Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1876 — Fashion Brevities. [ARTICLE]

Fashion Brevities.

With the return of summer black lace wraps reappear, and retain their place as the first choice, notwithstanding the introduction of the cfeam-colored laces. Sacques and cardinal capes are the popular shapes; mantles and very small mantillas are the more stylish garments. Lace sacques are longer than those of last season, and are fitted into the back Many of the newest are straight around, while others retain the long fronts of last summer, though none have the extremely short backs formerly worn;—: — Guipure lace is liked for sacques, mantles and polonaises, though the popular feature this season is the very general use of imitation thread laces, such as are generally called French laces. The newest fancy in cardinal capes is that of making them of a single piece of wiide-meshed net of twisted silk (such as the nets that head fringes), and having parts of it tied in short fringe that is in points all over the cape. A long cord and tassel is tied in front, and thrown over the shoulders. These are imported, and cost twenty-four dollars. For lace polonaises guipure net is again preferred this season. Its only rival is the heavy wool net covered with stripes of wool braid, but these are so heavy that they do pot answer the design of a lace overdress. They cost ready made from fifty to seventy-five dollars. A better plan is to have the lace over dress made as a sacque or basque and over-skirt, as these can be worn separately, and utilized in various ways. A novelty is black net embroidered in lines and dots of straw. This is very handsome when inside up over black silk as a basque and over-skirt, and trimmed with Spanish blonde. Price sixty dollars. Among the newest white trimming laces are real hand-made Spanish laces in light feathery designs that appear to be made entirely of silk. In the popular threeinch widths these cost fourdollars a yard. The Srnyrnr. lace of pure linen that has suddenly dime into fashion for trimming piques, ginghams, batistes, children’s clothing, and ladies’ underwear, costs fifteen cents a yard for narrow widths, while that two inches wide is $1.50 a yard.

The simple and pretty old-time lawns of solid color, rose, sky-blue, lilac or cream, are made up in tasteful dresses at the furnishing houses. These consist of the Continental basque—made slightly loose and without lining—a deep round over-skirt, and a demi-trained skirt trimmed with ruffles of the same edged with Italian Valenciennes lace. For white muslin dresses the fancy is to choose those wrought with stars, leaves or dots. They are made just as the lawn dresses are, and worn with rose or blue ribbons. The sides of the long overskirt are held up by very long loops made ot gros-grain silk doubled. Wide Elizabethan belts of Russia leather or of black velvet are again stylishly worn with basques, polonaises and princesse dresses, especially those intended for semi-dress, such as de bege, batiste, gingham and plain black silk. Gold braid is more used for handsome dresses than it promised to be when first introduced. It is carefully used in threads and dots oi gold on black galloon for trimming black grenadine dresses. Silvered braid is the trimming seen on the most elegant costumes of gray camel’s hair.

Long white scarfs of crepe lisse tucked in each end are worn as neck-ties and cravat bows in mourning. Three-cornered neckerchidfs of black net fringed with crimped tape fringe are also used in mourning. A single long loop o( ribbon or of the dress trimming is sewed on the demitrained skirt of costumes, and the skirt is raised to a proper walking length bypassing the hand through the loop and holding up the demi-train. Long trains of evening dresses are raised in the same way. Marechaie is the name given to a new raw silk in pique patterns brocaded all over with small raised dots. This soft, rich fabric is used for over dresses. Wide silk galloon, richly embroidered, is the new trimming for evening dresses of light-colored silks. It comes in pale green, cream, blue and rose-colored grounds, ’ wrought with vines, flowers, bees and butterflies in natural colors. Single branches of thickly clustered small flowers are placed down the middle of bonnet ci owns between the trimming scarf? of soft silk. Among these, dw irfea roses, pink or yellow, the flowering almond, and buttercups are favorite flowers. Black brocaded silk parasols, with steeple tops, rings and edged with creamcolored lace, are considered the first choice this season. Those of black silk covered with black guipure lace are also much admired. A coral set for a white lace and silk parasol now consists of the carved coral handle, the carved stick for the pagoda top, a coral ring to pass over the parasol and close it, with seven or eight tiny bands of coral to finish the end or sach gore of the canopy and attach the lace to the silk. The coral ornaments alone, before they are mounted, cost fifty dollars. JParisiennes, when driving in open carriages, use large red silk parasols of the dark shade known as Russia-leather red. They also use dark myrtle green parasols, bordered with green-shaded cocks’ plumes.— Harper’i Bator.

Nothing in the histoiy of modern civilization is more marvelous than the S regress of Journalism In the United tates during foe last century. While in this hundred years after the establishment of the first paper in America, at Boston, in 1690, the total number of newspapers was increased to but *OO, of which.!wo or three only were dailies, during the years of the next century, from 1790 onward — so far as the timejhas passed, the number has increased to the astonishing aggregate of 678 daily newspapers and 5,554 weeklies, making a total of 6,332. “Ain’t forty dollars rather high for lodging and breakfast ?” was what a departing stranger by the. Kingsbury stage inquired of the clerk at one of our leading hotels, on being told that was the amount of the bill. “ Yes, it is a little high, bat we might as well nave It as the stage robbers,” was the placid answer of the clerk as he receipted the bill.—ißa» Antonio Herald. 1 Mask Twain says: “It is a blessed thing to live in a, land Of plenty, if you have plenty of lafind."