Nothing to Wear: An Episode in City LifeRudd & Carleton, 1857 - 68 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
assures ball beauties bell bind blue bride bright Broadway Brocade cash clothes collars court creature crown crush dare dark daughters dear declare deep delicate despair destitution diamond dinner door Dresses duty dying engagement EPISODE OF CITY exclaimed express eyes father feelings feet flirt foot front grand guess Harry head heart hoops Hoppin husband jewelry least light M'Flimsey mention Miss Flora monster muslin night nose once painful Paris party perhaps pitiful plain point lace refused relieve replied rest rich Richardson ripped romance round satin shade shawls ship silks silly sole sort spare splendid spring Square stair steamer STEWART stop storm street strike STUCKUPS style suppose Take talk tears thing to wear thought TIFFANY to-morrow truth turned Unsupplied Upper victims virginal week whole wives woman words worth wrap young ladies
Popular passages
Page 10 - ... or laced, Or tied on with a string, or stitched on with a bow, In front or behind, above or below; For bonnets, mantillas, capes, collars, and shawls; Dresses for breakfasts, and dinners, and balls; Dresses to sit in, and stand in, and walk in; Dresses to dance in, and flirt in, and talk in; Dresses in which to do nothing at all ; Dresses for winter, spring, summer, and fall...
Page 40 - RIPPED OUT something, perhaps rather rash, Quite innocent though ; but, to use an expression More striking than classic, it ' settled my hash,' And proved very soon the last act of our session. ' Fiddlesticks is it, Sir ? I wonder the ceiling Doesn't fall down and crush you...
Page 65 - To the alleys and lanes, where Misfortune and Guilt Their children have gathered, their city have built; Where Hunger and Vice, like twin beasts of prey, Have hunted their victims to gloom and despair; Raise the rich, dainty dress, and the fine broidered skirt, Pick your delicate way through the dampness and dirt, Grope through the dark dens, climb the rickety stair To the garret, where wretches, the young and the old, Half starved and half naked, lie crouched from the cold...
Page 35 - Then that exquisite lilac, In which you would melt the heart of a Shylock," (Here the nose took again the same elevation) — "I wouldn't wear that for the whole of creation...
Page 47 - Poked my feet into slippers, my fire into blaze, And said to myself, as I lit my cigar, ' Supposing a man had the wealth of the Czar Of the Russias to boot, for the rest of his days, On the whole do you think he would have much to spare, If he married a woman with nothing to wear?
Page 62 - Oh ladies, dear ladies, the next sunny day Please trundle your hoops just out of Broadway, From its whirl and its bustle, its fashion and pride, And the temples of Trade which tower on each side, To the alleys and lanes, where Misfortune and Guilt Their children have gathered, their city have built; Where Hunger and Vice, like twin beasts of prey, Have hunted their victims to gloom and despair...
Page 29 - but the dinner is swallowed, And digested, I trust ; for 'tis now nine and more : So being relieved from that duty, I followed Inclination, which led me, you see, to your door. And now will your Ladyship so condescend As just to inform me if you intend Your...
Page 67 - See those skeleton limbs, those frost-bitten feet, All bleeding and bruised by the stones of the street ; Hear the sharp cry of childhood, the deep groans that swell From the poor dying creature who writhes on the floor ; Hear the curses that sound like the echoes of hell, As you sicken and shudder and fly from the door ; Then home to your wardrobes and say, if you dare, Spoiled children of Fashion, you've nothing to wear...
Page 53 - In which were engulfed, not friend or relation (For whose fate she perhaps might have found consolation, Or borne it, at least, with serene resignation), But the choicest assortment of French sleeves and collars Ever sent out from Paris, worth thousands of dollars ; And all, as to style, most recherche...
Page 21 - I should mention just here, that out of Miss Flora's Two hundred and fifty or sixty adorers, I had just been selected as he who should throw all The rest in the shade, by the gracious bestowal On myself after twenty or thirty rejections, Of those fossil remains which she called her " affections," And that rather decayed, but well-known work of art, Which Miss Flora persisted in styling her