$7,500,000 worth of jewellery are being pited at the World's rair and a w was held for the benefit oj York hospital. Mrs. Alan acted as. mannequin jor Caruers two-colour topaz bracelet, clips and ring, worn with a pearl necklace, again, and that various towns and villages which were badly hit by its going out of fashion are coming back to prosperity. Honiton, too, will be glad. I was there one day last autumn and it seemed a depressed little town, though this may have been partly due to the heavy rain of that particular day. I bought some lace handkerchiefs, and it was interesting to see with what loving care the shopwoman spread them out on Jarge sheets of dark blue paper, hgfdling them much as a jeweller fight a string of pearls. Except láce handkerchiefs, I do not suppose Honiton has been selling much lace since the war, The secret is of course that after the war dress took on a sharp outline, while lace essentially calls for, as it makes, softer suggestions. Parisian dressmakers are now using all kinds of laces, from an ensemble of natural coloured string lace, to cascades of tulle frills (tulle belongs to the lace family, be it remembered) on evening coats. So far are we going back that even lace mittens are being worn. With which, of course, must be carried a fan.
These reversions to the clothes of more tranquil age are important. A lady in our village is going daily to London for some sort of war training arrayed in a fatigue cap trimmed with gold braid and a military-looking double breasted blue coat. Ordinarily she is the kindest of mortals—more like a large tabby cat curled up on the hearthrug than anything I know But in her uniform, we salute nervously and fall back. If you could only get the Dictators to take off their jack-boots, I am sure we should be a long way towards solving the problems of Europe. So if women are returning to lace, perhaps it is part of an unconscious movement to lead the world back to softer lines of thought.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.