A lady looks infinitely taller and slimmer in a long dress than she does in a short costume, and there is always a way of showing the feet, if desired, by making the front quite short, which gives, indeed, a more youthful appearance to a train dress. The greatest attention must, of course, be paid to the feet with these short dresses, and I may here at once state that high heels are absolutely forbidden by fashion. Doctors, are you content? Only on cheap shoes and boots are they now made, and are only worn by common people. A good bootmaker will not make high heels now, even if paid double price to do so. Ladies—that is, real ladies—now wear flat-soled shoes and boots, a la Cinderella. For morning walking, boots or high Moliere shoes are worn.
If you wear boots you may wear any stockings you like, for no one sees them. But if you wear shoes you must adapt your stockings to your dress. Floss silk, Scotch thread, and even cotton stockings are worn for walking, silk stockings have returned into exclusively evening wear. Day stockings should be of the same color as the dress, but they may be shaded, or stripped, or dotted, just as you please. White stockings are absolutely forbidden for day wear—no one wears them—no one dares wear them under fashion's interdiction.
HOW TO APPEAR GRACEFUL IN WALKING.
The whole secret of standing and walking erect consists in keeping the chin well away from the breast. This throws the head upward and backward, and the shoulders will naturally settle backward and in their true position. Those who stoop in walking generally look downward. The proper way is to look straight ahead, upon the same level with your eyes, or if you are inclined to stoop, until that tendency is overcome, look rather above than below the level. Mountaineers are said to be as "straight as an arrow," and the reason is because they are obliged to look upward so much. It is simply impossible to stoop in walking if you will heed and practice this rule. You will notice that all round-shouldered persons carry the chin near the breast and pointed downward. Take warning in time, and heed grandmother's advice, for a bad habit is more easily prevented than cured. The habit of stooping when one walks or stands is a bad habit and especially hard to cure.
MULTUM IN PARVO
HISTORY OF THE BIBLES OF THE WORLD.
The Bibles of the world are the koran of the Mohammedans, the tripitaka of the Buddhists, the five kings of the Chinese, the three vedas of the Hindoos, the zendavesta of the Parsees and the scriptures of the Christians. The koran, says the Chicago Times, is the most recent, dating from the seventh century after Christ. It is a compound of quotations from both the Old and the New Testaments and from the talmud. The tripitaka contain sublime morals and pure aspirations. Their author lived and died in the sixth century before Christ.
The sacred writings of the Chinese are called the five kings, the word "king" meaning web of cloth. From this it is presumed that they were originally written on five rolls of cloth. They contain wise sayings from the sages on the duties of life, but they can not be traced further back than the eleventh century before our era. The vedas are the most ancient books in the language of the Hindoos, but they do not, according to late commentators, antedate the twelfth before the Christian era. The zendaveata of the Parsees, next to our Bible, is reckoned among scholars as being the greatest and most learned of the sacred writings. Zoroaster, whose sayings it contains, lived and worked in the twelfth century before Christ. Moses lived and wrote the pentateuch 1,500 years before the birth of Jesus, therefore that portion of our Bible is at least 300 years older than the most ancient of other sacred writings. The eddas, a semi-sacred work of the Scandinavians, was first given to the world in the fourteen century A.D.