OCR Text |
Show SAVED BY FASHION. LIFE AND LIMB PROTECTED BY THE FADS OF STYLE. Tall Collars, Hich Heel and Turned Vp Trousers as life Savers A Man Held Back From a Watery Grave by His Chimney Pot Hat. Our dress has often been ridiculed for its want of beauty. "We are told there is nothing artistic and in many casea little pertaining to comfort in nineteenth nine-teenth century garments. The habiliment of some of our continental conti-nental neighbors is far superior, both in elegance and usefulness, to our own, bo it is sain, duc we ao not question tnis statement, as it is not our present duty to pick out the drawbacks of a dress that has satisfied us so long. Ugly as is our customary mode, it has more than once been the means of saving sav-ing the life of the wearer or been instrumental instru-mental in preventing accidents which might have proved serious or fatal. A gentleman wearing a collar of extreme ex-treme height and rigidity while reposing re-posing idly on a leathery moorland fell into a dose, but roused himself to find something moving about his neck, and was just prevented putting his hand on the place by a companion, who at that moment glanced up from his paper. The troublesome visitor was a large adder, which, coiling its slimy body round the gentleman's throat, would probably have bitten him severely but for the unusual height of the linen band that has been a favorite point of attack of the dress reformers for an inconceivable inconceiv-able period. By an adroit movement the friend caught the reptile behind the head, thus preventing injury to his hand. The collar, col-lar, however, was impaired in the momentary mo-mentary struggle, and an ugly stain was pointed out as tho deadly ejection of the poisonous fangs. High heels those pegliko elevations which we are induced to believe have caused untold misery to the feet of women of fashion have at least one good service to their credit in saving tho life of a fair mountaineer. This foolish person essayed the climbing climb-ing of precipitous cliffs in French kifl boots, with heels of the peculiar bell shape once so fashionable, and on the present occasion it was well that she did not wander far from her companions. Her activity, despite the unsuitabil-ity unsuitabil-ity of her leathern elevations for mountaineering, moun-taineering, was irrepressible, and venturing ven-turing too near the edge of a jutting rock she slipped, and her frightened companions expected to see her dashed to atoms on the lodges below. But, nol The high heel which had occasioned her fall became entangled in the thick brier branches and was sufficiently suffi-ciently strong to support the venturesome venture-some woman for the few moments until her friends could obtain a firm grip of her limbs and restore her safely to the mountain path. When examined, the shoe was found to bo nearly dismembered the heel banging by a few rivots only. An ordinary or-dinary mountain boot, with a fla& square heel, would have offered no angle of support for the briers, and under other oth-er than the present circumstances the climber would certainly have met with a terrible death. An incident somewhat similar, but of not so dangerous a character, has been reported of a young fashionable, who had occasion to ride on the outside of an omnibus through a crowded thoroughfare. thor-oughfare. Leaning over the rails, he overbalanced overbal-anced himself and would have been thrown in the midst of the traffic but for the roason that the bottoms of his trousers were turned up in that unreasonable unrea-sonable style once more prevalent than at present with the exquisites of fashion. The turned up hem was slung on the edge of the rail, while the scared youth dangled, with frantio arms sprawling, over the windows, with a face as red as a beet root A fellow passenger released him from above, and he was permitted to drop into the arms of the conductor. A fall from such an elevation would have meant a dislocated shoulder or a broken leg at least. What romance or history can be connected con-nected with the ugly chimney pot hat? Yet quite lately one of these inartistio creations saved the life of a venturesome venture-some gentleman. Strolling beyond hierh water mark, he suddenly discovered himself caught by the tide, and being hemmed in by beetling, inaccessible rocks all means of escape seemed cut off. The water rushed in, and the terrified terri-fied gentleman was taken off his feet, with not a boat in sight to render him deliverance nor a person to hear his distressed dis-tressed cries. Unable to swim, he would soon have been drowned but for a little occurrence which proved his salvation. During his struggle the silk hat he wore was washed off his head, and the man clutching at it as the only attainable attain-able object was surprised to find that it buoyed him up. His arms were clasped, encircling the brim, while the top of the hat, partly bubmerged, resisted the water. By maintaining main-taining this position he was enabled to keep himself afloat for nearly 15 minutes, min-utes, at the end of which time a boat rounded the cliffa The boatman, observing ob-serving him, quickly rescued him from an inevitable fate. London Tit-Bita |