Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1885 — Using a Fan for a Garment. [ARTICLE]

Using a Fan for a Garment.

Did you suppose that clothes were always for warmth and fans for coolness? Well, then, you are mistaken. Your theory is sound in the main, but the ball belle reverses it She goes to the gay gatherings of dancers, barebreasted, in the fashion sanctioned by polite usage. From Bhoulder to shoulder, and from neck to a perilously low point, she has no covering whatever. It is clear as can be that her garb has no reference to warmth. She is by it exposed at her most sensitive area to oold. Every draught of air threatens her with pneumonia, and each change from the temperature of a room to that of a colder one menaces neuralgia or rheumatism. In this quandary she bethought herself of making her fan a paradox. She employs that article of adornment, llirtation and refrigeration for still another purpose. She gets a big one constructed of feathers on the outside; or else a lace affair which looks as airy as her own corsage; but the inner surface is covered with swan’s down, under which is a thick wadding. Armed with that sort of a fan, like the shield of a Joan of Arc, she defends her breast against the darts of Death. If a door is opened to let in cold air on her while she is engaged in a quadrille, she spreads the fan closely on her bosom, and thereby is instantly as much dressed as though a high-necked gown, chemise and chamois underwear had been suddenly donned. If in the circles of the waltz she has to pass an open window, the fan is clapped into place. White fur is, in some instances, used for these fans. They are a great comfort during the ball and opera, season, I assure you. But I had to laugh at the unsophisticated fellow, who, the other night, was discussing with a matron the charms of a maiden who sat at the opposite side of tlio hall. “She is reallv so Aodest,” he remarked ; “as gushingly as a school girl.. See how she defends herself with her fan against the eye of the man who is bending over her.” The fact was that she sat in a breezy spot and was using her fur-lined fan. “It’s the wind she’s afraid of,” said the matron. “Bless my soul,” the chap ejaculated. “I knew he was a rapid talker, but I didn’t imagine he was such a conversational blizzard as that.” —New York letter.