the stomach on going to bed. Topical Treatment for Dyspepsia. Another thing, no better relief for the malaise of dyspepsia exists than to apply this hot comfort to the stomach for 10 or 15 minutes after eating. It stimulates the flow of the digestive secretions and draws the blood where it is needed. Heat is a great medicine for all diseases. Lastly,dyspepticand flatulentpersons find great relief by wearing the'little Japanese handwarmers which burn a bit of punk for hours over the stomach or below it when discomfort occurs. This sort of hot compress can be resorted to in offices or where other appliance is impossible, as tbe whole affair is about the size of a card case. Sea cap tains and business men wear them under their coats, women hide them in their dresses and avoid many a pain and annoyance by it. The world is full of helps fo minor troubles if we only knew of them, and it is very much safer applying heat in this external way than using mustard plasters or stimulants in most cases. She Took Some Antipyrlne. Correspondents bring their troubles for solution. One lady has taken large doses of antipyrine for neuralgia and suffers a tor menting rash in consequence, and is at a loss to know if her cosmetics have anything to do with it. The action of antipyrine in causing eruptions is perfectly well known, and the cosmetics from different makers, the composition of both of which I happen to know, are innocent as the soap used in this case. A pure soap will aggravate a rash from antipyrine or bromide, and only the purest white vaseline, sweet cream or fresh goosefat will prove soothing till the effect of the medicine passes off. Clean, fresh goosefat is nearest the com position of human fat of any substance known, and is readily absorbed by the skin. A strict distinction must be drawn between the use of oils and fats as cosmetics or as medicinal ointments. Vaseline, lanolin, etc., are relegated to the physician as bases for his ointments and unguents, applicable to wounds, ulcers and eruptions of serious sort. Their use is temporary, and oftenest over a broken skin. To Keep Hair From Falling Ont. Cosmetics, on the other hand, are daily or nightly used as the great cosmetic, water, is, and we do not want substances to feed or or stimulate the hair-bulbs of the skin as lanolin or most fats, do. They have use enough in medicine and for the hair of the scalp. En passant, as hair begins to fall in spring, a nightly dressing of vaseline or wool fat is advisable, parting tbe hair in many places and applying tbe vaseline to the scalp with the finger, leaving it to dif fuse itself through the hair by night in sleep and brnshing well next morning. The strong yellow vaseline is best for the hair, especially to keep it from turning gray. I'm afraid vaseline wili darken blonde hair, and the only remedy is to let the sun bleach it again. From now till May is the great bleaching time of year, when sunlight has more whitening effect tbun in summer. German blondes go about bareheaded a great deal in the fields and gardens and keep the fairness of their locks into middle age! When they turn housewives, put on a cap and stay by tbe chimneyside indoors, it tarns flaxen brown. A girl correspondent is informed that she does not want to put oil of tartar on the hair at all unless she wants to go bald. It is for the skin only iu much dilution. Shibley Dare. ONE PHASE OF SOCIAL TYBAHITY. Ladle TvTio Draff Their Dabbles to Parties Make a Mistake. In one of his interesting Lenten talks one afternoon last week, the Rev. D. Parker Morgan, rector, sounded a warnine against the thoughtless conductof fashionable wives and daughters in dragging overworked busi ness men ont to balls and parties night after night, says the New York Times. No man, the -preacher argued, conld go home from business after "a hard day's work, eat a hearty dinner and then plunge into the ex citement of some social entertainment with out feeling the worse for it. And when, as is tbe case with some families, such a prac tice is kept up night after night, it means physical ruin and perhaps death to the head of the family. A man who taxe3 his brain and his nerv ous force to the utmost in his daily business needs all the rest that he C3n get at night. Ordinarily he has no inclination to lead a gay life socially, but goes out nights simply to oblige his wife and daughters. Dr. Mor gan solemnly urged the fashionable women of New York society to be more considerate in their social demands upon their over worked husbands and fathers. OVEE COUHTEB JESTS. How New York Shop Girls Spend Their eisnre Moments. New York Times. In an up-town shop the other morning a customer heard the following dialogue: "Say fanny?" from the ribbou counter. "What is it, ribbons?" from the fan counter. "Why is it that you are so unpopular with the ladies?" "Give it up." "Because in cold weather they don't fan see?" vSay, ribbons, why is your trade like that of a granger?" . "Whv is it?" "Because so much of it is gros grain." An Old Superstition Verified. bomervllle Journal. "Are you superstitious?" asked a by stander of a slowly-rising young tragedian. "A little," sad the actor sadly. "I have learned from experience that to have just 13 people iu the audience inevitably means bad luck." STOCK EETIBELY BW. FINE WALL PAPER! AT AIL PRICES. Wl TRINKL 541 WOOD ST. 541 Bank of Commerce Building. DEALERS IN " UNCRUSTA WALTON." GIGANTIC FUCHSIAS And Other Flowers and Plants That Are Worth Cnltivating. A HEALTH MEASURE FOE WOMEN. Directions for Hooting- siip3 to Insure Healthy Growth. BEAUTIFUL TEEiJS FOE THE TTI5TEB iwmnsN roa the disimtcii.1 There are no plants more admired than the fuchsias when successfully grown in pots, and the ornamental value of their flowers and leaves is only surpassed by the choice hybrid roses and a few of the exotic palms. They ore among the most prolific perennial bloomers, and where the climate and surroundings are favorable they attain such a size and form that they resemble sbrabs or even trees rather than small flower plants. On the Isle of Man a scarlet fuchsia baa been growing ever since 1S34, and it has now attained the size of a small tree, being IS feet high, with a girth at its top of 80 feet. It was planted by a servant girl, who made a hole in the gronnd and inserted a cutting of the fuchsia in it. In the South of Ireland the fuchsias are used for garden hedges and the brilliant pendant flowers form beautiful boundary lines to the places. In Chile, however, the fuchsias are found in their wild, native state, and they average the largest dimensions there, and when culti vated their flowers reach the highest perfec tion of coloring. The fuchsias are not easily propagated by amateurs and very few have excellent suc cess with them, either in cultivating them for the garden, the conservatory or the win dow garden. The impression seems to pre vail among many that the plants are winter bloomers, while in reality there is only one species that Is worth growing for winter flower ing and that is the well-known speclosa. with its large pink and red flowers. Failure is ex perienced because amateurs attempt to mako winter bloomers out of tho plants when sum mer and early fall are the proper season for their blossoms. Florists, by careful cultiva tion and surroundings, may make them bloom daring the middle ot winter, bat for ordinary cultivation they cannot be depended upon lor winter use. The pots should be kept in tho cellar during winter and brought out in March, when half of the top of the plants should bo cut off, and warmth, light and water be given to tnem. The fuchsias need plenty ot roofroom, and if the soil in tho pots becomes tilled with the small roots, tbe plants should be shitted to larger pots. Tho plants like light, but not hot sunshine, and tho pots should never be placed in very sunny windows, livery other day tho plants should be syringed over with Clearwater to keep the leaves clean and the roots nioist. or weddines, dinners and receptions fuchsias are always appropriate, but expensive. Tho florists have to receive something for the rial they take. Ella SrAK. E00IING PLANT SLIPS. Dow to Handle the Tender fehoots to In sure a Healthy Growth. A physician recommends all invalids to cultivate flowers, anddunngthe longwinter days they will receive more benefit from a window garden of plants than from drugs and medicines. If the work of tending and caring for them will take the invalids ont of doors, it will prove a donbie health-measure; bat even indoors the interest which one soon manifests in the plants will relieve the mind of brooding thoughts and fears. The good is ob tained not only from the Irarance and beauty ot the flowers, but from watchiuc; the ulants gradually growins and developing under their kind attention. Itootins plant lips is a diflicuit part of tho whole art of floriculture, tor everything de pends on tho start which a plant "gets. Use nothing but clean, sharp sand for striking cut tine in, and Rive it all the water it can absorb without becoming mud before the slips are out 1 in it. Insert the h:icer in the sand, and if water fills np the hnieleft by the finger the sand Is too moist; but up lo this point" water may be given freely. Take your cu:tins of heliotrope, fuchsia, abutilon or seraaiunTand place them in ili9sann. fnueezinc Ihe soil close around them. The box ot cuttinzs when full should then be placed in somo warm, li-lic place warmth and ligut being tho two zicat essentials to success. Tbe object now is to keep the sand moist, and attention to this will be required every day, as tho water will evapo rate rapidly. Some slips root slowly, but on most of tho slips new leaves will start in about a week. When four or live or these have developed the slips will have strong, healthy roots, and they may be removed to small pots. The soil in iha puts should bo prepared carefullv beforehand, so that tbe change will be lor the best, ai.d under the new surrunnaiugs the growth will bo increased rather than checked. Tho soil should be rich, norousand composed of elements simi lar to those constituting tho soil for other pot ted plants. fertilizers may be Riven later if the ptantsdo not seem to grow fast enough. This, however should always be given in small quantities, for large doses force the growth unnaturally and make the plants unhoalthy. The plants that have been dormant through the winter can also be treated to small doses of fertilizers, but tin should never bo done until the plants be:m to start np into a new growth. It may otherwise prove tatal. Uelkn Vi'uabuviidos. TREES VS THE WISTES TIME I'cople Make a Mistake in Itunuin; Ex clusively to Ei ergreens. To many people trees are only attractive when they are clothed with leaves, and ow ing to this fact the almost general use of ever green shrubs and trees for ornamental purposes has sprung into practice. But we only realize the stcrdincss of tbe oak in winter wnen leaves no longer dismise -tho knotted strength of its limbs. Tho birch is tbe most graceful and attractive when shorn of its leaves, and the marvelous structure of tho elms is only fnllv realized when their limbs and branches are bare of leaves. In the winter the eve is un disturbed by the masses of foliage on the trees, and the full beauty and variety of the bark col oring are then taken in and made a prominent feature of the landscape. There is something grand and graceful about the toll, leafless pop lar in winter, and the white-barked hickory has something to show in its bark aud peculiar shape. If nothing bat evergreens are planted there is no apparent change trom winter to summer, and tbe eye becomes wearied at tbe monoto nous sight, Besides.the homes that are closely surronnded by the heavily-f'iliaged evergreens will invariably bo damp and unhealthful. If the spruce and pine trees are kept long enough they soon tower above the house and shutout tbe sunlight. All of this is avoided by placing deciduous trees nearest to the house and by sprinkling them around on the lawn. In tbe winter time this gives the air free circulation and enables tbe damnness to evaporate. C. S. Walters. JS& uUi. . , Sgfejjykl
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers