GOSSIP FOR THE LADIES.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 8993, 4 January 1895, Page 2

GOSSIP FOR THE LADIES.

It has been said, writes " Leonardo n ths Melbourne Argw, that the supreme - V happiness of a woman's life is to herself to the man who loves her; to ha-" * I his friend, his ideal, his good angel. jOl ' course there is the immense difficulty to r■ - be encountered in finding the man who V desires, such devotion, who has an ideal ' who wants a good angel. But this is by • the way.} Those who have studied the '■'"'- ---origin of supreme happiness in woman know full well that a lifelong devotion to - the decadent creature man is not at the root of it. No; the cause of supreme happiness in woman is that indefinable -- Eve-like habit of making her dress foot ...- inches too long at the back, and then hold. ~ ing it up for the greater part of the day. This is the one feminine custom that from the beginning of the world conquered, and • until the end will conquer, the rigour of strict criticism. It has been the privilege of the writer to gather "reasons" from sir-and-twenty women, all delightful, young, and beautl- "~ f ul, who have supplied him with the following; answers to the question, "Why do you make your dresses longer than necessary, compelling you to hold them at the ,

back with one hand while walking!" :— (a) It is thefasbion. (6) Our dressmakers xotti make them so in spite of all we can say. (c) It hides large feet, don't yon - know, (d) Thoy arc not too long. («) dress just touching tho floor makes a woman look taller. (/*) They are fully three inches off the ground, there now \ (g) I never saw a dress dragging on the '"" pavement as you say. (h) They are more comfortable long. (.)R>allyl What length - would you like them ? (j) It keeps us from getting chills, (k) You always do exagger ate. (I) Absurd! They only touch now and again iv the action in walking, (m) - Really, have you nothlug better to do than to watch us and our dresses? («) It adds - grace and dignity to a figure, (o) There are more short dresses than long ones. (j>) I don't want to look a guy. (q) Short skirts are too cold in winter, (r) You can't always be wearing a dress up to your knees, (s) Short gowns are all very well in the morning, but a woman rttust wear a long one in the afternoon. (() They can always be made into petticoats if they get.. too soiled. You know the old saying—

"Show mc this year's petticoat and I'll tell you last year's gown." (v) I detest a prying man. (v) I'm going to have the next dress shorter. («?> Very, wry few dresses trail nowadays, (a?) It's a habit, 1 duppose, just like smoking, drinking, or growling, (y) Why need you interfere it we like it! (s) O! go and ask my dress* - maker; she knows all about it I These twenty-six reasons, all agreeing as it will be noted, ought to settle the matter oat of hand, bat unfortunately they do not. It is admitted with pleasure that on an average one woman out of a hundred does wear a neat short and be«"" coming robe, but the other uinety-and-nine 7 are outside the fold. " The trail of the I garment is over them all." They have at the back variously from one to four Inches of superabundant material, which they £ allow to sweep whenever the pavement t V : shows a bit of clean and straight running. _'.-'. This is very seldom the case, so the female ■. arm is continually stealing round to the ._■- bade in order to lift the four inches Clear of

some obstacle. On a wet day one dear. i little hand is thus rendered absolutely '.- useless to the owner, and the other is com* ~.' pelled to carry purse, parcels, books, aao*- V parasol, a burden altogether too grievoni - V to be laid upon it.

The observant pedestrian en a wet day .' notes many ways skirts are held up. The most common method is crooking the elbow at an angle of thirty behind tae back just about eight inches below tht waist. The hand (palm outwards) deftly seeks and gathers a bunch of material tha size of a small cabbage. With a shake and

a flutter this is raised nearly to the waist, drawing folds from either well-defined \ leg to the common cabbage bob centre. If 1 shoes are worn tbe hem clears them by •« some inches and permits the black stock-, ,;( ing (sometimes clucked) to be seen, with perhaps just "the lasts taste in life" of a / suowflake petticoat. ■' Another way is bj ,' gathering, after a succession of tries arid r] pats, a certain., portion of the skirt in th« Yj right hand, and, having secttrenYa sttffl* ) cient quantity Estimated" by weight), to \ draw it with as weep tothealde-front* There - "■>, is, however, always a certain amount 61 "> risk in this movement, nnd the essayist invariably glauces furtively once or twica J oyer her shoulder to see if "anything is V showing;" or if walking with a friend, the J friend (without being asked, as it is an, J office common instinct teaches one woman V' to do for another) takes a side glance to. ,f see that nothing has been "caught np" ia,'Y; the manoeuvre. Should more than is ,V absolutely necessary have been gathered, a V note of warning is raised at once, the skirt - is let go, shaken out, and another effort made. If the second attempt results la'§ -* - triumph, the friend's reassuring " Yoa'at^' all right now, dear," is uttered. SoaieY .'• times, if it is raining heavily, the clutch to the right is drawn so tightly that few, if; any, folds are left at tbe back. This is all *.- right as long as Beauty does not attempt ; to run ; but if she should—well, the propet trimming tor decollete dresses is, as wo all _■• know, blush roses. fß.g t with all its faults tbe dress of today is becoming, and very often fascinating, At the inspiration of the up-to-date moctisfs .--' V/envises of nature melt into Venases ol ,-> ar rf? v Vir tue never yet atoned for wrinkles, , : and without the dressmaker a pretty fa.es, y, and good figure are diamonds uncut. Mcii ;h cannot, love women in wrinkled aackSf ;$ Guy Fawkes* hats, and heellesv boots. Bus V trim and neat and fresh, what devotion; they inspire 1 Bling Henry of Navarre waa 4* but expressing every man's capability when he said> "What! Only love om :f woman I Why, I could love a hundred; :§ there is room in this great organ of mine ;| for them all." No doubt the monarch | meant as long as they were pictares to V look at and oysters in silence.. Of all | the terrible productions of these latter :',| days tbe " speckled peach" boandiag onto the platform, and going all she's worth for ]g " her rlghtß'; against the Common Enemy V Man, surely does, as the French say, V decrocher la iimbate, or, aa we hare it," takf j p the cake." If women only knew it, they'Y ought to be like pretty landscapes. Both ;| should attract oar admiration, and raisa *$ the wish to be'near them. Bat all pleasure would vanish If every hillock, tinsevfl aud -flower wished to explain Itself, fofclp "mystery—the distinctive charm?—would at jr| once disappear. | But, after all, what can a common mortal 'lj clay man know about woman's difeaa? If - : | Is (admittedly a question with as many sides i : ; asadecantcr stopper. Pockets are one of its '\y great trials. It's enough to iriltat&anyYj woman to see a man's clothes fall of pocket/. - > while she has only one and obliged to sit: \ down on that. . Y.