with a thin, pipe-stem neck should adopt a full ruche and fluffy, soft
collar-bands. I cannot forbear repeating that tulle as light as thistle
bubbles, either white or gray or black, is exquisitely effective for
thin, scrawny necks. The fleshy, red neck should be softened with powder
and discreetly veiled in chemisettes of chiffon and delicate net.

Old ladies may keep in the style, thus being in the picture of the hour;
but it is one of the divine privileges of age that it can make its own
modes. Absolute cleanliness, cleanliness as exacting as that proper
nurses prescribe for babies, is the first and most important factor in
making old age attractive. Rich dress, in artistic colors, soft, misty,
esthetic, comes next; then the idealizing scarfs, collars, jabots, and
fichus of lace and tulles. Old people becomingly and artistically
attired have the charm of rare old pictures. If they have soul-illumined
faces they are precious masterpieces.




CHAPTER VII.


HOW MEN CARICATURE THEMSELVES WITH THEIR CLOTHES.

Although in the dress of man there are fewer possibilities of caricature
than in that of woman, yet, "the masterpieces of creation" frequently
exaggerate in a laughable--and sometimes a pitiable--way, certain
physical characteristics by an injudicious choice of clothes.

As the fashion in hair-dressing does not grant man the privilege of