Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1895 — FOR THE FAIR SEX. [ARTICLE]

FOR THE FAIR SEX.

SOME ITEMS THAT WILL IN. TEREST. Earrings. Tha Shoulder Shawl. Woman Win. Winter Crepons. A Congressman's Wife. Badges of Matrimony. Earrings are fast coming into fash* ion again, so an uptown jeweler declares. Twenty years ago they were considered very stylish, but for the {>ast ten years there has been but ittle demand for them. About a year ago they began to be called for, and now the indications are that within a year they will be as much in vogue as they were twenty years ago. r tb SHOULDER SHAWL. A shoulder shawl is a convenient article of one’s dress, as the time draws on when one expects to sit more and more upon the veranda and lawn. About the easiest made and most effective for the time expended on it is a square of pale colored cashmere, with a crocheted border in zephyr to match the shade used, and worked in shell stitch. These shells should be edged with floss of the same color. WOMEN CAME OUT AHEAD. Women came out ahead in an examination recently held for library cataloguer and library clerk for the Agricultural Department at Washington, D. C. Of the thirty applicants for the former position all of the men failed to pass, while only five out of the sixteen women did so. Of the ten applicants for the latter, eight men fatted and two women passed. Although Secretary Morton wanted men for the places, he was moved by these results to change his mind, and appointed Miss E. B. Wales, of Chicago, clerk, and Miss G. F. Leonard, of Albany State Library, cataloguer.

ABOUT WINTER CREPONS. A practical hint of the future is gathered from the gossip of the shops. One of the richest yet most conservative of the great dry goods stores when sending two buyers abroad in search of woolen goods for next winter instructed them not to buy crepon, believing this fabric to have had its day of favor with American women. At last report these buyers cabled home that they must buy crepon, as there is little or nothing else in the European market for the next season. At another house of great repute more than two-thirds of the wool samples received for next winter are creped, but in new fanciful weaving, different from anything now seen. These erspons of the future are also two-toned, some of them changeable, others in stripes and plaids. These facts are of value to economists, who find crepons at greatly reduced prices filling the counters of the shops, many of them a dollar less in the yard than was asked at the beginning of the season. Black, corn flower blue, golden brown, and violet are apparently safe colors to buy, and it is well also to look for those barred or striped in two colors, and also dotted, as a season of fancy fabrics is predicted.

A CONGRESSMAN’S HELPMEET. Congressman Johnson, of North Dakota, has a wife who is a helpmeet of the proper sort to him without being a canvasser of votes, a lobbyist, a reviser of his speeches, or even one of those women who are described as taking the “keenest interest” in their husband’s careers. Mrs. Johnson, to be sure, may have the virtues of all these classes, but she has won fame chiefly from the remarkably clever way in which she superintended the work on a farm of 1,800 acres while her husband was attending the legislative affairs of the nation. In the spring of 1898 Mr. Johnson invested heavily in hay lands. Before the hay was ready to cut he was called to Washington by an extra session of Congress. He tried to find a man who would attend to his hay for him during his absence, and, failing, allowed his wife to assume charge of the big hay farm. The harvest came on, and Mrs. Johnson was in the fields bright and early in her top buggy, looking after the men and teams, and, when one field was cut, selecting another, and then another. All of the hay on the Johnson farm was mown, and then Mrs. Johnson leased hay tracts in the vicinity of Petersburg until the total cut amounted to almost 800 tons. Mr. Johnson himself says that he never had a crop looked after in a more business like way than the hay crop of 1893. His only regret is that the promised high prices did not materialize. There was a larger crop than usual, and the prices went down instead of going up, but no money was lost by the operation, and the last of the 800 tons was sold the next spring to a neighboring farmer whose ; supplies had run out.

BADGES OF MATRIMONY. Americans are the only women in the world who do not exhibit some sign of matrimony. Of course, those who follow in the wake of European etiquet would not appear with their daughters wearing a hat without strings, but the universal American woman wears what she likes, regardless of whether it be matronly or not, and what is worse, her daughters will select articles of dress only suitable to married women. In no other country is this the case. Among the Germans the badge of a married woman consists of a little tap or hood, of which they are very proud, and “donning the cap” is a feature of the wedding day among the peasants of certain localities. The married women in Little Russia are always seen, even in the hottest weather, with a thick cloth of dark' hue twisted about their heads. In New Guinea a young woman lets her hair hang about her shoulders, but when she is married this is cut short. Chinese matrons braid their hair like a helmet. Iu VVadai the wives color their lips by

tattooing them with the thorns of the acacin and rubbing them with iron filings; In parts of Africa the married women perforate the outer edges of their ears and their lips and stick rows of grass stalks in them; and among a certain Mongolian tribe of people, the Manthes, the women wear suspended from their ear a little basket full of cotton, to which a spindle is attached. Thus In every country, savage and civilized, but our own, there is a sign or symbol of some kind that distinguishes the matron from the spinster. Fashion Notes. Dress skirts remain smooth at the waist and flaring at the bottom. China Silk crepon and chine striped taffeta are among the leading novelties. Round waists still hold their own in the front ranks of fashion, but are often varied by pointed effects, points of ribbon, narrow frills, etc. All tne new jackets are short, extending only eight inches below the waist. Some are made very full in the back and others ! have plaits pressed flat. The little collarette ruffs of net, chiffon or tulle give an air to any costume. Batistes, lawns, chiffons and lisses are simply trimmed with frills and broad hems of their own material, the revival of an old style which cannot be improved. Not for years have muslins, organdies, berages, chambrays, zephprs and all the rest of the good old-fashioned summer family fabrics had such a decided inning. Hand-painted satins are one of the latest novelties, and they are used for bodices, parasols and capes, aud band-painted ribbons are already imported for various purposes of trimming. The princess is slowly coming into form again, but it i 9 made quite modem by the addition of epaulets, cape effects and all sorts of collars, such as appear on other gowns of the usual cut. Very natty bathing suits are made of black alpaca, with full skirts and trousers to the knees and full waists, with a square yoke outlined with white braid and short, voluminous sleeves that would do credit to a full-blown evening dress. The most fascinating shirt waists are made of French batiste in lovely colors and new patterns; rosebud silks which are reproductions of those used fifty years ago; chine, glace and wash silks, with dainty little lace-edged frills down the front and wide sailor collars, also edged with a frill. New silk waists of Rob Roy plaided taffeta silk are made with plaited fronts, bias yoke backs, full elbow sleeves, and velvet stock collar. A recently imported French grass cloth is made over a China rose silk, the intense glowing hue of the lining giving the entire gown a roseate tint. For a brunette nothing more becoming could be imagined than a rustic straw hat trimmed with pale ecru silk, guipure lace and rich Jacque roses. Blouse waists of finely stiped washing silks, with turn over collars of lawn or white silk edged with luce, are the coolest things possible and dainty to look upon. A very pretty tuck is given to the new striped silk blouses by making the collar in the stripe and trimming the edge with narrow cream lace. A novelty in belts is one of alternate stripes of metal and silk. The chic buckle is that bearing the golden eagle in high relief, the design being taken from the national currency.