DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE BLOOMER COSTUME.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 77, 26 June 1852, Page 11

DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE BLOOMER COSTUME.

[From " Punch."]

» Don't a lady's dress of the present day take so ina"y lengths to make up—according to the taste of the wearer? —but, with the Bloomer costume, I should be sorry to say to what lengths the lady who wears it might feel inclined to go W ;'—An Indignant Milliner. '« Should the Bloomer costume be adopted, petticoats will go out; and petticoats going out, there may be an end, at last, to all petticoat government! —of which no one will be more heartily rejoiced than"— The Hen-pecked Sushand. "'Ere's the jolly good health of the Bloomer costume! For I tell you what, Bill, our 'bus, with all the shaking in the world, won't carry more than sixteen ladies, pack 'em as tight as you will; but I find that it will take twenty Bloomers comfurtably, and allow each on 'em a Bloomer baby on the lap ! It's the dress, my boy, vot makes the difference."— The 'Bus Conductor.

" Oh, dear, how delightful it will be for jumping over the stiles."— The Fast Young Lady. " I'm in favour of the new costume ; because if my wife bothers me for a new dress, I shall refer her to the tailor, and I can make out a tdlor's bill, and I know all his prices; whereas, I defy any man to understand a milliner's."— The Mean Husband.

" This new dress will take all opposition off the road—for, really, the long dressesof the ladies swept everything so clean that there was nothing left for us to clear away after them. In short, I look upon the Bloomer as the very best friend to the Broomer."— The Street Orderly, " I don't care how my girls dress^ as long as they dress decently; but lam sure—as sure as quarter-day—that they will hang on to the skirts of this new Bloomer costume —that is to say, if it has any skirts—if it is only for the sake of getting a new dress ; for I never knew a girl of mine let a new dress slip through her fingers when she had a chance of getting one."— The Good-natured Papa. '

Life in a Chinese Street.—Narrow, dirty streets, low houses, brilliant open shops, painted with red and gold. Here is a fragrant fruit shop, where a poor Chinese is buying an iced slice of pine-apple for less money than a farthing. Here is the chandler's, gay with candles of the tallow-tree coated with coloured wax. The chandler deals in puffs; and what an unEnglish appeal is this from the candlemaker on behalf of his wares, "Late at night in the snow gallery they study the books." Study the books! Yes; through the crowd of Chinese, in their picturesque familiar dresses, look at that man, with books upon a tray, who dives into house after house. He lends books on hire to the poor people and servants. Who is the puffer here? "We issue and sell Hang Chow tobacco, the name and fame of which has galloped to the north of Kechow; and the flavour has pervaded Keangnan in the south." Here we have " Famous teas from every province ;" and you see boiling water handy in the shop, wherewith the customer may test his purchases. Here, on the other side of the triumphal arch, we peep through a gateway hiing with lanterns into a small paved paradise with gold fish (China is the home of gold fish) and exotics and trellis-work, and vines, and singing birds ; that is a mercer's shop, affecting style in China as in England, only in another way. We will walk through the paradise into a grand apartment hung with lanterns,*decorated also with gilded tickets, " Pekin satins and Canton crapes," " Hang Chow reeled silks," and so on. Here a courtly Chinese, skilled in the lubrication of a customer, produces the rich heavy silks for which his country is renowned, the velvets are the satins you desire, and shaves you skilfully. Talking of shaving, and we run against a barber as we come out of the silk shop. He carries a fire on his head, with water always boiling; on a pole over his shoulder he balances his water, basin, towels, razors. Will you be shaved like a Chinese ? he picks you out a reasonably quiet door-way, shaves your head, cleans your ears, tickles your eyes, and cracks your joints in a twinkling. Where heads are shaved, the wipings of razors are extensive; tney are all bought up and employed as manure. The Chinese have so many mouths to teed that they can afford to lose nothing that )"11 fertilize the ground.—ZH'cJiens' Household Words.