The New Fashionable Figure
the spine. Indeed, the only spring
or curve permitted the lower part
of the corset is at the hip, which does
not mean, however, that large hips
have come in fashion.
“On the contrary, hips are to be
compressed as much as possible. As
a means to this end the corset is cut
longer than it has been for years,
particularly over the hips and abdo
men—as long, in fact, as it can be
and permit the wearer to sit down—■
and the most strenuous efforts of the
makers are directed to pushing down
and holding down the flesh on the
hips.
“And with the help of heavy bones
and steels, also strong straps, the
latter fastened to the edges of the
corset on either side and then to gar
ters clasped below the knee, it is mar
velous what sylphlike results are ob
tained. The straps, as may be im
agined, are the least comfortable
part of the apparatus; nevertheless,
some women wear four of them, two
in front as well as two at the side
the better to keep the corset firmly
in place. After the figure begins to
fall into the new lines the strsyis are
less important.
From the waist line Tip there are
also marked changes in the cut of
the up-to-date corset designed to
mold the new figure. As most peo
ple are aware, the models worn dur
ing the last year or two have been
cut very roomy immediately above
the waist line in front. This was to
give the effect of a low bust. In fact,
a low bust has been perhaps the
most distinctive feature of the fash
ionable figure for more than a year.
“Now all that is changed. Fashion
commands that the bust shall be
high in order to promote the straight
line which she has made the keynote
of the new figure. Therefore, the
rrrset is now fitted quite smoothly in
front to some distance above the
waist line, and very closely indeed
under the arm.
“Necessarily, the bust is much
heightened. The corset, too, is cut
much higher than it was a few
months ago.”
V___ I ■ ' I ■ II_"
THE NEW FIGURE.
obbiHE straight-line rule in
fashion lias resulted in a
Ig.m remodeling of the feminine
form divine. No longer
’ are graceful curves de
sired; now the lines must
be straight and angular. The change
in figure is coming much more rap
idly than the untutored might think
possible, and the designers are lend
ing every aid to its rapid develop
ment. It matters not that it is far
from the beautiful so long os it is
fashionable.
“The new figure,” explained a spe
cialist, “follows the perpendicular as
nearly as it is possible for a wom
an’s outline to do it. In acquiring
this figure a slight woman .»’!! have
a great advantage over bar stout sis
ter. The only hope of the latter lies
in her corset.
“A straight front is to be accentu
ated, not only below but above the
waist line, and the back, too. must
look as if a board was strapped to
The Novelties in Winter Coats
-..•''fTtrvv
—-—
INTER coats are very novel
in design, and many o-i
them seem to have been
inspired by the graceful
and simple lines of a Jap
anese robe. A good ex
ample of this style is shown in the
elegant cloak of black box cloth
which has been sketched. This orig
inal garment is ornamented with geo
metrical strappings of the same ma
terial, and the fronts are lined with
pale French gray cloth with a trellis
of narrow strips of black cloth and
ribbon velvet, the lining being oi
French gray soft 6atin.
The large picture hat which is worn
with tills is of black velvet with a
I flat crown in the Tam-o’-Shunter
style, and a wide brim trimmed in an
entirely new way with folds of velvet
and satin plaited into one another so
that bands of satin form the outer
edge of the lining. A cluster of
choice ostrich tips on the left side
Completes the trimming.
The smart coat in the sacque shape
Is made of the palest beaver colored
box cloth trimmed with appliques of
the same cloth on canvas, which is
worked with small designs in black
silk. This forms the collar, revers
and cuffs, which are edged with
stitched strappings of black glace
silk and rows of narrow white braid,
and the lining is of rich white satin
brocade.
A lovely feather hat with the sides
turned up and caught at the back is
black on the outside and whi'te un
derneath, and it has no trimmings ex
cept clusters of black and white
I feathers at the ba#k, and long loops
of black ribbon velvet in the center.
A new coat of putty colored box
cloth is trimmed with bows and ends
of silk passementerie to match with
• narrow band of red silk under the
passementerie at. the neck and on the
"‘‘is artistic garment is
.m
lined with white satin, and inside the
neck and the front edges there is a
Land of rich oriental embroidery scal
loped out at the edge.
The becoming toque with this coat
has a Hat crown of white cloth with
a wide brim of mink, and the sole
trimming is a full white osprey on
the left side. This model looks equal
ly well with a brim in any kind of
fur, and it is also made with a crowu
of velvet.
Serviceable coats of rough tweed
with reversible linings are quite a
feature of the autumn fasliions, and
most of these have a rough hairy sur
face. A particularly smart one in
gray, with a reverse of mauve, has
a collar and turn-back cuffs of the
lining, which forms an effective con
trast; the cut and style are admir
able. ELLEN OSMONDE.
Trouble In Smith Family.
In Prella, Kansas, there are two John
Smiths; one is long and thin, und the
other is short und stout. I'ntil lately,
they have been verj friendly, but now
they are foes, it appears that a green
goods letter came to town, addressed
to John Smith, and was delivered to
the fat John. After reading it, he
sent it, to the thin John, with the words
“Opened by mistake,” written on the
envelope. Then the thin John wal
loped the fat John for the supposed
insult.
Haul fur Mlolns NbIsis.
When Frank Huettner, a wealthy
contractor, of Cleveland, Ohio, awoke
on a recent morning, he missed his
false teeth, and naturally inferred that
he had swallowed them, lie wustakeu
to a hospital, where surgeon- made in
cisions in his stomach, to hunt for the
missing molars. Before they had
sewed tip the incisions, his sister-in
law rushed into the hospital, with the
grinders in her hand. She had found
them under the bed.
THE, COLONIAL TWO-STEP
Wf*ITTEtf BY PflUli B. fipJVIST^ONG.
‘
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Copyright, 1897, by 1‘aul B. Armstrong.
ThrouKli Service from I’arisito Pekin.
Some days ago. the directors of the
Not’d Ouest aud Orleans railway com
tallies of France, and representatives
of lh-lgiun. Dutch. German, Austrian
and Kuglieh roads met at Paris, in or
ler to make arrangements for a
through train service from Paris to
IV king. It was shown at this meeting
that the trip could be made by way of
St Petersburg and Siberia in 18 or 19
days while the sea route, either by the
Sue/, canal or the 'lantic and Van
couver, requires from 32 to 33 days.
All that seems necessary at present is
sn arrangement of time-table connec
tions and the selection of cities in
arhich through tickets may be pur
ihaned. It is said that through tick
f
m It
ets will be delivered at both Havre and
Cherbourg, anti transatlantic com
panies will be able to state before
boats leave New York whether or not
connection will be made with through
trains to the orient. The same ar
rangement will be made for the daily
service between Southampton and
Paris.
It was also decided at the recent
meeting to form a combination with
the trans-iAmerican and transpacific
lines, so that round-trip tickets from
New York to Peking could be sold at
the former city, with the privilege of
going by the Pacific and returning by
the transsiberinn route. »r vice versa.
'Fla® time required front New York by
either route is about the same.
1
A
HIS country is certainly a part, at least, of Paradise,” said
Yorker, as the party of us sat around the evening camp fire
on the shores of Kali-pee-kog lake in northern Ontario
“VVhere can a man find so much that, is pleasing as we have
found to-day in our comparatively short journey,” he contin
ued. “Think of the gorgeousness of the green-covered islands
of Georgian bay, then of the magnificence of the rocks ami trees of Crane
lake. 1 tell you there is nothing to beat that unless it is the beauty to
be found over here on Healey lake or in the Muskokas. But all these places
are included in the assertion that this country is a part of Paradise.”
It was a beautiful summer’s evening in a land where the summer even
ings are neither too warm nor too cold, where the sunsets are among the
most brilliant in the world, where the troublesome mosquito entirely dis
appears with the coming of August, where man may commune with na
ture in its most beautiful form. In short it was the Muskoka lake dis
trict of Canada, and our little party of six, including Frazier, the guide,
were camped on the shores of little Kah-pee-kog that lies half way be
tween Georgian bay and the Muskoka lakes, from which plnce we made
daily excursions to almost half a hundred other lakes in a successful
search for the gamey bass. We were nil quite as much in love with the
country ns was Yorker, and none felt inclined to dispute his statements,
as, indeed, who could have done so honestly?
lliere had been a lull in the conversation wnicn
bad lasted for perhaps five minutes, and which was
finally broken by Frazer.
“ ’Tis kind o’ nice country up here just now,” he
said, “but I seen it once when it appeared even rosier
to me than it did to-day, an’ yet 'twan’t quite such
a fine day as this after all, if you go to comparin’ weath
er conditions.”
“What’s the story, Frazier?” I asked, for I knew
there was something back of that statement.
“Well, this story ain’t about iishin’ exactly, though
I’d been sort of anglin’ for what I caught about three
years, an’ the strike was pretty slow, a cornin’. But
you bet when it did come I knowed it meant business
an’ 1 wasn’t slow about gettin’ action on the line.
“You see it was this way. I had been a sparkin
Sallie—that’s my wife—for some three years, and she
didn’t seem to take any bait I had to offer. YVasnt
cause there was any other hook floating ’round that
she liked the looks of better, but she just naturally
didn’t want to be catcbed. Guess you’ve all seen them
there kind of fish. Makes a man nigh ftghtin’ mad
when he sees ’em just a playing ’round his bait down
there in the water an’ makin' no effort to nab at it.
Just plain aggravatin’ of the worst sort, you know.
Well, that’s just the way Sallie was a doin’ with me.
Kept a floatin’ round all the time, but wouldn t strike.
I tried her with all sorts o’ tackle from just the plain
homespun love tale to the highfalutin love letters I
copied out of a paper I took for the purpose, an’ I
tell you the girl ns wouldn’t shine up to them love
letters was a bit shy. They wijgkbout the slickest
worded things I ever see print.fa paper.
“But didn't make no bit of
I I ainerence wuu ux *
J used, Sallie wouldn’t take a shine
to it. I staid out o’ the woods a
. ,, . , whole winter tryin’ to land her.
t owa rd s haven? Paid that Gravenhurst livery-keep
hurst. as mucli um four and five b(Sfari
'... a week for sleighs a takin’ hev%n
ridin’; took in all the church sociables with her;
played Santa Claus at the Christinas tree cause she
asked me to; sent clear down to Toronto to get her
the very finest valentine they had in that town, just
told the feller that was a goin’ to buy it that it didn’t
make no difference about price, an’ it cost mor n $3.00,
including postage. But it didn’t Work, for when val
entine night I asked her to marry me, an it was about
the three hundredth time I had asked her, she just"
said: ‘What for!’
“Well, a whole winter of that was kinder discour
agin’, an’ when the next one come around 1 went off
to the woods. You know that clearin’ up there at
the north end of Crane lake? Well, I helped make that
that winter. Stayed up there from September ’til the
day before Christmas, an’ was a pilin’ up logs to make
up for lost time.
“ ’Twas about four o’clock the day before Christmas
that Bill Scott came a moseyin’ into camp. He corned
from Gravenhurst, an’ when he seed me he come over
and said Sallie told him to tell me if he seed me that
she had a Christmas present for me if I got around
Christmas mornin’ to claim it. If I didn’t she was a
goin* to give it to another feller.
“I didn’t know just wlint that Christmas present
was a goin’ to be, but I wasn’t goin’ to take no chance
on the other feller gittin' it, whatever it was, an’ 1
lit out for Gravenhurst right away. You know, ’tain t
qo summer's day picnic up in these here woods in l)e
cember, an* they ain’t lit up by no electric lights at
night, though the moon was a shinin’. That didn’t
make no sort o’ difference to me, an’ in a half hour I
was on a pair o’ snowshoes a mukin’ long tracks to*
wards Gravenhurst. In the timber the snow was piled up ’bout
ti\e feet high, an’ on the lakes the ice was a reacliin’ down ’bout five
feet the other way with a good pile o’ snow on top o’ that, ’cept in
places where the wind had blowjed it off. Wasn’t just the best walkin’, you
can bet, but there was a fish a bitin’ on that line of mine down to Graven
lmrst, an’ 1 was a goin’ down there to reel it in ’fore it got away. Least
wise I thought It was a bitin’, an’ I wasn’t takin’ no chances on losin’ •
strike.
“Took nigh onto three hours to git across old Crane that night.
Walkin’ was mighty bad, an’ the old thermometer was clear froze up, an’
the wind a blowin’ so I thought it would beat the cutters all out o’ their
jobs by blowin’ the trees all down. Gittin’ through the woods wasn’t no
easier than gittin’ ’cross the lake, an’ ’twas nigh onto eight o’clock be
fore I struck Healey at the end of the portage. Gittin’ 'cross Healey
wasn’t no great shakes, ’cause the wind was coinin’ straight from the west,
and it had blowed most all the snow off. I followed the channel from
Healey up to Kah-pee-kog, but ’twasn’t the same sort o’ channel that’s
there now, ’cause the loggers hadn’t built no dam in the creek an’ cleared
out the brush. From the end of the channel I struck straight down to
where Moore’s cnbln is a standin’ now, but ’twasn’t there then, an’ then I
made a bee line through the timber for Foote’s bay. Say, you fibers talk
about this bein’ a Paradise. Say, you ought to a been in that tiifi>er that
night, an’ you might a changed vour minds a little. ’Twas the coldest Para
dise you ever heard about, an’ that not being enough, the wolves was *
howlin’ fit to scare you out of your boots. Hut there was that nibble at
Gravenhurst, an' I kept a plowin’ right through, an’ a trustin’ to Providence,
or lock, or somethin’ else to keep the wolves off my track ’tjLJt gpt"
through. Say, did any of you ever hear the wolves a howlin'? Wenlpf you
never did you don’ need to cry over w.hat you missed. Hetter do a little
laughin' ’cause you missed it. I’ll bet the tinkle of old Santa Claris’ bells <
a heap sight more pleasin’ to the ear, an’ especially when you’re by your- j
self in the woods at night.
“Well, ‘twas about four in the morning when I struck Lake Joseph,
and from there on 'twas better sailin’, ’cause the wind had blowetj. most
the snow, off the ice same as it had on Healey. Twas only a little after
eight when 1 fetched up at Gravenhurst, an’ begin reelin’ in on that line
uf mine. An’ say, what do you suppose was on the other end of it? A
! bride. That was the Christmas present l had come after. After I went
off to the woods Sallie begun to get lonesome, an’ she kept a gittin’ lone
I somer, till when Hill Scott started for the woods she couldn’t stand it no
! longer, an’ she just sent along that message about the Christmas present,
] to see if it would fetch me, an’ it did. Sallie and the kids is a waitin’ at
I home out there on Lnke Joseph now for you fellers to git through a fishin’, <*.
I bo's 1 can go back home to ’em, an’ it’s the same Sallie I got for a Christ*
ms* present ten years ago this coming Christmas.”