THE ILLUSTRATED DEE.
September 18; 190
Fashion's Latest Edict
1G
1 aevasiaung ilh uiu bwltii ui dc-enteen-year
locusts across a
wheat field will be the results of
the new laws of the International
Association of Dressmakers, re
cently In session In New York. Here ore
the edicts:
Thirty yards arc to be required for a
Srcss, where taut year twelve was enough,
With a yard or su to spare for the baby's
eaxc.
Thirty feet In circumference Is to bo the
measurement of the base of the skirt for
the coming winter.
The straight front Is to be thrown aside
tor the polonaise. The bust Is to be raised.
The corsets of last year are to be dis
carded. Leg o' mutton Fl eves have been dragged
back Into style and the puff transferred
frem the wrist to the shoulder.
The shoulder.', are to be widened and the
waist made more slender.
"Dressmaking Is the architecture of the
human figure," the dressmakers have an
nounced. They hnvo made a change from
ttio Queen Anno cottage effect to old colo
nial. The results will be felt by every woman
In the country. So startling have been the
changes that every woman who aspires to
dress prestige of the International sort will
liae to procure an entirely new wardrobe,
from corsets to skirt. There will be no
making over. There was much of protest
today. Many of the out-of-town dress
makers screamed with horror und trem
bled when they saw what they were ex
pected to do for their customers, but they
bad no redress.
Mrs. Safford liarstown, tho New York
woman who spends her entire time simply
designing on paper new creations in tho
garb of lovely American womanhood, was
asked if tho statement made in the dress
makers' convention that somo women spent
as much as $23,000 on their clothes In a year
was an exaggeration.
"That la merely a fair average," she saJd.
"Far from being distorted the llgure named
Is very conservative. Mrs. John Jacob
Astor, I think. Is admitted to bo the best
dressed woman in New York. I am certain
that she spends ull of $50,000 a ycur on her
dresses.
"Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbllt Is a close sec
ond, llcr dressmaking bill certainly runs
over $10,000, whilo Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish and
Mrs. Joseph WIdener, for Instance, ure lu a
big class that easily part their husbands
from upward of $33,000 each year for the
benefit of the dressmakers, shoemakers,
glovers, etc."
Under the lead of Alexander Green, an
Importer and women's tailor, there is a
strong movement among tho New York
dressmakers to institute a "black list" for
their mutual protection against rich women
who run up big bills and systematically fall
to pay them, or else make only scanty pay
ments from time to time and still permit
their Indebtedness to increase Indefinitely.
"Once," pays Mr. Green, "a woman gels
Into this habit the Is Incurable except
through sharp measures. We cannot go on
as wo are doing, so overawed by the wealth
of these people that wo permit them to rob
tis as wo would not think of allowing any
poor person to dp. It Is not unusual for a
dressmaker or women's tailor In New York
to carry $30,000 of unpaid bills, the debtors
belnjf perfectly able to settle them at ten
minutes notice, but obstinately averse to
doing so. I have appealed to the craft be
fore, but they say they are afraid. Afraid
of what? That some of their smart custo
mers will withdraw their trado and affect
their business? As well be afraid of the
Plaek Hand society or the Mafia. The
principle Is all wrong. I don't want such
women on my books. To protect ourselves
v.e must organize."
This time it looks ns If the dressmakers'
black list may become a reality. One can
well imagine what wrath thero will be In
tho bosoms of some fashionable women
when they find their names in it.
Twain on Italian Verbs
Examination and inquiry showed me that
tho adjpctlves nnd such things were frank
and fair-minded and straightforward and
did not shuttle; It was the verb that mixed
the hands. It was tho verb that lacked sta
bility, it was tho verb that had no perma
nent opinion about anything, it was the
verb that was always dodging the issue
end putting out the light and making all
the trouble.
I had noticed In other foreign languages,
thnt verbs are bred in families nnd that
the members of each family have certain
features of resemblances that nre common
to that family and distinguish It from tl-.e
other families the other kin, the cousins
nd whnt not. I had noticed that this fam
ily mark is not usually the noso or the
tialr, so to speak, but the tall the termina
tion, and that these tails are quite defin
itely differentiated; Insomuch that an ex
pert can tell a pluperfect from a subjunc
tive by its tall ns easily and as certainly
as a cowboy can te'l a cow from a horse
by tho like process, the result of observa
tion and culture. I should explain that I
am Breaking of legitimate verba, those
Verbs which la tlxe slang; of the grammar
A
MRS I'ArjvT KH'S T1IKNOUT (DkXJO HAT IONS IN YEr.LOW UOSES) THAT GOT FIRST PRIZE FOR SINGLE RIGS IN
UOLDKECiE FLOKA-L PARAli Photo by Thorne & Gleason, Holdrege.
TURNOUT OF MRS TITUS AND MRS DR HART (CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN VARIOUS SHADES). GIVEN SFCOND
Hil'ia iron B1NGLJ3 IUGS EC UOliDiOiGlS i'lRAl. P-viCADE. i'boto by Thorno & Gleason, lloldrege.
TURNOtTT OF MRS. HANL1N AND MRS. KRONQUEST (PINK AND WHITE). GIVEN SECOND PRIZE FOR DOUBLE
HIGS IN HOLDUEGE FLORAL PARADE. Photo by Thorne & Gleason, Hold rege.
nre called regular. There nre others I
am not meaning to conceal thH; others
called Irregul ir, born out cf wedlock, or
unknown and uninteresting parentage ami
naturally destitute of fami"y rfsmMnees
as regards all features, tiills included. Hut
of these pathetic outcasts I have nothing
to say. 1 do not approve of them. 1 do not
encourngo them; I am prudishly celi-Tito
and sensitive and I do nov allow them to
bo used in my pi esence. Harper's Maga
zine. Eggs and the Uarometer
Four minutes ale required to boil an egg
properly, say the houst-v. Kos, but Hint ia
a rule that applies only at the level of
the sea. The boiling point of the Ih rmom
oter at tea level, barometer ;tu, is 2i de
grees Fahrenheit, but us a matter cf coursa
it drops with considerable rapidity as iho
saucepan und tho lire ascend Into the at
mosphere. For example, ut Denver, which
Is about one mile higher than the ocean,
tha polut of boiling U only 2ol degrees.
Accordingly, It would be well that a
young and Inexperienced housekeeper In
Di nvcr, taking these facts into considera
tion, should give thirteen extra seconds
to ti e eggs In her pot, In order to achieve
a correct result. On Pikes Peak, which
towers aloft to an e!evniion of 14,000 feet.
It would be requisite to allow four mln
ute nnd tl.irty-flve seconds. Mount Me
Klnley, In Alaska, Is 20.000 feet high and on,
Its top a prudent traveler would do well to
time his eggsi for five full minutes after
putting them on to boll.
Tho loftiest elevation on land ever
reached by man was attained in 1S.S2 by W.
M. Conway on tho summit o l'lin-er peak,
in tho Himalayas. He found It so dilllcult
to breathe that he was glad to deseenl
again without delay, but If he had paused
to boll an egg it would have taken him five .
minutes and twenty-two seconds. The
boiling point of water goes lower as one
ascends Into the atmosphere at the rate of
something like three degrees a thousand
feet. Thus it would appear that approxi
mately six minutes would be re-iuireJ for
the proper cooking of eggs for one's break
fast on the top of M'unt Everest, which is
five miles and a half in height and the tall
est piece of territory on earth. However,
it is not In the U.ast probable that any
human being will ever stand on the summit
of this mightiest of mountains, because tha
air is too rarlfloj to sustain life.
Recently a query has been offered as to
whether a ball player at Denver can pos
sibly curve a base ball so effectively lr
the relatively thin air of that neighborhood
as In Boston or New York, where the pres
sure of the atmosphere per square Inch Is
two and a half pounds greater. Inasmuch
as the curving of a buso ball depends upon
the resistance offered by the air through
which it passes, which serves the purpose
of a continuous elastic cushion upon which
the rotating sphere impinges, It would seora
that a lewseiHtl density of the cushion (im
plying less resistance) must diminish tho
curve. As yet, however, the question an
to whether in actual practice this is so
or not remains unsettled, Saturday Even
ing rust.
