DOI Heft:
September 6, 1873
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16937#0110
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[Septembeb 6, 1873
PLENTY TO WEAR.
The lady wlio teaches other ladies to make one dress last out the
time which two dresses lasted before deserves well of her country-
men. Who will deny that hut drapers and milliners ? What, then,
does she deserve who informs our wives and daughters how they
may contrive to dress at the rate of nearly one-seventh less than
what, on a moderate estimate, as times go, they have, many of
them, been accustomed to spend ? Certainly a good husband, if she
wants one, or an income at least sufficient for her moderate wants as
a spinster, if she is wise enough to prefer that.
It is not uncommon for ladies to regard £100 per annum as a
reasonable sum to expend on their wardrobes. One-seventh of that
sum would more than suffice. A little railway-stall book, written
“ By a Lady,” now instructs all whom it may concern how to dress
“as a lady” on £15 a-year. Comparatively, this allowance is
moderate in the extreme. Practically, perhaps, it is the lowest
possible figure. But consider, dears. Best coals are now 36s. a ton.
The consumption of coals sufficient for a whole family in a house of
moderate size would amount, say, to about eight tons a year -
£14 8s. Row the principal utility of wearing apparel consists in
serving to keep you warm. The measure of dress represented by
£15 required for clothing by one individual lady, exceeds by 12s.
the quantity of coals which would he large enough to supply half-a-
dozen people or so with heat. All the clothing necessary for that
purpose, merely, is reducible to things which cost much less than
£15; and the considerable difference between their price and that
sum goes for mere ostentation. Dear are the dictates of Society.
Substrata of woollens with a cotton surface would be all that comfort
would necessitate for feminine attire ; and the various descriptions
of calico would lend themselves readily enough to a decorative
treatment, whereby economy might be combined with elegance.
But that would ask a combination of philosophy with high Art not
to be expected.
The introductory remarks prefixed to the little hook above noticed
are so judicious as to warrant the belief that its subsequent details
will prove valuable to those who alone can understand them. Ne
sutor supra crepidam. But, d propos de bottes—is not the estimate
of £l 5s. for hoots and shoes too low ? Is it indeed enough for
strong boots alone ? Would not needful walking exercise wear out
too many of them not to require more than that ? And yet it is the
computation of an economist, who is not one of those ladies whom,
out of the lines of the omnibuses, it usually costs at least a shilling
to move a mile. But let that pass. Her hook should he read not
only by all of you, dears, who enjoy no more than £15 a-year where-
withal to clothe yourselves, but likewise by those who are blessed
with ever so much more money, but would like to devote only as
much as quite enough to ostentation, and to expend the rest of it on
other things, either of the nature of uses, or that of substantial
pleasures, or delights of intelligence, or sentiments more exalted
than the love of approbation.
AN OGEE ON A FOUR-YEAR-OLD.
Ha! Hum! Small child—Can eat—Yes ; jam,
Pastry, buns, all that disagrees.
Tender as—eh, well, what ?—As lamb,
Asparagus, and early peas.
I recoUect myself a brat;
Must have been, first, a baby, too ;
Though can’t at all imagine that.
No, Sir, nor, I should think, can you.
Yet time was when, a little wretch,
No doubt I crowed, cried, sprawled, and smiled ;
And Cat,or a et—he that’s now Jack Ketch—
Was likewise once a little child.
Poor France !
When Maximin Gj rated communicated the secret of La Salette
to the Pope, His Holiness is reported to have exclaimed, “ Poor
France ! ” Of course that exclamation of pity was not occasioned
by the Pontiff’s foresight of the pilgrimages which are making
France ridiculous.
THE PLEASURES OF YACHTING.
Dead Calm—Ten Miles from anywhere, and the last Match.
[Septembeb 6, 1873
PLENTY TO WEAR.
The lady wlio teaches other ladies to make one dress last out the
time which two dresses lasted before deserves well of her country-
men. Who will deny that hut drapers and milliners ? What, then,
does she deserve who informs our wives and daughters how they
may contrive to dress at the rate of nearly one-seventh less than
what, on a moderate estimate, as times go, they have, many of
them, been accustomed to spend ? Certainly a good husband, if she
wants one, or an income at least sufficient for her moderate wants as
a spinster, if she is wise enough to prefer that.
It is not uncommon for ladies to regard £100 per annum as a
reasonable sum to expend on their wardrobes. One-seventh of that
sum would more than suffice. A little railway-stall book, written
“ By a Lady,” now instructs all whom it may concern how to dress
“as a lady” on £15 a-year. Comparatively, this allowance is
moderate in the extreme. Practically, perhaps, it is the lowest
possible figure. But consider, dears. Best coals are now 36s. a ton.
The consumption of coals sufficient for a whole family in a house of
moderate size would amount, say, to about eight tons a year -
£14 8s. Row the principal utility of wearing apparel consists in
serving to keep you warm. The measure of dress represented by
£15 required for clothing by one individual lady, exceeds by 12s.
the quantity of coals which would he large enough to supply half-a-
dozen people or so with heat. All the clothing necessary for that
purpose, merely, is reducible to things which cost much less than
£15; and the considerable difference between their price and that
sum goes for mere ostentation. Dear are the dictates of Society.
Substrata of woollens with a cotton surface would be all that comfort
would necessitate for feminine attire ; and the various descriptions
of calico would lend themselves readily enough to a decorative
treatment, whereby economy might be combined with elegance.
But that would ask a combination of philosophy with high Art not
to be expected.
The introductory remarks prefixed to the little hook above noticed
are so judicious as to warrant the belief that its subsequent details
will prove valuable to those who alone can understand them. Ne
sutor supra crepidam. But, d propos de bottes—is not the estimate
of £l 5s. for hoots and shoes too low ? Is it indeed enough for
strong boots alone ? Would not needful walking exercise wear out
too many of them not to require more than that ? And yet it is the
computation of an economist, who is not one of those ladies whom,
out of the lines of the omnibuses, it usually costs at least a shilling
to move a mile. But let that pass. Her hook should he read not
only by all of you, dears, who enjoy no more than £15 a-year where-
withal to clothe yourselves, but likewise by those who are blessed
with ever so much more money, but would like to devote only as
much as quite enough to ostentation, and to expend the rest of it on
other things, either of the nature of uses, or that of substantial
pleasures, or delights of intelligence, or sentiments more exalted
than the love of approbation.
AN OGEE ON A FOUR-YEAR-OLD.
Ha! Hum! Small child—Can eat—Yes ; jam,
Pastry, buns, all that disagrees.
Tender as—eh, well, what ?—As lamb,
Asparagus, and early peas.
I recoUect myself a brat;
Must have been, first, a baby, too ;
Though can’t at all imagine that.
No, Sir, nor, I should think, can you.
Yet time was when, a little wretch,
No doubt I crowed, cried, sprawled, and smiled ;
And Cat,or a et—he that’s now Jack Ketch—
Was likewise once a little child.
Poor France !
When Maximin Gj rated communicated the secret of La Salette
to the Pope, His Holiness is reported to have exclaimed, “ Poor
France ! ” Of course that exclamation of pity was not occasioned
by the Pontiff’s foresight of the pilgrimages which are making
France ridiculous.
THE PLEASURES OF YACHTING.
Dead Calm—Ten Miles from anywhere, and the last Match.