There are few things indeed in this world which do not speak to us if we only can understand their language. The poet tells us that there are sermons in stones and books in running brooks, and most of us can happily read' their message. In the matter of colour, however, we seldom give thought to the deciphering of its meaning. We think of colours only as wonderful components of the spectrum, or at best as pleasing or displeasing to the eye. Yet it is a common occurrence to hear a colour spoken of as "'loud. It is not a mere coincidence that we apply this term unconsciously. All colours have a language, each of its own; and further they have their music with its possibilities of harmony or discord.
No one of us is outside the influence of colour—be it only in the matter of dress. A beautiful woman of perfect features and figure is often lost to sight as the _result of inharmonious colours in dress, and the least favoured of -us can do much to overcome our handicap by a judicious use of colond. Granting, but laying aside for the moment, the fundamental utilitarian purposes of dress—which Dame Fashion nowadays encourages us to pay little attention to—we must admit that we dress to enhance personal bearing or charm. Men dress for the ladies—and we dress for our own sex. In either case the highest taste is shown when personal appearance is supplemented by the imparting to every costume we wear of refinement and artistic repose. Colour plays as large a part in this attainment as form.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.