Page:Book of Etiquette, Volume 2, by Lilian Eichler.djvu/134

112 more suits his dignified dress. With it he wears white kid gloves and a high silk hat or felt Alpine as he prefers.

There can be nothing more picturesque and delightful than some of the pretty little social dances held in the smaller towns. Sometimes they are held in the after-noon; more often in the evening, but always they are a source of keen enjoyment both to the participants and to those who "look on."

We are going to tell you about a dance held recently in the home of a social leader in a typical small town. Everyone of any consequence whatever attended, and the occasion proved one worthy of remembrance in the social annals of the town. There were perhaps one hundred and fifty women and one hundred men. Three rooms in the hostess* home were thrown open into one huge ballroom. The dancing began at eight o'clock in the evening — rather early for the city, but unusually late for this country town.

To a visitor from so gay a metropolis as New York, the simplicity of the women's dress was a pleasing change. They were in evening dress, yes,—but a strangely more conservative evening dress than that described previously for the formal ball. There were no sleeveless gowns, no elaborate décolletés. Taffetas, chiffons and silk brocades were developed simply into gowns of dignified charm. One did not notice individual gowns, for no one woman was dressed more elaborately than another. This is what everyone should strive for—simplicity with charm and a complete absence of all conspicuousness.

Fashion has been condemned. Women have been ridi-