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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1908)
THE SUNDAY OliEGOXIAX. PORTLAND, 3IAY 3. 1908. THIS trip from Liverpool to Lon don I found to be a green glimpse of Kngland In the shape of a bio graph. But the word green, as we say it in our haste, is utterly inadequate to apply to the color of the English landscape. Though of varying shades, It is always green to the n-th power; It Is a saturated solution of green; it Is a green that sinks Into the eye with a sensation of indelibility. And as this green flew by me, I watched it from the window of a car most disap pointingly like our own Pullmans. I had hoped for the humorous ab surdities of the compartmented Eng lish trains. I had almost expected to see sitting opposite me a gentleman dressed In white paper, and I Involun tarily watched for a guard who should look at me through a telescope, and cay, "You're traveling the wrong way." For my imst definite impressions of English railway carriages had been gained from my "Alice," and I was an noyed to find myself booked for a large arm-chair seat in a parlor car, with my luggage checked to its London destination on "the American plan." What, pray, was the use of coming abroad, if one was to have all the com forts of home? As if to add to the unsatisfactoriness of my first Impressions of English travel, I found myself sitting opposite a young American woman. We faced each other across a small table, covered with what seemed to be r.reen baize, but was more likely the reflection of the insistent landscape. The lady was one' of those hopeless, helpless, newly rich, that affect so strongly the standing of Americans In Ell rope. She was blatantly pretty, and began to talk at once, apparently quite obliv ious of the self-evident fact that I wanted to absorb In silence that flying green, to which her own nature was evidently quite impervious. "Your first trip?" she said, though I "MERELY A SMART PARTY WHO WEARS A HAT." r J - WOMEN'S MANY HUED POR the next two months It will be a toss up in point of extravagance be tween headwear and footwear. To pay J18 for one pair of walking shoes Is only moderately extravagant, and the number of pairs of shoes and ties neces sary to a fashionable wardrobe Is far ahead of the number of hats, which is saying much. The fashion of matching the shoe to the gown and the fact that there are now no end of models of shoes differing In style and color from which to choose are responsible for this, says the New York Sun. At one time a woman's street shoe, like a man's dress suit, was necessarily black, and there was no very great temptation to lay in a big stock. Then came colored spats. These took' for a while, but got to be so common that fashion discarded them. Evidently they had fostered a love for ornate street footwear and soon smart women Ixsun to bring back from Europe shoes with vamps and uppers of contrasting colors and materials variously trimmed. The conservatives In dress almost lost their breath when two particulary stylish young matrons first appeared wearing short black walking costumes and shoes made with patent leather unders and pure white uppers, and in the same season pearl gray uppers in conjunction with black vamps and sides were seen often In the street. That was more than twb years ago, and the fashion has grown rapidly since. None likes the fashion better than the custom shoemakers. " "For every pair of women's shoes or dered two or three years ago, three pairs are now ordered," said one, and he ex plained that this applied to the women of other cities as well as to New Yorkers, the former placing most of their orders in New York. According to this shoemaker, there are lenty of- good shoemakers scattered over w a mm mmm b MamannMRivM m ssnvssrsffsss TavnBMannraawnnrnOTvnnswniOTnvBsBmnnOTwnvaavTVapnwMOT you believe the theory now. because 1 v, i ri -i TTzTTmj you hear me set it forth with an air iliy'Cl;-yyh-ly ' - C;.---:'. . v ', . -. -:-.'.. -: II fiyy W of authority; but it will-take you at SLXSAU fh VSMl'f- least four years to attain a true work- VAWiM Z.ir SPAki? i- IWlW in knowledge of it. Moreover, you kW5l '''v2'iP&T fOjf will ask every Englishman you meet 3f&W KNfy regarding cab-fees, and so conflicting TH'.! V W,KT'iC'iy"- Wj I WMl De meir .uivicn inaL you will $$rl change your tactics with every han- J?fc( S )&$i&li&ik V "Then," said I. with an air of inde- JV. , X Z$$?Wfi It K 'Ztt!Z&&.b.i:&&j?: :;Tyrij;Vg Jr pendence. "I Bhall keep out of hansom A. 7 t V " I cabs.: until I am fully determined what A V ' f .-:,&r I U K-3:lwVj I 'You have an American joke." he f I ' 'f 111 f ' ""whs"'0 waggery!" observed Mrs. (' 'I Yc "Ji never knew how she guessed it. "My! it must be quite an event in your life. Now it's only an incident In mine." "You come , often, then?" said I, not specially interested. "Yes; that is, we shall cgme every summer now. You .see he made a lot of money in copper, that's my hus band over there, the one with the plaid traveling-cap, so we can travel as much as we like. We've planned a long trip for this year, and we've got to hustle. I can toll you. I've bought Bli the Baedekers and this year I'm going to see everything that's marked with a double star. You know those are the 'sights which should on no account be the United States, but a belief that for the latest styles one must go to New York sends a lot of business here. The other day a New Tork shoemaker showed a pair of shoes Just finished for a well known Chicago woman. "I make all her shoes," he remarked. "A small foot for Chicago." it was ventured. "Perhaps. It's a No. 5, though', but the placing of the heel makes It look smaller. But then," he added, "every New York custom shoemaker is expected to make the foot look smaller, except In the case of old ladies, and to be care ful not to mark the shoe with any num ber at all. "Once upon a time a custom order shoe meant common sense lines and comfort more than style. Now it means style first, then the shoe must look small and It must represent the acme of comfort. Our job is far from being an easy one. and that is one rea son why tho cost of custom-made shoes is a good bit higher now than for merly." The shoe for the Chicago woman was of fine black kid, with uppers of pearl colored suede, finished with white mother-of-pearl buttons. The vamp had no tip, the heels were of a medltim high French model. The cost was $18. "Of late," the dealer went on, "fash ionable women have shown a decided preference for ties over high shoes. Even in the coldest weather, openwork stockings and low cut shoes have been popular with New York women. "Now that Spring Is here, the high shoe Is having a vogue. Weather has nothing to do with It; fashion has everything to say. The New York woman is willing to wear sandals in midwinter and top boots in midsummer If fashion orders It. "For the time being. shoes with fancy tops are In fashion. Cutting out the very hottest season, they will be worn more tl'.an ties. Some of the omitted.' ' Then next year we'll do up the single stars, and after that we can take things more leisurely." "You've never, been over before, then?" I observed. "No," she admitted, a little reluct antly; "I went to California last year. I think Americans ought to see their own country first." I couldn't help wishing she had chosen this year for her California trip, but the accumulation of green vision had somehow magicked me into a mood of cooing amiability, and I good-naturedly assisted her to prattle on, by offering an encouraging word now and then. "He's so good to me." she said, nod ding toward her husband. "He says he welcomes the coming and speeds the parting dollar. Isn't that cute? He's an awfully witty man." She described the home he had just built for her in Chicago, and it seemed to be a sort of Liberal Arts Building set in the last scene of a comic opera. For a moment, I left the green to it self, while I looked at my unrefrac tive countrywoman with an emotion evenly divided between pity and envy. For had she not reached the ultimate happiness, the apotheosis of content only possible to the wealthy Nitro Bromlde? And what was I that I should depreciate such soul-filling sat isfaction? And why should irjy carp ing analysis dub it ignorance? Why. Indeed! After a few more green miles, an important - mannered guard, who proved to be also guide, philosopher and friend, piloted me to a dining-car which might have been a part of the rolling-stock of the Pennsylvania rail road. Nothing about It suggested the an ticipated English discomfort, unless it might be the racks for the glasses, which, after all, relieved one of certain vague apprehensions. But at dinner it was my good luck to sit in a quartet, the other three mem bers of which were - typical English people. : I suppose it is a sort of reflex ner vous action that makes people who eat together chummy at once. The fact of doing the same thing at the same time creates an involuntary sympathy which expands with tha effects of physical refreshment. I patted myself on my mental shoul der as I looked at the three pleasant English faces, and I suddenly became aware that, though of a different color, they affected me with exactly the same sensation as the clean, green English scenery. This, I conclude, was because Eng lish people are so essentially a part of their landscape, a statement true of no Americans save the aboriginal Indian tribes. My table-mates were a perfect speci men of the British matron, her hus band and her daughter. I should de scribe them as well-bred, but that -term seems to Imply an effect of acquisition by means of outside influences. They were rather well-born. In a sense that implies congenital good-breeding. Their name was Travers, and we slid into conversation as easily as a launching ship slides down into the water. Naturally I asked them to tell me of London, explaining that It was my first visit there, and I wished to know how to manage it. "What London do you want to use?" asked Mr. Travers, interestedly. "You know there are many Londons for the entertainment of visitors. We can give . you the Baedeker London, or Dlckeps' London, or Stevenson's London, or Bernard Shaw's London, or Whistler's London " "Or our own W. D. Howell's London," I finished, as he . paused in his cata logue. "I think," I went on, "the London I FOOTWEAR newest models are In fact cut higher than the ordinary shoe, the tops being made of a thin waterproof, cravenetti or thin leather. "Cloth and suede tops are warmer than leather tops, therefore one of the most stylish of the Spring shoes is made of patent leather or kid or brown calf in a contrasting color." The dealer showed these leathers In the whole skin. They Included many shades of blue, green, brown and red; there were ecru, yellow, dark and light; orange, pink and champagne. Falling the desired color, a skin is dyed to match a sample. If uppers are wanted to match a street ,gown all the wearer, need do Is to produce the material. Thus a pair of patent leather shoes had tops of a light gray striped material, the stripes about half an inch wide and arranged to meet In a V over the instep. The effect was very pretty. The same style shoe In russet brown was topped with a quarter-inch gray two-toned stripe, and a similar model in dull brown leather had uppers f very dark gray quarter-inch stripe cravanette. Other models included pat ent leather finished with Yale blue kid leather tops, dark browns topped with white cloth speckled with brown and russets with uppers of champagne. The combination of black and white, black and cream and black and cham pagne, in the new models, are startling, but stylish, as a young woman who had just purchased a pair of shoes made entirely of white kid except the vamp, which was of patent leather, remarked. It took her some time to choose be-, tween this style and one which had a black vamp and heels and all the rest of the shoe white, and another which had white uppers and white heels with black vamp and sides. Another striking model was entirely of white leather finished with black heels and trimmed at the sides and across the want is a composite affair, and I shall compile it as I go along. You know Browning says 'The world is made for each of us.' and so I think there's a London made for each of us, and we have only to pick it out from among the myriad others." - VThat's quite true," said Mrs. Trav els. "You'll be using, do you see. many bits of those Londons mentioned, but combining them in such a way as to make an Individual London all your own." The prospect delighted me, and I mentally resolved to build up such a London as never was on land or sea, "But." I observed, "aside from an in dividually theorized London, there must be a practical side that is an inevita ble accompaniment. 'There must be facts as well as opinions. I should be most glad of any hints or advices from experienced and kind-hearted Lon doners." "Without doubt," said Mr. Travers, "the -question trembling on the. tip of your tongue is the one that trembles on the tip of every American tongue that lands on our shores 'What fee shall I give a cabman?' " "I laughed outright at this, for it was indeed one of my collection of tongue-tipped questions. "But sadly enough," went on the Englishman, "it Is a question that It is useless for me to answer you at present. An American must be in London for four years before he can believe the true solution of the cab fee problem. The correct procedure is to give the cabby nothing beyond his legal fare. If you give him tup- THE ONE WITH THE pence, he looks at you reproachfully; if you give him fourpence, he scowls at you fearfully; if you give him six pence, he treats you to his verbal opinion of you In choice Billingsgate. Whereas,. If you give him no gratuity, he assumes that you have lived here for years, and lifts his hat to you with the greatest respect." "Why can't I follow your rule at once?" I demanded. "I do not know," returned Mr. Trav ers. "Nobody knows; but the fact re mains that you cannot. You think vamp with an elghth-of-an-inch wide black band of patent leather. Side by side in one establishment were a pair of nauve shoes touched up with white but tons and a pair which combined a vamp of pale blue kid with white uppers, heels and sides. This same design combined also a brown vamp with white heels, sides and uppers and brown vamp and cham pagne colored sides and top. If anything, the varieties of low cut shoes are more ornate than the high cut. For example, there is one model made of fancy leather that Is. leather veined with' colors to form a leaf design. This Is seen at Its best in brown veined with ecru and red. In one case a tie of this leather cut with a short vamp and a medium Cuban heel was finished around the edge with a half-inch wide band of gold gal loon. A particularly novel design of tie runs up well on the front of the foot, some thing after the fashion of a Juliette bed room slipper, and Is finished with a high French heel and a short pearl buttoned opening a little 'to one side of the front line. In one example the champagne colored suede was embroidered in a double row of oblong eyelets across the front of the foot. A tie with the vamp of one color and the remainder1 of quite another color seems to be one of the most popular models both In ties and pumps, and for ordinary wear the brown or ecru vamp leads all the rest. Compared with brown the black vamp is nowhere. Shown at one of the best custom shops are brown ties and pumps finished between the sole and the upper with narrow white beading. In one medium high tie of russet leather there are white eyelets and laces. Gray and white mixed pearl buttons, by the way, have taken the place almost entirely of black buttons in all the fancy shoes. In evening slippers the most notice able novelty is In the trimming of the vamp, which consists preferably of a small oblong buckle of gold with jewels, real or imitation, sunk into the surface, or of a comparatively small stiff bow made to stand upright instead of lying, flat against the slipper. -s you believe the theory now. because you hear me set it forth with an air of authority; but it will-take you at least four years to attain a true work ing knowledge of it. Moreover, you will ask every Englishman you meet regarding cab-fees, and so conflicting will be their advices that you will change your tactics with every han som you ride in." "Then," said I, with an air of inde pendence. "I shall keep out of hansom cabs, until I am fully determined what course to pursue in this regard." "But you can't, my dear lady." con tinued my Instructor. "To be in Lon don is to be in a hansom. They are inevitable." ' " Why not omnibuses?" I asked, eager for general information. "I have long wanted to ride in or on a London 'bus. " Mr. Travers' eyes twinkled. "You have an American joke." he said, "wnich cautions people against going into the water before they learn how to swim. I will give you an In fallible rule for 'buses: never get on a London 'bus until you have- learned to get on and off of them while they are in motion." "What waggery!" observed Mrs. Travers, in a calm, unamused tone, and I suddenly realized that I was in the midst of an English sense of humor. The dinner progressed methodically through a- series of specified courses, and when we had reached the vegeta ble marrow I had ceased to regard the green distance outside and gave my full attention to my lucky find of the Real Thing in English people. Mr. Travers' advice- was always ex cellent and practical, though usually hidden In a jest of somewhat heavy persiflage. We discussed the English tendency to elide letters or syllables from their proper names, falling back on ' the time-worn example of the American who complained that Englishmen spell a name B-e-a-u-c-h-a-m-p and pro nounce it Chumly. "But it's better for an American," said Mr. Travers. "to pronounce a name as it is spelled than to elide at his own sweet will. I met a Chicagoan last summer who said he intended to run out tt Win'c's'le." "What did he mean?" I asked, in my ignorance. '. "Windsor Castle," replied Mr. Trav ers. gravely. . The mention of Chicago made :ne remember my companion in the parlor car, and I spoke of her as one type of the American tourist. "I saw her," said Mrs. Travers. with that Inimitable air of separateness that belongs to the true Londoner; "she is not interesting. Merely a smart party who wears a hat." As this so competently described the lady from Chicago, I began to suspect what 1 later came thoroughly to real ize, that the Eng.lsh are wonderfully adept in the making of picturesque phrases. PLAID TRAVELING CAP. During our animated conversation, Miss Travers had said almost nothing. I hadread of the mental blankness of the British Young Person, and was not altogether surprised at this. - But the girl was a delight to look at. By no means of the pink-cheeked, red - lipped variety immortalized in English novels, she was of a delicate build, with a .face of transparent whiteness. Her soft, light brown hair was carelessly arranged, and her vio let eyes would have been pathetic but for a flashing, merry twinkle when she THE HOTEL he goes across the aisle feet first and with one well-directed kick shifts it two points to larboard. Leader John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi, work a neat wallpaper design of art nouveau scratches on. Sub-Leader DeArmond, of Missou ri's face with his finger nails. "Not a gun anywhere. No resort to the code. No exchange of cartels. I doubt if some of those Southern mem bers would know a cartel if they met it coming down the big road from Car tersville. Young Mr. Heflin. of Ala bama, is the only one of them that has made any noticeable effort to re vive the old custom and you know what a kidney stew with mashed po tatoes and boiled onions he made of it. Heflin's one of the youngest fathers that the prohibition wave has. He was going down to a church social in his capacity as a parent, to speak on the subject of temperance, and so natural ly he took a gun about the size of a pair of skates in his hip pocket along with his manuscript showin&r what the lellish liquor traffic had done. A col ored party hauled out a bottle of sloe gin on the street cor and Mr. Heflin's ardor was fired and he inaugurated a little crusade of reform of 44 caliber that took in at least one innocent by stander. He had a style of marks manship like a Roman candle. In the old days they wouldn't have let Heflin carry the cotton batting to a real duel. "After all, Jeff Is my favorite in the new school of constructive statesman ship. He comes from ciose to the soil. You know that when you see his collar. He spent his early life In a cave eat ing mast. The first time he rode on a train they had to blindfold him and ,back him aboard up a plank. He eats his chewing tobacco on the car. The hlghwater mark of the '84 rise In the White River is still on his front teeth. When he needs manicuring they send I HE TREATS YOU TO HIS OPINION occasionally raised their heavy, creamy lids. Remembering Mrs. Travers' aptness in coining phrases of description, I tried to put Rosalind Travers Into a few words, but was obliged to borrow from the Master-Coiner, and I called her ''The Person of Moonshine." By the time I was having my first interview with real Cheddar cheese, the Traverses were inviting me to visit them, and I was gladly accepting their delightfully hospitable and unmistaka bly sincere invitation. Scrupulously careful to bid goodbye to my Chicago friend before we reached London, alone I stepped from the train at Euston Station with a feeling of infinity anticipation. Owing probably to on over-excited imagination, the mere physical atmos phere of the city impressed me as soinethingt quite different from any city I had ever seen, I felt as if I had at last come into my own, and had far more the attitude of a returning wan derer than a visiting stranger. The hansom-cabs did not appear any different from the New York vehicles of .the same name, but I climbed into one without that vague wonder as to whether it wouldn't be cheaper to buy the outfit than to pay my fare. My destination was a club in Picca dilly a woman's club,' which I had joined for the sole purpose of using its house as an abiding-place. The cab-driver was cordial, even solicitious about my comfort, but finally myself and my hand-luggage were carefully stowed away, the glass was put down, and we started. It was after dark, and it was raining, two conditions which might appall an unescorted woman in a strange city. The rain was of that ridiculous Eng lish sort, where the drops do not fall, but play around In the air. now and then whisking Into the faces of passers-by, but never spoiling their clothes. It was enough, though, to wet the asphalt, and when we swung Into Pic cadilly, and the flashing lights from everywhere dived down into the street, and rippled themselves across the wet blackness of the pavement, I suddenly realized that I was driving over one of the most beautiful things in the world. I looked out through my hansom glass darkly, at London. Unknown, mysterious, silent, but enticing with its twinkling eyes, it was like a masked CLERK for a farrier, and he can whip his weight in wildcats if stuffed. "It's a funny thing, Larry, but outside of the Southern statesmen, the Southern ers don't seem to be the hotheads they used to be, if they ever were. The aver age Southerner these times wears a derby and he'd just as soon buy his Spring socks from a Yankee if the price is right. The only big feud they've had in Kentucky in a year was the row over the new organ in a Baptist Church in Owens boro." "How about them fierce, long-haired guys with the slouch hats you see in the bar here every night?" aked the House Detective. "Oh, you mean those conversational firebrands that're always committing ar son with their mouths?" said the Hotel Clerk. "They're professional Southern ers. Larry. Thej- don't grow down South. You don't find 'em there. The climate of the North Is best suited to their cul ture. It's a word and a blow with them a word and then blow for three or four hours. "But I love to hear them spout. They always belong to old Southern families. There aren't any new Southern families anyway it's only the prime old vatted, bottled-In-bond Southern families that we hear about up here. It's the proud boast of every one of those cooKing sherry sports that he springs from fight ing stock. And so he does. He'll spring the length of this room from anybody who remotely resembles fighting stock. And he loves to boast about the rich cavalier blood that flows in his veins. Any such blood he's got was delivered at the wrong address. I've been down South. Larry, and I know. If a professional Southerner from this town went to Mem phis or Mobile, and put on his favorite line of moving-picture remarks about his ancestry, . the - populace would lynch him as a common nuisance. "The young female professional South OF YOU IN CHOICE BILLINGSGATE. beauty at a ball. Yet. beneath that mocking elusive witchery, I was con scious of an implied promise, that my London would yet unmask, and I should know and love her face to face. A Week's Experiences. Xew Orleans Times-Democrat. The year had Bloomily begun For Willie Weeks, a poor man's Sun. He was beset with till and dun. And he had very little Mon. "This cash." said he. "won't pay dues. I've nothing; here but ones and Tues." A bright thought struck him. and he said. "The rich Miss Goldrocka I will .Wed." But when he paid his court to her, She lisped, but firmly said, "No Thur.' "Alas." said he. "then I mott die!" Ills soul went where they say souls Ft!. They found his gloves and coat and hat. And the Coroner then upon him Sat. "What Waggery " Observed Mr. Travers. CONTINUED FROM PAGE FIVE erner in our midst is also a brisk, little plaid sample, as you may have noted, Larry. Generally, she's In the chorus of some Broadway show, and her accent ain't on straight. It sounds too much like the Southern dialect they talk up state in the Southern Tier. But any way, she don't have to be born down South to make her eligible. If she be longs to a show that plays South Bend, and gets all her regular divorces In South Dakota, she's qualified for active mem bership In the Ladies' Auxiliary of the New Yerk Local of the Self-Mado South erners' Vnion." "I heard that taffy-haired dame from the Casino, that comes in here every evenin' for tea. savin' the other day that her pa was a Southern planter." said the Hotel TJeteetive. "I wonder did she tell the truth?" "Yes. she did." said the Hotel Clerk. "Her father's in the undertaking busi ness in Atlanta." A Little Hint. Detroit Free Tress. I love little children. So charming and sweet; Their eyes flashing sunlight. The sound of their feet, I'm fond of the youngsters. But still, for all that It's no sign that I want them To sit on my hat. I'll fondle the cables And Jog on my knee The rosy-lipped children, Whoever they be. But still, though I love All the babies, so cute I don't want their finger-marks Ieft on my suit. My heart is a playground Where children may run; I want all the toddlers To revel in fun. But though my heart beat For each sturdy young rhap 1 don't want an ink well Spilled into my lap