Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1892 — FOR THE LADIES. [ARTICLE]

FOR THE LADIES.

THE ORNAMENTS OK HOME. 14 has been said that the ornaments of every home are the frieuds who visit it. Now, though caller* and more intimate acquaintances may be morally decorative, still the real ornameuts of the home are the women who live in it. They are the bits of prettiness that turn even plain surroundings into something most attractive and delightful to the man who wends his way thither at nightfall or sets out from theuee every morning to assume the duties imposed upon the breadwinner. “What is home without a mother?’’ is a very much parodied expression, yet in it lies a concise and resonant truth, though wife, sisters, daughters, each and all types of home femininity, go as much toward the making up of that one especial nest for many who have been deprived of the tender and loving care of parents years ago. A sunny faced wife who kisses her husband goodby in the morning, a bright eyed daughter who follows him to the door with gay little admonitions ns to the care of ids health during the day, or a sister who places his gloves and hat in readiness for him ns an act of atl'eet innate attention, these are the ornaments of the home ite leaves behind that a man remembers, though he might not be able, to save his soul, to recall the especial name of any ware in his cabinet or on his dinner table. Do not forget this, ye little home circle of busy women. Slake yourselves bright and attractive to the men folks that belong to you and they will not invent so many business engagements and lodge meetings in order to get away •irom you.—[New York Advertiser.

HINTS KOR SI.IOIIT MOURNINU. Slight mourning should bo handled with great care, as in most cases it appears to open the door wide to fearful errors of taste. Purples and violets, mauves and grays are very difficult colors to blend; to employ an ugly but expressive phrase, they oftentimes “swear horribly at each other.” All shades of purples and grays can lie tastefully blended in gowns which will do admirably for slight mourning and yet can well be used for ordinnry wear. An idenl slight mourning gown is made of black materia), thickly spotted with tiny raised dots of heliotrope color. The skirt is plain and fustened over tho bodico with a twisted sash of black satin ribbon, edged with a tiny hall fringe, and a black satin frill, also finished with ball fringe, is prettily arranged down tho front of the bodice. Another taking gown for slight mourning is made of a material huving a broken check of heliotrope and wiiite lines and spots on a black ground. The skirt is trimmed witli a broad band of black velvet. The bodico trimming repents the velvet and introduces effective levers of very pale stouo-colorod cloth iuto tho waistcoat. A rather more elaborate costume is a dross of shot purple and mauve rep, witli a frill of silk and velvet round the skirt, which combines almost every shade of purple and mauvo; a sash gracefully tied in a largo bow is of the same coloring. Ribbons of black satin are also effectively employed, and all tho ribbon is edged with a tiny rim of palo heliotrope showing through an equnlly tiny jet beading. Ihis gleam of color puts tho finishing touch of perfection to this charming slight mourning toilet, —[Once A Week.

THE ARTIFICIAL FLOWER WORKERS. A more pleasing aud graceful employment for women cannot lie found than the industry, so prevalent in the Creole quarter of this city, of making bead and paper and linen flowers to adorn the graves of the dead. It is an industry especially suited to women’s deft fingers, requiring delicate manipulation and rare taste and ingenuity. Some of the designs displayed in tho old-fashioned showcases are marvels of beauty and ingenuity, and a peep back into tho old shops, where dozens of girls sit quietly around a great table working away with an interest that shows their love for tho work, is well repaid. One fashions the dainty petals, another the delicate leaves and tendrils, another tho graceful stems, while still another mounts the whole and frames it into a thing of grace and beauty. New Orleans is famed for many unioue industries, but none is more interesting than that of her artificial flower works. —[New Orleans Picayune.

SUPERFLUOUS BUTTONS. The buttons on the sleeve of a coat seem to be useless excresccncos, and so at present they are, but they arc reminiscent of the days when men wore cuffs which extended down over the tips of their fingers, snys the Philadelphia Record. Gloves were not then in use, and during cold weather a man turned down his cuffs and so kept his hands warm. When the weather was fair he turned up the cuffs and buttoned them to keep them out of the way. The buttons at the back of the coat arc equally suggestive of former styles of dress. Coats, 100 years ago, were made with very wide skirts and a buttonhole in the corner. When a man was riding he drew his skirts over his knees to keep his legs warm, but when walking the long skirt would be in the way, so he turned them back and buttoned thiem up. Victoria’s surname. The oft-raised question as to Queen Victoria’s surname is thus answered by a recent writer: She is, of course, a Guelph by ancestral lineage, which is traced oy the genealogists from the Empress St. Cunegonda, consort to the Emperor St. Ilenry 11., A. 1). 1024. Both are canonized saints and both were solemnly crowned at Rome by Pope Benedict VIII. But all this relates merely to the pedigree of Princess Alexandria Victoria prior to her marriage in 1810 to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. This Prince was of the ancient house of Baxony, whose family name is, and has during more than four centuries been, Wettin. Obviously, therefore, the Guelph princess liecame. upon her marriage, Mrs. Wettin.—[Chicago Herald. NEATNESS IS NEEDED. Neatness is a good thing for a girl, and if she does not learn it when she is young, she never will. It takes a great deal more of neatness to make a girl look well than it does to make a boy look passable. Not because a boy, to start with, is better looking than a girl, but his clothes are of a different sort, not so many colors in them, and people don’t expect a boy to look so dressed. Her face may be pretty, and her eyes bright; but if there is a spot of dirt on her cheek and her fingers’ ends are black with ink and her shoes not laced or buttoned up, and her apron is dirty and her skirt is torn, she eaneot be liked.—[New York Journal. THE NEW BANG. There is a new bang on the market. It is a beauty, as dainty as a dimple, as

sweet as a kiss, and you can imagine tho rest. It has just come from New York, and is getting td be popular. The fash-ion-makers have called it the butterfly bang. It is somewhat like the present wavy method of dressing the hair, with a part in the middle, but with an improvement. The hair ys curled in two small waves on each side of the part, the rest of the hair being fluffed out and the two waves of curl reach to the front of the forehead, where they are flattened and formed into comical bangs, resembling nothing in the world so much as a butterfly. It is very pretty. Short hair will be in style again before long.

FASHION NOTES. Pongee and white China silk arc pretty materials for work aprons. Velvet is to be the rage, tho great success of the season. Black-edged visiting cards should be used during the whole time mourning is worn. Hats and bonnets never have been prettier than they are this year; never seemed newer or fresher. Mixed silk and wool fabrics that are repped from selvage to selvage are in great favor. Mahogany brown of a decidedly reddish shnde appears among the handsomest dress fabrics of the season. Venetian velours is a soft thick cloth with a velvet finish. It is used for jackets, capes and portions of winter gowns. From Paris comes the announcement that silk, velvet and cashmere corsages arc to be worn with black silk skirts. Bonnets for second mourning may be of black straw trimmed with crape and a little dull jet. Of tho new evening fabrics, it is to t»e noted that fancy moires are once again in favor and aro distinguished by many novel and beautiful effects. Another lias a narrow gold line between the dose ridges of tho fabric, these being of n dark shade, crossed vertically with vivid stripes in several tones. A reception gown in ombre peau de soio, showing u bodice of glare velvet reflecting the same shades of green, brown and dark blue, is one of the masterpieces of the season’s creation. Round and slightly pointed waists with corselets, girdles and bretolles are still in high vogue. Tho short empire effects have their many admirers and followers, but they are as yet in the minority. Overdresses liavo appeared among the latest importations from abroad. One arrangement shows a very close bell skirt with six breadths (ungored, and. either open on tho sides or down tho im- \ mediate front) falling over the bell underskirt. Polka-dotted Bedford cords are in colors of Venetian brown, tau, olive green, Napoleon blue, heliotrope and the dahlia shades. These are dotted in black, and hirger spots on tho same fabrics are in black or colors of a deeper shade than the ribbed goods.

Among tho Winter suitings, nothing is so recent or so stylish ns the Russian velours, which come in a number of distinct weaves, each one more attractively odd than the other. One, having a pule ground, is embossed with a melange of black, white and gray, having no particular design. Velvet-finished fabrics for skirts, corselets and sleeves appear in great variety. Homo are quaintly figured, others mottled, striped, dotted and cross-barred. Striped corduroys aro also imported, some very narrow, others exceptionally wide. The blending of ricli winter colors in these materials is very artistic and novel. One variety shows satin stripes in palest green on a ground of straw color, unon which are figured short cross dashes like those observed in birch-bark. Chameleon moires represent changeable effects; one ranges from Nile to rose; another, from white to silver; a third wavers between gold aud pale blue. Mnuy women who follow the lead of fashion very closely are, however, insisting upon serviceable gowns of cloth, tweed, cheviot, etc., being cut to escape tho ground for street wear. Box-pleated, coronet and gathered skirt-backs are all popular, and the fashion of trimming each of tho gored seams all the way from belt to hem on the front aud sides is gaining ground.