LADIES' COLUMN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1003, 8 July 1879, Page 4 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

WORSHIP OF DRESS. Ifc is amazing what sums of money women expend in the little details of dress, which amount only to disfiguration. Elegant simplicity is a thing of the past. The richer the fabric, the more it now demands trimming and ornamentation; no material, how expensive sover, being able to stand alone without these meretricious props. To my thinking, this is where women make a great mistake. To patch over a rich silk velvet garment with lace and beeds, is not only superfluity, but bad tas'e. To furbelow a rich satin seems to me as great an absurdity; and yet you will see women paying enormously for trimmings for that purpose. "That's the kind of dress women ought to wear," remarked a man in my hearing, as two women passed with drab pokes of bonnets and drab gowns, innocent of hoop 3, reaching just to the edge of the ankle, and white kerchiefs crossed demurely over their chests. I took an inventory of the man. He was dressed in the height of fashion as to the hat, coat, trousers, boots, and necktie; but, with a man's beautiful consistency 1 e could see that a woman had no right to take the same liberty if 3he cho3e. Still, after saying this—for nobody shall abuse women but myself—l wish they wouldn't dress like ape 3. I can't say I like the apparel of the drab sisterhood any better: but, heawn help us! isn't there a medium ? And must a woman wear a thing because every other woman does ? Can't a short woman forswear big plaids? Can't a tall woman eschew striped garments ! Can't a blonde let yellow alone ? and can't a brunette turn oil" her eyes from pale blue ? and can't a woman bo worthy of respect, though she may choose to wear no trimmings at all on her dress, no matter what milliner or modiste shall have decreed the contrary ? Well, well, the remedy for all thi-f i 3 brains. Now, who is going to furnish them ? The mothers of the present day can't, judging from appearances, nor can the fathers ; so that, upon my word, I can't see where the promised millenium is to coma from. Nobody can tell how glad I am when I hear that a woman in any part of the wide earth has painted a picture, or written a book, which is cerditable to her in the least degree. Anything but this eternal withering, souldestroying adoration of dress.—Fanny Fern. CHEAPNESS AND ECONOMY. There are many people who look upon cheapness and economy as the same things. It is a great mistake. They may be synonymous, but they very seldom are. Some people buy things for the simple reason that they can buy them cheaply. They should always keep in mind the maxim of a friend of mine, who says that a thing is never cheap if you don't want it. Articles of all kinds should be bought for quality and not for cheapness. If they •ire cheap and good at the same time, that is all the better for the purchaser. Things that are cheap and nasty are dear at any price. Read what Mr. Carlyle says on the subject. I knew a young couple who furnished their home cheaply. They bought a cheap suite of walnut for their drawing-room, and it grew shabby and shaky in six mouth- 1 . The husband always trembled and fait nervou-i when a visicor

sat on one of his cheap dining-room chairs. One night he heard a great crack, like the firing of a gun. It was a cheap che3t of drawers splitting in the process of drying. All the color washed out of the cheap cretonne hangings after the first washing, and the cheap deal furniture in the kitchen soon looked as if it had been merely thrown together. In twelve months the house really wanted refurnishing. It would have been far better to have done without a drawing-room, and to have spent the Co3t of it on articles of better value for the other parts of the house. Now, for an instance on the other side. Two young people whom I once knew commenced to furnish before marriage by purchasing a very elaborate coal scuttle. They then found that it would be necessary to keep everything else up to that. It may be fancied how long it was before the marriage came off. i There would be a good deal of waiting 1 about most matrimonial ventures if the < young adventurers commenced to furnish up to a grand coal scuttle. The be3t rule ! in buying is to buy good lasting things, at as low a rate as possible, independent of yood looks. That is the only method of real economy. And it must always be remembered that nothing should be bought that is not wanted. A PROPER FEMALE EDUCATION. An American paper says :—" At the Towa Agricultural College every girl in the junior class has learned how to make good . bread, weighing and measuring their i ingredients, mixing, kneading, and baking, , and regulating her fire. Each has also [ been taught to make yeast and bake [ biscuits, puddings, pies, and. cake of . various kinds ; how to cook a roast, broil ; a steak, and make a fragrant cup of coffee ; [ how to stuff and roast a turkey, make i oyster soup, prepare stock for other siups, j steam and mash potatoes so that they will . melt in the mouth, and. in short, to get > up a first-class meal, combining both sub- [ Btantial and fancy dishes, in good style. ■ Theorv and manual skill have gone hand-

in-hand. Yast stores of learning have been accumulated in the arts of canning, preserving, and pickling fruits, and they have taken practical lessons in all the details of household management, such as house furnishing, care of beds and bedding, washing and ironing, care of the sick, care of children, &c. The girls, we | are informed, are also thoroughly grounded in science, mathematics, and English literature ; but this is of slight moment compared with the foregoing catalogue of virtues. If there is anything that challenges the unlimited respect and devotion of the masculine mind it is ability in woman to order well her own household. Each one of these charming lowa girls, it is safe to say, will marry within six weeks after graduation."