DEAD BIRDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 68, 13 December 1907, Page 3

DEAD BIRDS.

"Rose de Boheme" in a letter to Sydney has some strong and pertinent things to say about tho present English ;fashions'm fur, and feathersj N I don't know whether saints are wearing • the hats I see around me, but, if. sOj Fashion's saints must have elastic con-. , sciences. I declare to you that only this Tery day women hare niade my heart acho. They did worse than that, they mado mo sick with disguost. Just imagine looking up at the Green Park trees, wnere pigeons, nestlo and coo, and then looking down at tile Piccadilly pavement to see whito doves nestling, but by no means cooing, 011 women's hats. lam not exaggerating at all. I_mot more than one woman-with a couple of doves brooding above, her forehead, 'and stretching out beyond her extensive coiffure. Those who feel a little squeamish about wearing an entire stuffed bird content themselves with the back and wings—a pair sticking out and up in the same fashion. Now, don't you think it disguesting? And 'J 6 n '■ ' 10 . moc 'B persists, I suppose you will, fall into it, and possibly sport Australian parrots and cockatoos in tho samo manner. Oh, dear, won't anybody arise a'n3 howl down this latest barbarism? Thero ,is ' anothor really funny fashion of wearing "wings, a pair of them—lon;;, narrow, . and pointed sticking up on each side of your • hat at a slight' angle. ' Tho first time I caught sight of r. girl thus adorned I thought Mophisto had got loose among tho lassies. All tlio more dressy hats are heavily plumed; some Iwith just one drooping leather, or with a soft, mob cap kind of crown, in silk or velvet, wreathed with llowor and feather; but if you desiro to. be 111 the height of. top-knot attire you must mako up your mind to look like a nodding hearse. Anything more funereal than a . fashionable ostrich panjcho can scarcely he imagined. . • < ■ Still, it is possible to modify tho gloom, and I saw one really pretty" effect at a particularly fashionable millinor's—a broadbrimmed, ronnd-erenvned hat in dark grey felt, with a very thick cluster of shaded grey plumes springing from tho contre of the crown and drooping rather gracefully 011 the Dnm. the trouble comes when vcm have to fasten this sort of appendage on the back of your head, and let tho brim framo vour nuliy hair—for it has to bo fluffy, please, and rolled or crimped, and extremelv nbun- , dant whether Nature lias willed it so or not. Ui course you cannot .bo a hearse for nothing. 1 rices run extravagantly high: Some folks are el-en said to be givfng 20 guineas for their plumed gory .But then finds of all kinds are, up, and no wonder; thero wjJl soon none left to rise at all Why does not somo dramatist include this item among tho sins of society? Furs iiro likewise going -"up,", and for the samo reason ; m fact, you can ruin yourself in dress I am not at all surprised at tho French husband who has just petitioned for divorce on tho ground of his wife's toiletto expenditure On the other hand, if you bo modest in vour desires, things aro extraordinarily chcap"and it is quite ■ possible for a clever woman to dress well and look fashionable on exferemely little. I know one who goes out a good deal, has a reputation for good dress and spends less than tho average lady's maid! But then sho is industrious, ingonious, and very caTofnl of her clothes. . .. — ' % Mrs. Alien Halderman of Girard, Kan., is probably the most noted woman bank preDident in the "United States. She is a sister of Jane Adams. Tho institution was a privato bank at the time of her husband's death, two years ago, but since Mrs. Haiderman was elected president it has been incorporated as a State institution. The bint- is one of tho oldest in the counts.