The fuss a man makes about having 
his buttons kept sewed on, may seem 
exaggerated; but when we consider that 
almost every button on a man’s garments 
is used, and cannot be dispensed with 
except at inconvenience, it would seem 
that his buttons are more important than 
our own. One can count on the fingers 
of one hand the number of buttons on a 
man’s suit that are used for ornament ; 
sometimes there are two, at the most, 
six. What do we find when we consider 
feminine apparel ? This year, at least, 
there are many superfluous buttons used 
simply as a trimming. A few buttons 
missing would not impair the garment’s 
usefulness. 
* 
Sailor hats remain in vogue. There 
are two styles ; one has quite a wide 
brim, and a low crown. This is made 
in rough straw, and is usually much 
trimmed with flowers, tulle, etc. The 
other has a narrow brim, and high crown. 
It is made of fine, smooth braid, and 
worn most often with no trimming ex¬ 
cept the ribbon band. The Panama straw 
is an exception ; it is almost invariably 
trimmed. 
* 
Tulle is much used in trimming hats, 
and comes in all colors. A full ruching 
all around the crown is seen on many 
hits. On others, large, full rosettes are 
mingled with the flowers. A very pretty 
effect is that obtained by using two 
colors of tulle, and folding them together 
before gathering into rosettes, etc., one 
color showing through the other giving 
tne two-toned effect that we have had 
so long and have not wearied of. 
* 
Black velvet ribbon is used on the 
broad, white leghorn hats in preference 
to the fancy ribbons used so lavishly on 
other hats and dresses. Summer outdoor 
amusements allow woman the freedom 
to avail herself of the picturesque large 
hat which is so much condemned worn 
indoors. This, probably, is the reason 
that the leghorn hat is never out of favor. 
* 
The lace hat is superseded by the tulle 
or chiffon hats, and these are made in 
colors as well as in black and white. 
Straw crowns and tulle brims are fre¬ 
quently combined, a fancy straw only 
being appropriate for the dainty effect 
desired. 
DINNER A T CLARK'S. 
SPOOL of Clark’s thread, what does 
it mean to you ? To the great ma¬ 
jority, it means standard quality, and 
satisfaction in the work done with its 
help. Generally, the seamstress who has 
become familiar with it, will “take no 
other ” anyhow, and it doesn’t have to 
be advertised. 
But there are several thousand peo¬ 
ple living near New York, to whom 
“ Clark’s Thread ” calls up very different 
thoughts. Thoughts of endless hours of 
ceaseless work ; thoughts of buzzing 
wheels and rattling chains and clicking 
machinery bars. Tiioughts of discom¬ 
fort from heat, where they must work 
in a room kept at 85 degrees perhaps, 
every day in the year ; and from water 
in the rinsing rooms, where it runs 
ceaselessly over the floor. These are the 
employees in the great thread works ; 
2,(500 of them, and nearly two-thirds of 
these gii’ls. 
But great firms sometimes have souls, 
in spite of the general belief to the con¬ 
trary. The employees are cared for by 
tliis firm in a practical way, as well as 
in more esthetic ones. Plants in neat 
boxes adorn all the windows. Signs of 
danger are posted everywhere at special 
points, like elevator shafts. The girls 
are cautioned by placard to beware of 
wearing their hair loose about the head, 
or hanging free, lest it be caught in the 
swift-flying machines. Across the street, 
is a reading-room, and on another 
corner, is the restaurant lately opened 
by the firm for the benefit of the em¬ 
ployees—or rather, of the girls ; as no 
men are allowed to take meals there, 
though meals are sent out to them, if 
desired. 
All thoughtful people who frequent 
restaurants, are amazed at the lunches 
which women and girls make a habit of 
ordering. It makes little difference 
what the occupation, whether the cus¬ 
tomer be a shopper merely, or a hard¬ 
working shop girl, if the purse admit, 
charlotte russe, ice cream, and fancy 
cakes rule the day, with, possibly, a cup 
of tea. It was to combat this tendency, 
and to furnish substantial, nutritious 
and hygienic food for the mill girls, that 
the restaurant plan was adopted. 
The Cook is a Man. 
One is surprised to find that the cook 
is a man who might serve as chef in the 
most aristocratic city hotel; a man with 
all the niceties of his profession well in 
hand, intelligent to a degree, thoughtful, 
and so well educated that, in an hour’s 
conversation, one would scarcely note a 
single slip in careful, grammatical 
speech ; a man withal, so interested in 
the plan and in his work, that it would 
seem as though he must make it succeed. 
Having found out from the superin¬ 
tendent the number of employees (2,600), 
one of the first questions 1 put the cook 
was, “ How many do you serve with 
meals each day ?” 
“ That’s just where the trouble comes 
in,” was the reply. “ We seldom have 
above 50 or 60, and we send out, in addi¬ 
tion, about as many more dinners: Then, 
even these are irregular, and we have so 
much left over sometimes, that we can 
hardly make the scheme self-support¬ 
ing.” 
“ That is scarcely four per cent of the 
whole number, or seven per cent of the 
girls ! Have you any idea wherein lies 
the cause of this lack of patronage ?” 
“ Yes, I have an idea. It is certainly 
not any fault in the food itself, for, 
although we serve it plainly, as you see, 
it is always of superior quality, and in 
fair variety.” 
“ How much do the people pay for 
their dinner ?” 
“ Fifteen cents. Of course that is 
about the price at which a meal may be 
obtained at any cheap restaurant; but 
at such places, one helping only of each 
item is allowed. We, on the contrary, 
give them all they wish of any dish on 
the day’s bill of fare. They can have a 
half dozen helpings of any favorite dish, 
if they wish ; and even the cheap restau¬ 
rants charge 25 cents for a regular 
dinner.” 
“ How much variety do you manage 
to have ?” 
“ Well, the variety is not large for any 
one day ; but we make the bill different 
each day,;as far as possible. For in¬ 
stance, to-day we had a vegetable soup, 
roast beef and potatoes, cocoa and 
ginger snaps for dessert. We usually 
have a pudding. Tea we are obliged to 
have always, the girls will not go with¬ 
out it.” 
“ How about coffee ?” 
“ The firm does not serve coffee at all. 
I do not know why, unless it considers 
it unwholesome. Now, to-morrow, per¬ 
haps, we shall have a hash, or a soup 
from the beef left to-day, a mutton stew 
with vegetables, and a pudding. This, 
with tea and cocoa, gives a soup, a meat, 
vegetables, drink and dessert, making a 
very fair dinner. .Sometimes we have 
other little extras, but these are the 
stand-bys.” 
“How do those manage who do not 
come to you V Do they bring their meals 
from home ? It might, perhaps, then 
cost them less than 15 cents, might it 
not ?” 
“ I don’t think so ; because they work 
hard, the dinner is the main meal of the 
day, and a light, cold lunch cannot take 
its place.” 
“ Are the wages sufficient to justify 
them in paying 15 cents for dinner, when 
they could, perhaps, bring their luncheon 
from home, at half that price, or less, 
and have a dinner with the family at 
night ? The poor are often reduced to 
many straits, we know.” 
“ Oh ! I think that the pay is really 
very good, especially that of the piece¬ 
workers, and even the smaller girls are 
not ill-paid. Besides, a large number of 
them patronize other restaurants near 
us, paying the same price for, perhaps, 
less food, although they may have 
greater variety to select from. No ; I 
think that the real trouble is that they 
believe that the firm is trying to make 
money out of them. Somehow, the 
workers can never be made to feel that 
the employers are their friends and well- 
wishers.” 
“ Doubtless it is the same as with 
pupils in school. Because there are 
rules, and penalty follows transgression, 
therefore, the maker of the rules is a 
hard master, an enemy to be thwarted 
and opposed on general principles, and 
whenever possible.” 
“ That is my idea, exactly. Now, I 
know that the firm is very anxious to 
make this plan work, even though it does 
not quite make ends meet. But if the 
restaurant is not patronized by the hands, 
it has no reason for existence. We could 
crowd it every day with outsiders, but 
that is against the rules. 
Hard to Please. 
“ I never tried so hard to please a set 
of customers as I have tried to please 
these girls. But they are the hardest 
people to suit I ever saw. They won’t 
eat hash and rice puddings, or any of 
those things that have to be used to even 
up things, and they don’t appreciate 
extra fine cookery.” 
“ What is the reason for that ? ” 
“ Chiefly that they don’t recognize it. 
One day, I took the greatest pains to 
serve a fine dish of mutton with caper 
sauce. They guyed me, and found fault 
without stint, till they discovered that I 
had sent over a second helping to Mr. 
Clark himself. Mr. Clark called it 
prime, and when this was known, it 
was all right. One day, I made a mock 
turtle soup extra nice ; the very same 
that I have made many a time at sea¬ 
side resorts where it sold for 75 cents a 
plate, excej>t that it lacked the liquor. 
Didn’t take at all ! They couldn’t eat 
that stuff.” 
“ Are the men less particular ?” 
“ 1 think that they are. But we have 
to send their meals out in order to keep 
this place free and pleasant for the girls, 
and the bar-room lunch counter is our 
great competitor with the men. I wish 
that those places could be wiped out! 
They are the worst enemies our people 
have, and the people don’t seem to 
know it.” 
Having heard a pretty thorough story 
from the employers’ side, I thought that 
it would further my purpose to hear 
what the girls had to say about the new 
departure. 
The girls, however, were inclined to 
talk very little. Perhaps, had they been 
seen away from the mills, they might 
have been more communicative. I talked 
with an intelligent girl from the “thread- 
end,” asked her if she patronized the 
restaurant, etc. 
“ Oh, yes.” 
“Do you like it ?” 
“Yes; I like it very much.” 
“ Do many of the girls get their lunch 
there ?” 
“ No ; only a very few.” 
“ What do you think is the reason ? 
Isn’t the food good ? Or do they bring 
their dinner from home?” 
“ The food is very good, I think ; and 
as I said, I go there I don’t think 
many of the girls bring lunches. But 
they consider it another money-making 
scheme for the firm ; so they continue to 
patronize the two or three women that 
furnish dinners, just the same as they 
did before the Clark restaurant was 
opened.” 
Thus it appears that another plan for 
the amelioration of the condition of the 
hardest workers, is likely to fail. This 
scheme has interested outsiders, who 
have been watching to see its outcome. 
But it is the same old story. There 
seems to be no way to lead employees to 
a belief in the sincerity of employers’ 
interest in them, but giving them a 
share in the business. And this in 
spite of the fact that the interest shown 
by many great firms in the comfort, 
prosperity and happiness of their em¬ 
ployees is a matter of surprise to out¬ 
siders having no particular bias either 
way. MYRA V. NORYS. 
Better 
than 
Most Bicycles 
The public is wise in values. It judges 
merit shrewdly. Bicycles of unknown 
worth will not sell at $100—the Columbia 
price. We might just as well offer Hartford 
Bicycles at $100, instead of $70, $05, $50 and 
$45. Yet the 
$50 Hartford 
is a better bicycle than many of the ma¬ 
chines listing at $100. One hundred dollars 
is the right price for the uuequaled, unap¬ 
proached COLUMBIA. Fifty dollars is less 
than the right price for Pattern 3 or 4 Hart¬ 
ford. Our prices are the same to all. You 
know what you are buying. 
Visit the nearest Columbia agent or 
send two 2-cent stamps for Catalogue. 
POPE MFG. CO., 
Gen’l Offices and Factories, Hartford, Conn. 
WILCOX & WHITE 
ORGANS 
Are sweetest toned and best made. Forty-seven 
years experience in organ building. 
SEND i'OK ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE TO 
WILCOX & WHITE ORGAN CO., Meriden, Conn. 
