The Ladles' Column

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 807, 30 May 1876, Page 3

The Ladles' Column

BLACK DEESSES. [ If fashion is gradually introducing more of color into the toilet, still no. wardrobe is complete without one black dress, and then, the .number of those who wear mourning creates for it constantly a steady demand. Its unfailing popularity is proved by the fact that the prices of black goods do not decline proportionally with others," merchants saying that the sale is always sure. But although a black dress is thus serviceable, and its wearer sure of being appropriately if not hand aomely dressed in any company in which she may appear, yet no dress is more susceptible of improvement from constant and intelligent care, and it does seem as if a shabby, ill-kept suit of black was one degree more shabby than any other. No lady should even don her alpaca, cashmere, or serge without giving it a thorough dusting with broom or brush. Dust permitted to settle in the folds or pleats of shirring will soon be impossible to remove entirely, and give the whole gown that untidy air so much to be deprecated in everything pertaining to a lady's person. But after constant use for months, or maybe a year, the most carefully kept black dress will begin to show the effects of use, in a certain rustiness of hue and general dinginess of aspect, if in no place actually rubbed or worn. Now is the time to expend a little ekill and ingenuity in its renovation, when the economist may be rewarded by coming out in au old dress made new, sure of eliciting the ad miration of at least all those who are in the secret. Por the undertaking provide yourself with ten cents' worth of soapbark, procurable at any herb store, and boil it in one quart of watc. Let it steam awhile, and then strain it into a basin for use. If the job is to be a perfect and thorough one, take the body and sleeve apart and to pieces ; rip off the trimming from skirt and overskirt. Brush off all loose dust first, and then, with a sponge dipped in the Boap-bark decoction, wipe over each piece thoroughly, folding up as you proceed. Have ready a lady's skirtboard for pressing, and well-heated irons Smooth every piece on the wrong side, including even silk trimmings ; and when you have once more put it together you will be amazed to see the results of the simple process. One advantage of taking the whole dress apart is that, by putting the trimmiog on in some style a little different from what it was at first, the attraction of novelty is added to make the effect more pleasing If one has not time, however, to go through the whole process, a dress may be greatly improved by being wiped over with this mixture, and pressed ou the wrong Bide while damp — indeed, for a time, it will look quito as good as new. The process may be repeated from time to time as shall seem advisable. I have seen a cashmere which had been worn two winters, taken apart and treated in this way, and the closest observer would have supposed the dress to have been put on for the first time, such was its soft fresh look and the vividness of its black. Grenadine may be submitted to the same sort of cleaning with fine results. When a black lawn has become limp, tumbled, and generally forlorn-looking, the best mode of treatment to subject it to is, first, a submersion in a pan of warm water colored highly with indigo ; then exposure to the air until just dampness enough is left to enable one to press it to advantage with a hot iron ; and if this is carefully done, always on the wrong side, the lawn will come forth quite fresh, stiff, and reno vated from its blue bath, and again do good service for another while. Every particle of dust should be removed from a black silk or poplin every time it is worn, for nothing cuts either out so soon vs tboße often imperceptible little gritty motes with which the air of a city is filled where coal is in such universal use. •— ' Harper's Bazaar.' HEE FIBST EEAU. You knew at once by her general appearance, says a writer in the Rochester ' Chronicle,' and the manner in which she smiled, and the giggles she giggled, and the way that she talked, that this was the first time she had ever had a beau. She was, in fact, very much excited, and like a person stricken with the first shock of numb palsy didn't know exactly how to use her tongue. The blood rushed to her head until there was a tremendous buzzing in her ears, and she recognised all her acquaintances, old and young, and called them by name in a loud tone of voice, and wore at the same time a very triumphant expression of countenance. It was a moment of intense ecstasy (to her)— a moment looked and longed for ever since she got in her teens ; and all the heroes and heroesses of all the dim novels she had ever read went trooping across her vision like a row of bees in swarming time. Apples and peaches, and hollyhocks, and mushrooms, and pumpkins, and hedge fences, as they bung on trees, or blossomed on stalks, or grew in the grass, or tore her .new dress as she swept by them, borne 'almost from her feet by an electric force, all passed as an accessory panorama of bliss on her way to the circus, that glorious, grand, never-to-be-forgotten noonday of Her new experience. Did she enjoy the show ? Did she remember how the elephant stood on his hind feet ? Did she follow the flight of the great, unsurpassed, unrivalled, wonderful, astonishing,, most daring bareback rider in the world, as he dived in a doubled up way through two hoops and alighted on the* horse again right side up? Was the music, .the <Vmost delightful she ever heard ? - 'Of course ! Biifc somehow these things • g°* all mixed up> mi one ; glorious whirl of that she ha^U b^u— a nice bean, io bla^k clotb,

and a red necktie, and a stovepipe hat, and who smoked a cigar, and bought peanuts, and candy, and lemonade every time the man who sold it came around and whispered his goods so softly that the noise of the band and the best ten-year-old joke of the clown was drowned Jut of hearing entirely. 0, how her heart went pit-a-pat, and throbbytythrob, and bobbylybob on her way home that glorious afternoon! Ihe writer adds that this is an. experience girls of the present period are not accustomed to. JAPANESE TOILET. The present style of attiring the hair in Japan was instituted by a former empress of that country many years a^o The dame des coiffures, while performing j the operation (which lasts, at least, a couple of hours), relates all the scandal and twaddle she knows. The conversation often runs thus : — " Madame's mind must be perturbed with the enormous thunder of the foreigners' huge guns in the bay ?' ' " Oh, yes; thunder itself is put to shame. What long legs foreign men have ; and their language sounds like Burr-urr-r bizz-zz-z." The mirror in front of the dame des coiffures is made generally of polished steal, often of polished silver ; and all the lacquered toilet utensils as a rule are beautifully inlaid with gold or silver. All these little odds and ends shut up in a different receptacle of the " whatnot " on which the mirror is standing, and the cost of the entire dressing apparatus suitable to the rank of the lady would cost from £20 to £30 English money. The pretty and accomplished little maid carrying up a tea-tray containing a light repast of tea, cuttle-fish, and rice-cakes, spends much of her money upon her head-dress; indeed, Japanese women of all ranks are most particular upon this point of their toilette. On the left of the group is a magnificent gold-lacquered cabinet, with a Japanese doll on the top, while a silk particolored ball has been pushed underneath. The kimono, or enormous Japenese " bustle," on the back of the dames des coiffures, was also instituted as an article of attire by a former Japanese Empress. This fashionable appendage has of late years been imported into European ladies' costumes with a not unpleasing effect. Taken altogether, a Japanese lady's attire is very pretty and picturesque. As these toilettes take place during the afternoon, foreign gentlemen strolling along the ftatoba or wharf outside the open window often lean over and have a chat with the fair ladies inside, who on their part converse with ease and gracefuluess. Altogether, the scene is a charming one, and an everyday phase of Japanese life. Of course, the lady who owns the boudoir might have a dressing-gown or some other article of clothing on, to suit European tastes ; but then it would not be a picture of Japanese life ; and — Roni soi gui mal y pense. THE BABY'S MEDDLING FINGERS. It is the most natural habit in the world for a child to stretch forth its little hands and take whatever it wants for its own. It comprehends no reason why it should not, and it is here that the mother's intelligent guardianship should always become her child's providence. Unfortunately, she too often takes another view of her duty, and she becomes a retributive, if not an avenging angel. The ch'ld possesses itself of that which it uses and desires, and she immediately inflicts physical pain, when she should endeavor to perform a moral and merciful cure. This sort of one-sided warfare always rouses in the child a sense of having suffered an injustice, and his moral nature is blunted by it, the more especially as theblow falls from the tenderest hand that it has ever known. Its anger is aroused. Its combative propensities are brought into too early and too active use, and a precocity of cunning is often developed in it, which takes the place of physical power, and serves it altogether too well. When the child possesses itself of something that does not belong to it, and the article is at the same time an object that it might enjoy without injury, it should be gratified with a similar possession; or, if this be impracticable, it should be removed from the presence of the tormenting origin of its disturbing wish, and its thoughts directed in a different channel. Above all things, do not make it feel like a criminal before you make it comprehend what a crime is.