'Ihe Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
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By .'LA RACONTEUSE
PARIS, April 4. I often think Fashion' has n siib
consclous mind, and that her sensibilities guide
her In many quarters to tho one Issue. Her In
tent will have travelled through sovernl channels which
Anally unite, and then, bohold, a conscious and deliber
ate change of scene.
Tho effort the milliners aro making- to launch the
Ninlche hat has been giving me some concern. Will
the pannier feature of fashion have enough Influence to
bring In Us train the form of hat which was certainly
its historical accompaniment?
Some of the best authorities among our milliners,
although they are showing tho Ninlche, Bhake tholr
heads over Its prospects. As one of them said to mo
tho other day, "Tho Watteau typo of faco Is almost non
existent." Parisian hairdressers aro showing their
pretty Waxen ladles with their hair drawn high on tho
head over a cage, and they look charming .enough, but
waxen ladles aro generally dainty featurod.'
Truth to tell, tho typo of faco that dominates to-day
Tvould look very weird In wax. It Is too" heavy, too pro
nounced. "Your establishment la nothing less than a wonderful
kaleldoacopol" said a well-known Parlslenno to her mil
liner a few days ago, as she entered tho latter's show
rooms near the Madololne.
Tho term kaleidoscope is not exaggerated It we bear
In mind how quickly the shape of our hats changes.
Evory ten days thero is something new to chronicle
In headgear, either at the faces, the "at-homes," or
at the conferences a In mode. Numbers of elegant
women acorn much In favor of the flat hat in Btraw,
taffeta or moire, worn tilted at ono sldo. Thero are, In
fact, two camps In tho millinery world, ono that advo
cates the boforo-mentlonod stylo, and ono that remains
faithful to tho cap or toque drawn tightly over tho head.
Tho former, with Its binding and strings of narrow
comet velvet ribbon, discloses tho hair to every advan
tage. It Is, however, never used for walking purposes.
Tho flat hat has found Its proper place at tho after
noon reception, where It completes most elaborate
gowns In charmouse stamped with dull gold Venetian
medallions. Certain milliners trim these plateaux, as
thoy aro somotlmes called, with tiny bouquets of many
colored anemonos or primroses.
A popular hat of tho moment 1b the black or dark
blue model In the finest straw, fitting tho head like a
cap. It has a wido brim anrroundlng the crown and held
in its place by six pairs of wings to match, which are
placod two by two, In front, at tho sldo and at the back.
These three, groups of wings are sewn at such a slant
ing angle that thoy appear to touch ono another all
around tho hat Tho cap Is most becoming It coquettlflhly
tilted like tho typical bonnet do police under tho French
Revolution. Somo of these' pretty hats are completely
covored with small wings sewn in every direction, but
thero Is alroady n fear of their becoming too general.
Another exquisite trimming for these straw caps con
sists of a group of threo large single popples, in their
natural coloring, made of,feathers, and placed above the
right oye. It Is understood that tho brim Is caught back,
all tho way around, and fits tho low crown tightly.
THE PANNIER TRANSFORMED.
For tho last couple of months thero has been a slow
transformation in tho shape of 'the fashionable tunics
and Louis XV. panniers. The former, in many cases, are
cut shorter on. ono sldo than on tho othor, and the pan
nier 1b placed olthor nt tho back or on one hip,
Though both tho Eastern kilt and the eighteenth cen
tury drapery have lost tholr typical outline, tho dress
makers aro still persevering In adapting ono of those
trimmings in some form or other to their spring models.
And hero Is a curious fact worth noting. Tho gradual
modification of theso two styles has resulted In an in
teresting amalgamation which we will torm the double
nannlor. Tho double pannier, such as Is worn to-day,
was unknown In the tlmo tf Mmo, do Pampadour. The
material forma a double puff reaching half-way to the.
kneeB, and ns many of our bodices aro still hjgh-waisted
tho offect buUs most women.
This graceful trimming must not bo confounded with
the puffed tunics sown ono above the other, alternating
with wido klltlngs of tulle, that a well-known couturlor
launched on tho stage about a month ago without any
success. Tho stylo in tho new double panniers lies In
the draping of the puff and in the floral garlands that
help to keep tho material in the right place. At a recent
evening roception there were two pretty dresses in pale
green and lemon-colored taffetas respectively. Both
wcro evidently designed by the same flrm.for tholr draped
panniers had a similar trimming of largo full-blown
slnglo roses In siik separating each puff, and a similar
pair of long, narrow straBB buckles upon the shoulders.
Tho green toilette had tho double panniers in tullo of
the s&mo shndo and Parma-mauve and vlolot roses.
Two garlands of red and pink flowers trimmed tho
yellow gown, which, with the exception of tho chiffon
sleovea and bodlco drapery, was in taffetas.
Thus far, these novel panniers have only boon worn
at night. It yet remains to bo seen whether they will
be adopted for the daytime with equal success.
TAFFETAS COMING BACK.
In the all-provalllng desire for dull, soft texture that
Is such a characteristic of fashion just now, it is rather
Interesting to see that taffotas are having a "look in,"
notwithstanding. Whether that "look in" will lead
to very much somo are doubtful. The most expensive
and tho most beautiful qualities of taffetas havo a soft
bloom which does give a charm of texture unknown to
the cheaper qualitlos. Acutely dependant on quality
Is this particular silk. I remember a frock at Auteull
that was a sort of luminous' blue, the blue of blue
black ink when one has split It, and on a petite woman
the result was very agreeable, but the material was of
the most expenslvo weave. It Is painfully easy for a
taffeta garment to be an atrocity. To be a success It
demands all the right conditions of quality, shade,
texture and design.
Then, the other day, I noticed a delightful taffeta
(rock, in a costly quality, teto de negre In colbr, de
lightfully draped, and cleverly arranged on the bodice
with black tulle and a bint of jet at the waistline.
MUSLIN COLLARS.
Tho success of tho fine book muslin collar Is another
outcomo of the desire for the dull texture as distinct
from tho smooth, and, incidentally, it does not do to
Ax those collars Into tho neck of a bodice; they set
differently and give altogether another air when they
are Axed on a net guimpe or bodice slip, which, by the
way, must have Its base run on a tight elastic so that
it is hold well down and gives the collar no chance to
rldo up or set badly.
But, of course, this proviso applies to all laco collars.
I saw a girl the other day In a navy serge frock with
a gally-strlped silk sash, cuffs, and noticed with what
ease and grace her embroidered white net collar framed
tho "Wahaped nock-lino. The "V" of her net gulmpo
was loss deep than the "V" of the serge bodice. It was
perhaps an inch and a halt higher, and made a very
pretty opportunity for a diamond bow brooch, on the
net where the collar mot, to show Itself In a half-revealing,
half-concealing sort of way.
A girl I know has ever so many of these net gulmpes.
to which sho has number of different effects fixed
and sho flndir them inflnltely useful in this "V" nock-llne
phase.
To hark back to tho serge suit, what success is at
tending this striped and plaid notot How unmistakably
It marks the serge suit of to-day from that of yesterday.
Tassels carrying out the colors In the silk glvo a
cheery little note deep cerise, red, purple, or vivid
middle blue, such as always occur in theso plaid and
striped patterns.
At tho left of the page is shown an exquisite even
Ing gown of "orclrtdle" brocaded satin. The bodlco Is
made of a high draping of net, passing under the arms.
A bandit beaded gold goes over the shoulders and is
rounded above tho waist at tho back, holdine ud 1
rich gold lace drapery. The aklrt, of the plainer shane
is trimmed at the back with a wide Watteau nlalt
caught up at tho bodice with a gold-beaded band and
falling frco in a small train.
Tho model at the right is a charming example of the
eighteenth century mantle, one of the featurea of the
Spring and Summer "small vetements."1
It Is mado of light blue taffota, brocaded in pink cut
In the kimono shape, with elbow sleeves. At the back
1b a short, modernized Watteau plait, open down the
middle. Tho points of the material mako the basques
Those in the front are rounded and draped by two
folds at each side. The neck Is bordered with a "croto"
of black Chantilly. Small bows of black velvet aro ar
ranged high up on tho back, at the walst-llne In front,
and are used to finish the sleoves.
7
T I -
1 Significance of the Revival of Interest in Occultism and "Witchcraft"
By Mgr. Robert Hugh Benson
The Distinguished Roman Catholic Dignitary
and Author, Sop of the Lite Archbishop of
Canterbury.
THE revival of Interest, in maglo or
occultism at the presont day is a very
remarkable phenomenon. Fifty years
ago even thirty thoro were probably not u
score ot people In London (and thoso kept
their preoccupation to themselves) who had
any interest at all In the subject excopt from
a purely, archaeological standpoint Tho wholo
affair Would have been dismissed by practic
ally all educated men as something too evi
dently foolish and nonsensical to desorvo any
attention at all.
Well, the . Udeu.haa changed remarkably,,
owing partly no doubt to scientific Investiga
tions, partly toa-.'realJucrei4e4bt knowledge .
in tho psycbol6gtcal realmv partly to tho dis
integration ot? dogmatic religion; onco more
tho whole BubjeCt'ttt occultism, in Us narrower
sense, has presented Itself tor . examination. It
may be worthwhile to record a tow observa
tions on the fact. - .
First It la necessary to remember that prob
ably In no other realm ot knowledge, real or
imagined, doe's. 'credulity play a larger part
than in occultism since that attitude ot mind,
called by somb 'credulity and by others faith,
is generally believed to be an essential element
if success Is -to be .attained As' in the realm
of religion, eo 'In. that of. its Illegitimate 'slater,
occultism, the' law is believed to" run which
states that "According to your faith so shall
it be dono unto you." An expectant, It not
confident attitude 1b believed to bo a condition
of success. Where, tbon, as in occultism, tho
ordinary restrictions of reason aro wanting,
credulity remains rampant; aud tho vory fact
of this relieves those who suffer from tho pre
valent cpldomlc ot intellectual sloth from
taking any further interest In tho matter.
To those, however, who seriously think about
the subject a few yery significant tacts pre
sent thomsolves, ana the first is the extraor
dinary catholicity, so to say, of occultism
and its amazing power ot recuperation. There
are, roughly speaking, threo ages ot man the
barbaric, tho clvillced, and tho decadent; and
In tho first and third of these occultism Is In
variably presont.
Thoro Is no savage tribe that does not believe
in it; there is no largo modern society In
which It is not practised. Tho Melaneslans and
the Hed Indians at one end, modern Parisians
aud a largo section ot Londoners at tho other,
different in all else in their vices, their
philosophy, their manner of lifo aro united in
this.
As surely ao civilization la below qr above a
certain level and who shall say that that level
is the most portect or clear-sighted? so
surely Is occultism a feature ot life; and by
occultism I mean tho belief In, and a claim to
bo able to use, a certain range of forces neither
natural nor, technically, supernatural a Tange
ot forces that can only bo called protornatural
usually for orll of selfish ends.
There Is, of course, a further claim made on
behalf of what Is known as "white magic," and
yet a further extension ot the term occultism
to cover mysticism and the science ot spiritu
ality generally; but with this I am not at
present concerned.
Tho same undoubted fact with regard to
occultism (defined in this sense) Is that modern
psychological investigation has done a very
great deal to establish the objectivity ot Its
phenomena.
Tako, tor Instance, the old claims made on
behalf ot witchcraft It was believed, without
a shadow of doubt, by the majority of both
educated and uneducated porsons In England,
until about a century or so ago, that certain
people had tho power ot inflicting on others
.physical injuries of varloua kinds through
means other than physical; and these persons,
who were called witches, themselves frequent
ly confessed to tho crime alleged against
them and suffered the penalty of tho laws then
in force. The means used were chiefly those
drawn from symbolism of which a very
familiar instanco will servo as a type the
Instance, that Is, ot making a wax figure to
represent the person who was to be attacked
and ot transferring, so it was claimed, the
Injuries Inflicted on the wax flguro to the
original it was meant to represent
Now, it may seem a far cry from this appar
ently gross superstition to the cultivated
observations of a modern psychologist; yet, If
thero is one single law to whose existence the
modern psychologist is pledged it is to the
principle that by thought alone, properly
directed, without any other known physical
means, the thought ot another, and hence his
whole condition, may be affected.
Hypnotism Is, ot course, an oxtrome develop
ment of: the power of thought, assisted by '
othor means. '
x Personal' influence, as it la called, Is another;
but all such developments, whether extreme or
not,, witness to the underlying forco of
thought in.CQmmunlqatlng itself to another by .
othor means than those known to us as cer
tainly physical." It Is a mattor for philosophy
to decide, as to whether the- medium, so to say,
through, which such thought" acts should
technically bo called physical or not The fact
remains that, without external words or signs,
the forqe ot thought can bo conveyed from one
mind to another.
To return, then, to the, witch. Our witch
surrounds herself with every incentive to pro
longed, concentrated, and inalovoleut thought
She helloves with passionate pride In her own
power; her victim believes In It. too, with
, dismay no Icsb passionate, The witch places
before her a small wax Image, made to resemble
as closely as possible tho person she desires to
injure; and. helped by this aid to a state ot fixed
and malignant attention, inspired by her sub
conscious apprehension of the very strange
and mysterious law of symbolism, she further,
materializes her spite by each separata action
of driving a pin Into the figure, or ot watch
ing the flro melt Its features.
There is present practically every circum
stance that the modern scientific psychologist
' would demand, for success In ah experiment
In telepathy. Is It "any wonder that the
experiment should, pretty frequently, suc
ceed? That the victim, that is to say, should
be affected first in thought and then In body:
Copyright, 1014, by, tho Star Company. Ureat Britain lUKhts
and that, in extreme instances, his conse
quent sufferings shoud coincide remarkably,
as the evidence in withcraft trials goes tar to
show that they did, with the pulsations of
evil will focusscd and concentrated aa each
pin went Into this unhappy dummy In the
witch's chamber even, in very exceptional
Instances, that ho should actually dlo in
agony as tho last pin goes through his heart?
And this is but ono Instance out of the whole
sorlcs; but it is an Instance that will Berve very
well, since it is an excellent typo of the rest
in all the old malevolent occultism the principle
is the same. Sometimes it taken more Intimate
forms, sometimes less; sometimes a part ot
tho clothing of tho victim must be obtained,
or, better still, something that onco formed
part ot bis body, such aa his nail-pairings or a
lock ot his hair; sometimes the letters of his
namo combined Into a monogram are taken as
tho. focus of attention; sometimes othor aids
are called Into requisition things such as dew
gathered on certain nights and at certain
hours, or the droppings from a gallows and
all these must be combined and used in par
ticular manners with a set ritual.
But the principle throughout is the same,
that certain material things, themselves highly
suggestive - and exciting to the imagination,
gathered or used under circumstances equally
suggestive suggestive, that is to say, in the
sense that they all aid In tho concentration of
tho agent's attention that these material
things so used may be tho means of setting
in motion certain forces connected with the
laws ot thought laws perfectly recognized
at the, present day as effective in the very
dlroctlon in which our forefathers believed
them so.
Now, of course, a whole host of further
questions immediately suggest themselves, on
which we have not. it may be, sufficient data
to form any opinion. There is first the ques
tion ot symbolism, Itself. Is there, or Is there
not, a power in symbolism beyond that of its
direct effect upon the mind ot the observer?
Is there, that 13 to say, immediately beneath
the surface ot what we call nature a kind ot
network ot laws of which we know, explicitly,
very little laws of which symbols are not
merely symbols, but actual and effective In
struments, in such a sense that by uilner the
Reserved.
symbol we set In motion the law? Or Is it
merely that visible and audible symbols affect
tho mind and that tho mind does the rest?
Again, Is it or is it not necessary, or. It it Is
not necossary, Is It or Is it not reasonable to
Bupposo tho presence and aid ot dlscarnate
personalities such as those which the occult
ists tor the most part believe In for tho carry
ing out ot occult operations?
Theso, however, are quite separata questions,
and H is not in the least necessary for one who
accepts the objective phenomena ot Black
Magic, in tho present stage of psychological
knowledge, either to affirm his belief in sym
bolism as a law external to human thought,
or to accept the theory of Satanic interven
tion. If bo already believes in these things
he will almost certainly feel that here. If
anywhere, is an obvious realm tor thel""
activity; it ho does not believe in them he
can still, tor the present at any rate, accept a
reconciliation between the phenomena ot
Black Magic and the conclusions of modern
psychologists without any grave mental .dis
comfort There la, after all, only one mental attitude
to-day really impossible to the educated "man
that of blank incredulity with regard to tho
whole Bubject Certainly he has every Tight
to reject tho reconciliation proposed aa In'
sufficient and to demand far mora evidence
before ho makes up his mind. No lees cer
tainly he has a right to accept the reconcilia
tion as one that, on the whole, seems ta him
to meet tho claims made on either side by
tho Jclentlflc psychologist and the occultist
But he cannot any longer reject both these
claims as evidently absurd. Thoy coincide far
too remarkably to be dismissed as unworthy
of serious attention. When such men as. Sir
Oliver Lodge think that subjects such aa these
are worth Investigation at all; when, .on the
modern psychological side, discoveries are
made In continuous succession, corroborating
no less than occasionally contradicting the
guesses made in less exact ages ot thought
a man Bunds' convicted ot simple Ignorance
who treats the whole matter with derision.
And, at least he has to face the fact that
after religion itself, occultism in some form
or another is the most widolv diffusa instinct
of humanitv acl
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