The Topeka state journal. [volume], December 18, 1905, LAST EDITION, Image 8

About The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980

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TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL,
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KHC6 CITDG Cells of tbc foolish Kind and
the "Useful" Sort Hiso of Some Others 3lb;cb
Might Be Given b? iXlives to Busfcanda :: :: ::
F there is anything T can't stand!
: ; it is a useless Christmas pres- j
cnt'" remarks Mrs. Practical, as j
she surveys disapprovingly an '
elaborately embroidered pancake shaped i
affair supposed to be a receptacle for
handkerchiefs, gloves or any old
thing, or else merely an "ornament."
"Glory be! Who v.'ould ever think of
bothering with a thing like that? I feel
like throwing it into the waste bas
ket!" "I wish the family would think of
sending me something pretty and
frivolous and useless for a change,"
sighs Mrs. Poor Relation as she opens
packages containing "serviceable" dress
goods, stout pocket hankerehiefs and
warm mittens.
And so we all are hard to please, and
the fact is brought home more and
more that Christmas is a holiday for
children and not for grownups.
I know of one family that has solved
the problem of giving the right present
to the right person. "For goodness'
sake." remarked brother Bob, the "orig
inal" member of this family, "let's
try another plan next year! Here I
have received a set of Browning in
stead of a typewriter, and a gun instead
of some trout rods. I tell you what,
boys and girls and uncles and aunts
and parents and every one let's go
back to the way we used to do things
when we were kids, and let's write let
ters to Santa Claus modestly (?) stat
ing our wants. We can drop them into
a big box, and then the members of
the family can take counsel among
themselves, so as to be sure they don't
Tive duplicates."
should be In rhyme and that they
should be read from the Christmas tree.
Some of the verses were quite cred
itable, but those of the head of the house
were rather characteristic, for they
showed an utter disregard of the rules
of poetry when said rules interfered
with businesslike directness. Hi3 no
ble effort ran as follows:
No cigars for father;
He'll pick them out himself
He'd rather! (
1.
But a book or two.
If there's something new,
Or a chair it's no sin
To sit in!
A Plan That Worked.
Some of the older members were
shocked, but Bob's plan went through,
as most of his plans do, and the next
Chri.';tmas chuckles of delighted ap
proval could be heard on all sides. To
make the plan more amusing it was
decreed that all the Santa Claus letters
Have you seen the new souvenirs for
Christmas dinners? Some of them are
very dainty. There are little top potted
holly plants and miniature Christmas
trees, with the tiniest little cornu
copias and candles. For the women there
are also miniature silk stockings in
different colors,
inscribed with
humorous ' sen
timents and fill
ed with small
candies. There
are also import
ed folding pic
tures, or, rather,
"unfolding pic
tures," for as
each section is
laid back it
composes a new
view, each one
illustrating the
Christmas of
some nation. Lit
tle gifts like
that laid at each
plate do not cost
much, and they
add a good deal to the success of a
dinner, especially during the holidays.
the Santa
letters.
Reading
Claus
The Cost of Dressing.
I heard a woman say the other day
that it took so much money in order to
- VVu . - , , '
A STUNNING SKATING COSTUME.
The pretty skating costume illustrated is of deep, rich, red facecloth. The
many gored skirt has an inset of fan plaits radiating from the knees. The
close fitting bolero is of Persian lamb, with chemisette and cuffs of ermine.
be well dressed nowadays"- V "Well, do
you know I don't agree with her at
all.
One of the best dressed women I
know has only one new street gown
each winter. The woman who com
plained that" dress1 was So expensive
has a dozen .that T know of, half of
them carried over from last year and
remodeled at great cost. She has hats,
too, by the score, but none of them
seems to "go" with any particular cos
tume, and you are Just as likely to see
her with a purple hat, a brown dress
and a seal skin muff. The trouble with
this woman is that she buys reckless
ly anything and everything that strikes
her fancy Just because it is pretty or
becoming. She never stops to think
with what she is going to wear the
article in question.
But the woman who has only one
dress a season is much more careful in
its selection. She waits until the styles
have been well defined, and then she
gets the smartest color combination to
be found.
This winter, for instance, she has a
black chiffon velvet costume. The
dress Is made in princess style, with a
white yoke, and the little short jacket
is shirred horizontally and ends a
trifle above the waist line. With this
she wears a small ermine tippet and a
flat muff. Her hat is of black velvet,
trimmed with white tips.
She wears this costume every after
noon, and because it Is so well made
and so appropriate and becoming she
does not get tired of it. When spring
comes and the velvet is too warm she
will probably blossom out in green or
gray or lavender or whatever color is
in the lead, and she will be complete
from top to toe.
Next winter she will have a new
costume, and the black velvet gown
and hat will be remodeled slightly for
second best wear.
She will not put any money in the
old suit, however, or pay a dressmak
er's bill on it. Her own clever fingers
will be sufficient to make the slight al
terations that are needed. She puts
all her money in the new gown, and
as a result she has something to show
for it.
A Safe Combination.
Black and white, anyway, is a very
safe combination for the woman who
cannot afford many changes. The black
and white hat will also go with a white
evening gown, and the latter is by far
the prettiest thing a woman can wear to
the theater or for restaurant dinners.
I approve of the princess style; it needs
much less trimming, does not go out of
style so quickly and is infinitely smart
er than the ordinary two piece "fussed
up" dress.
A very stunning hat that any woman
could make and give herself for a
Christmas present was shown to me
recently. It was an imported model of
black velvet. The shape was just like
a saucer, with the crown so small that
it disappeared entirely under a large
white pompon of ostrich plumes, from
which a curved aigret (also white)
floated carelessly. The high band at
the back was filled in with silver roses
and black tulle.
Now, a hat of this sort may be worn
with any costume. Then for a change
one might have a white lace evening
hat trimmed with a soft cluster of
white tips and a ribbon arrangement
around the crown, which could be
easily replaced by another color when
desired and pinned in place with tiny
safety pins. But let the fastening be
of safety pins, I pray you! I shall
never forget the experience of a wo
man who did not like the way the
roses were
placed on her
evening hat. Of
course it was a
matter of life and
death with her,
for she was go
ing out with the
special man of
her heart, so she
ripped the blos
soms off and
pinned them on
again at a most
fetching angle.
And, lo, on the
way from the
carriage to the
theater door a
bnld bnrl p-nct
From the carriage to the of wind took
theater door. . , m .
them up and
whirled them gayly down the street,
leaving her head decorated with the
tulle shape bristling with shiny pins!
I think the moral of that story is the
young man thought she was so "slack"
that he didn't propose!
Again, Christmas Presents,
But to return to Christmas. I think
some wives' presents to their husbands
are great jokes. They spend the money
hubby earns to buy him a present he
doesn't by any chance want, while there
are some things which don't cost money
which the poor man would receive with
shrieks of joy.
Don't you suppose Mr. Henpeck
would bless Mrs. H. to his dying day
if that formidable woman would make
him a present of a new disposition
warranted not to rip or ravel and
would remember her Christmas pres
ent to him every day of the 365?
And Mr. Nagg? WThat would he not
give to have Mrs. Nagg silenced as a
Christmas gift instead of receiving
from that lady a bright purple neck
tie?
Mrs. Extravagant might pay back in
good meals some of the housekeeping
fund she squandered on fine feathers.
And Mrs. Prim and Prosy? Ah, there
is another, my friends. Why couldn't
she expand in her views of life as a
Christmas donation to her long suffer
ing lord and master? She might even
unbend sufficiently to allow him a
first class card party right in the house
by the way of giving him a Merry
Christmas. . , --: .-
Yes, indeed, there are lots of Christ
mas presents thoughtful wives might
make to their husbands!
KATE CLYDE.
New York.
AN EMPIRE VISITING GOWN.
The gtwn illustrated is of the modi
fied empire style. The bolero of prune
velvet has bands of gray broadcloth.
Broadcloth also makes the skirt. A a
entre deux of lace surrounds the deli-
I'M
cately tucked chemisette of batiste,
which is crossed with tiny loops of vel
vet ribbon. The Irish lace collar is'
strapped with cloth. Bands of cloth
with inserted velvet puffs trim the skirt
at the bottom.
A WOMAN'S PARADISE.
Sweden is woman's paradise. A writ
er says: "Women share every privilege
offered their husbands and brothers,
and those who have to earn their living
find the doors of no profession shut in
their faces. The fair sex invades every
public department. Women are the
bank clerks as well as the postofftce
clerks, and life in a Swedish town is
made pleasant for the .worker. Every
day, for example, the postoffices are
closed from 3 to 5 o'clock, and during
that time the clerks may rest or take
part in some of the many outdoor
games that are popular there."
JGPA.MTMJ5NT OF INTEREST TO
OF THE GENTLER SE;
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H"" raiNO the past summer Mrs.
! ) Leonidas Hubbard made her
sorrowful expedition to Lab
rador to discover, if po.ssible.
any trace of how and why her husband
met his death there two years ago. She
entered the desolate region with
juuiau k nines June z,. ana lrom t int : in n.,rc.,. a ..;.,
i u. .iMi uinii xmn:in.ti.
time no word was heard from her till! -r.--.x-o tm u,,i,v, un
band met his death because of errors
r country for fifty miles thereabout
swarmed with these native American
j reindeer. It is unfortunate for the cari
1 bou that Mrs. Hubbard mentioned this,
j The caribou will no doubt now be
i speedily hunted off the earth in Lab-
her rador as it has already been elsewhere
November, when tidings came that her
search had been successful. Apparent
ly, Leonidas Hubbard perished because
he lost his way in the interior of piti
less Labrador.
Mrs. Kubbard crossed northeast Lab- j
rador by way of the George and Nas
caupee rivers to the Hudson Bay com
pany's po.st on Ungava bay. north Lab
rador. She fortunately reached Ungava
while she was in their vicinity. But
who knows?
After returning from the Kongo Mrs.
French-Sheldon prepared her book and
rested awhile. Then the "wanderlust"
came over her like a spell again and
off she went, this time to the African
west coast. She said she wanted to get
away from the London climate, even
into Africa, and herein nobody who
knows London in winter can blame her.
She left England early in November
last.
The chief object of Mrs. French-Sheldon's
. studies in wild lands is not ge
ography or natural resources, but peo
ple, people themselves; therefore her
stories have a fascinating human qual
ity that does not inhere in all records
of exploration. Then, again, she nat
urally loves women, and they love her.
so that wherever she goes the women
are instinctively drawn to her. Thus
she gains real insight into the domestic
life and tribal customs of the African
in his native state.
There, too, is Mrs. William N. Mac
Millan of St. Louis. Her husband has
long been interested in northeast Africa
from the commercial viewpoint. It was
a favorite idea of his that profitable
trade relations could be established with
Abyssinia and the Sudan and the out
side world. Mrs. MacMillan was as
much interested as her husband in his
plan, so she accompanied him to Africa
1
MKS. E. FRENCH-SHELDON.
bay before the ice closed in and cut off
return by the company's steamer. Even
if she had not done so, however, she
was prepared to snowshoe it back over
land. On George river Mrs. Hubbard and
her Indians ran rapids for five days,
once whirling three and three-quarter
miles in lifteen minutes. At Caribou
crossing, on Lake Miehikamau, she saw
$ herd ol thousands of caribou, and the
in the existing maps of Labrador.
Guided by these maps he was misled
into taking the wrong river route, which
he followed to death by starvation
when he expected it to bring him to a
trading post.
In England a new volume of explora
tion up the Kongo river is in press from
the pen of Mrs. E. French-Sheldon, the
American woman who has spent months
stretching into years in African jungles,
fording rivers and visiting natives that
had never seen a white woman before.
Mrs. French-Sheldon is one of the
very few women fellows of the Royal
Geographical society of Great Britain.
Her mother was a noted physician in
the days when skilled women doctors
were not so numerous in America as
they are today. Mrs. French-Sheldon!
herseif showed as a young girl great:
talent in music and spent a number of!
years in Itaiy developing this gift. !
Then the great urging to travel and
travel on and on ewn to the ends of
the earth broke forth within her. The
Germans call this the "wanderlust."'
and only those who are born with it i;i
them can understand its resistless im
pulses. The musical leading was not
strong enough to hold her, and Mrs.
French-Sheldon started on her journeys.
She went first from New York to Eu
rope, then made extensive explorations
in east Africa. King Leopold of Bel
gium commissioned her to go to the
Kongo Free State and investigate the
charges of cruelty toward natives by
white officials there. She went, trav
eling up the great Kongo river, now
spending a few days in a negro village,
now camping out beside the jungle
trail. During the long trip no act of
cruelty from a white official to a native
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M'tftE. SCHUMAMN-H
American women sympathize with that sweet voiced singer, Mme. Schu-mann-Heinck
in her conflict with German law in regard to her children. Some
thing over a year ago Mme. Schumann-Heinck. a widow with eight children,
six boys and two girls, married an American citizen, William Rapp. She her
self decided to make her home in America. She went to Germany, where her
"children wore, to bring them hither. She had alr. mnr-u nronertv in Germanv.
came under her personal notice, and she bought with money she had earned as a singer, largely in America. But here
said so on her return to Europe and j the German law stepped in and declared she should have neither children nor
civilization. Thereupon those who 1 property. Under the German law. if a wiring- marri ih cer-ond time .she can
made the charges declared Mrs. French- j have no control over her children or her property. The court takes charge of both.
faneldon had been treated like a lady
and fed on the fat of the land through
out and that the officials w-ere extreme
The law says, too, that Mme. Rapp'a sons must stay in Germany and do military
Bervice.
The singer has appealed to the state department at Washington to ascer
ly careful to refrain from acts of cruelty tain if something cannot be done in the case.
to hunt for travel routes that would be
practicable.
The MacMillans went up the Nile
from Cairo to Khartum. Jan. 25, 1903,
they left Khartum with some friends
and ascended the Blue Nile. After a
little time they separated into two
parties, Mr. MacMillan heading one, his
wife the other. Her special aim was to
find land and water travel routes from
the Sudan into Abyssinia. With her
maid, a physician and a naturalist and
a number of servants and carriers the
lady crossed the Sudan and visited
King Menelik of Abyssinia in his capi
tal. Her route lay among tribes be
lieved to be hostile, and she never went
out of camp without being well armed.
She traveled by mule train. She her
self shot during the journey some "big
game," including lions. She crossed
Abyssinia from west to east, returning
by way of the Red sea. She believes
the object of her journey is accom
plished. A transportation and trading
company is now being formed for Abys
sinia and the adjoining region.
' Any more? Well, yes, so many there
is no room to write of them. This is
woman's day for doing anything she de
sires. Mrs. E. L. Kerr, naturalist, who has
lived, studied and collected specimens
in Central America for twenty years,
is now on an expedition somewhere in
the isthmian wilderness, hunting for tho
jabiru, a great white bird, six feet tall,
so scarce that it may almost be classed
with the dodo. Mrs. Kerr's passion is
for hunting in unexplored regions, and
in the interior of Central America she
has ample scope for gratifying it.
There, too, is Miss Beatrice Grim
shaw, an Irish girl, who is journeying
alone among the cannibals of the south
sea islands. She is especially careful to
avoid places where white people have
been before. To do this she must go
into the interior of the islands. At one
place the native women insisted on feel
ing her flesh to see if she was real. She,
however, with rare Irish tact, let down
her back hair and showed them how
she did it up, and that von their good
will. At last accounts Miss Grimshaw
had not yet furnished a meal for her
new friends.
ALICE W. MORTIMER.
NAMING THE BABY.
In some foreign lands the baby's
name is chosen in strange ways. The
littie Chinese girls of the poorer classes
are thought of so little importance that
they rarely get a name at all as in
fants, but are called number one, two,
three or whatever their place in the list
of daughters may be. Chinese boys are
given a name, by which they are called
till they attain the age of twenty. Then
their father gives them a new name.
Japanese girls have pretty names, usu
ally those of some flower Mimosa,
Chrysanthemum, Cherry Blossom. In
some parts of the country the little
Japs do not receive a name until they
are five years old, when their father
chooses one for them. Hindoo babies
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AWkw,w
A BLACK BROADCLOTH SUIT.
Very smart is the skirt of the black panne broadcloth suit sketched. The
lower flounce is disposed at the top in stitched plaits, and the upper flounce
is made with fitted gores. The short jacket has down the front and over the
shoulders a stitched empiecement fastened with beaded, velvet buttons. The
collar is inset with black panne velvet.
are named when they are about twelve
davs old. and it is usually the mother
who chooses the name. Hindoos are
fond of pretty flower names for their
girls. The Egyptians have an odd way
of choosing a baby's name. They light
three candles, giving a name to each,
but they always call one after some
deified or exalted person.. The baby is
called by the name borne by the candle
which burns longest. Mohammedans
sometimes write suitable names on
slips of paper, which they insert be
tween the pages of the Koran The
first slip drawn out gives the name ta
the baby