Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1899 — HEAVY ON THE PURSE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HEAVY ON THE PURSE

SUMMER COSTUMING CALLS FOR LARGE OUTLAY. Insistent Demand for Novelty and Variety Is the Cause—Little Uniformity in Making Up at Present— Up-to-Date Summer Girls. New York correspondence:

a jEW standards that Ml I bring an insistent IHf f demand for variety ■ I are putting stylish mV I women to big outMI lay for summer #ll dresses. Naturally, f U too, women who are V| forever imitating Ml fashionables to the Jr limit of their purses 'I find that sort of A copying more diffiy cult and costly than usual. As summer / / approaches the de- ' f mand for variety is - strongest in wash dresses of, tailor fin- »| ish. One beruffied EM and gauzy dress will serve far better \\\l\ than will only one WVR tailor rig. Conse--1" \\\ quently even the 1 \\ women who have to " * govern their plans

closely according to their means are reenforcing their stocks of tailor suits. Denim, crash or linen, and <hick or pique constitute the usual range of goods, though white linen runs duck and pique hard. As to the method of making, there is as little uniformity as possible. Because of the high value put on novelties, there is a fine showing of them, most of them ingenious, and what is more, tasteful. The accompanying pictures are eloquent of faithful endeavor on the part of designers, and are fairly representative of the best that is new in simple summer gowns. Each is described in the goods in which it was sketched, but most of them may be

reproduced in any of the mentioned stuffs. The first model was in white lin#h. The material was carefully shrunk first, and then the gown was sponged after making so that the last shrinking was part of the fit. This is a trick long practiced by high priced dressmakers and tailors for their fine cloth gowns. The gown was finished by stitching in white silk. The jacket went over a fitted waistcoat, under which was worn a loose white silk shirt. Cotton coverts are much used for the wash tailormades, and small wonder, so attractive are they in appearance and preie. The new name sounds a little better than the old one of denim, though the two mean practically the same thing, the new weave being, perhaps, a bit finer. The second of these gowns was in heavy blue cotton covert. It was stitched with white and'was made with all the care and exactness that would be bestowed on cloth. Its jacket was especially clever as a compromise with the sheath back. Such a jacket may be made to go with every propriety over a white duck skirt and bodice. In this case the jacket was a bodice, which was proved by the close sleeves. Away with economy! A front of white was set in.

The shirt waist costume appeared a season or so ago and scored an instant success. Such are to be much worn this season, and the newest ones are considerably elaborated when compared with the originals. Of course, the perfectly severe shirt waist, with linen stock and scarf to match the waist, is to be worn with a severe skirt to mafch, but some of these suits go away beyond such simplicity. One of the up-to-date sort is sketched. It was in polka dot pique, white ground and red dots. This was made np with an overdress of heavy white lawn, and the shirt waist of lawn with finishings of the dotted stuff. A linen collar and scarlet tie completed the rig. It seems an odd combination of materials, but dressmakers are using cloth bands for trimming taffeta dresses, and odd combinations are the rule. By the latter combination dresses of summer silk are made to look a bit as if the tailor had his hand in them. The last of these three dresses was of this sort, the goods being an Indis silk of raggedrobin blue ground figured with lilac, a very recent combination of color. It was trimmed elaborately with bands of lilac doth stitched with black. One may not Ukc the idea, but if she carry it out she may be sure that no one will suspect her of a last year's gown. In this bodice there was a very elaborate management of the shield or straight front idea. It is much more difficult to accomplish this flat front in wash goods than in elastic cloth, but makers are trying to compromise. A wash silk dress is a wise provision. It will hot soil as quickly as do cotton and linen goods—indeed, one can wear a dress of

■ilk aH season, having it renovated at the cleanser's for the following summer. Then they are cool, pretty and do not “muss'* and wrinkle as cottons do. Copyright, MM. Why Carver* Delayed His Rush. Bear Admiral Schley, at a reception recently, in commenting on the great sea-fight off Santiago, called attention to a singular coincidence that marked the Saturday night before Oervera’fl fatal sortie, and that sealed the doom of his fleet. It was Gervera’s Intention to attempt an escape in the darkness of night. When almost ready to give the starting order, the black sky at the entrance to the harbor was suddenly lit up by the burning of a Spanish blockhouse by some adventurous Cubans. As the light of this died down, that of another loomed up, and the rise and fall of light was continued till six blockhouses had been burned. The unusual spectacle attracted the attention of every man on* the American fleet, but no one knew its import. To Admiral Cervera the successive flames had a startling meaning, for he interpreted them to be a signal from the Cubans to the American fleet that the Spaniards had six vessels in the -harbor. Acting on this, he decided to postpone the attempt to escape till the next morning. Had he not changed his mind, he would have found the American fleet as fully prepared for him on Saturday night as it was on Sunday morning, owing to the mysterious lights beyond the Morro.

FOR THE UP-TO-DATE SUMMER GIRL.