Borrowed Plumage

iñiiTÜpt Irps. The New York Sun publishes a repor of an interview held with a lady ongagec in the business of renting dressos. " I ain the inventor ot' this business, she said. If you know anyching abou wouien you know they havo not only a passion tor dress but a weakness for nov elty. The wouian with one calioo dres wants two, and the womau with teu silk wants eleven. The rule is good with the owners of the most complete wardrobe Another tbing you may not know, woiuon don't like to wear the saine dress to more than one or two parties in one season Now, it is upon these female charaoteris tics that I thrivo. You would natural ly guess that only poor ladies hire dresses but that isn't so. Kather the reverse i the case. A good many of my callers ride within a few bloijks of here in their carriages, anc walk the balance of the way. It wouldu' do, bless you, to be caughi hiring a dress but I can assure you that many a borro w ed one is worn at fashionable gatherings Sometimes, too, a lady from out of town wants to go to a party or to thb opera She bas only a traveling dress with her and borrowed iinery is her only recourse The business, however, is not entireb coufined to renting party dresses. There is an occasional cali for a street dress sometimes by shop girls, who want to in dulge in an afternoon walk on Broadway Once in a while an actress, suddenly cali ed upon to play a part out of her line, or from a desire for a greater variety than her wardrobe affords, rents a dress for a week ; but they usually want dresses tha are too shovvy, or too peculiar or pro nounced in color and make-up for in; busiu ess. Howisthat? Well, I'll teil you. I would half kill a lady to be caught wear ing a hired dress. To protect them against such a terrible catastrophe I mus alter the appearance of a dress every time it is worn. So you see the color must no be too odd, nor the style too peculiar Women beat the dickens for reinoni bering what other womn wear, but by a littlp ingenuity I manage to disguise my good so that they can't be recognized. As . have said, I only use colors that are no too odd. I alter the trimming, too, even time it is worn. A slight ohango in this respect is enough to destroy the identity Of course, if you saw a dress one nigh with one kind of trimming and the next night with another kind, and worn by a different lady in a diíferent gathering you would not be apt to recognize it simply because the cut and color were the same. Besides, I usually have two vvaists for each skirt, so as to be able to fit differen sized ladies, and these are not cut in the same style. Here, for iustance, is a purple silk skirt and two waists. One is low necked and very short-sleeved. That is large enough for a tolerably phuup lady The other is for a slender forni, and is only cut square in the neck, and the i sleeves are long. Naturally the pluinp ones want the first kind, and the slender ones the other. If all my patrtins would grow of a size it would save a vas1 deal of trouble. Soarcely do I ever rent a dress without having to let out or take in the Witist. Now, here is one that I was at work on when you called. Blue silk 't No.no; that is all satin, not silk. The waist is small now - if you were a corset clerk, you would guess at sight that it didu't measure 20 inches. It was woru last night by a young lady whom I know to be ii more than comfortable cireumstances. She concluded rather suddenly to go to a party, and had nothing to wear That is to say, she had notbing that hadn't been previor.sly worn at gatherings where the same people had seen her. The dress is engaged for to-morrow night by a lady slightly stouter, and I am lettmg it out und alteting the trimmings. What dol charge? Well from $3 to $5 for party drosses, and less lor street dresses If they get spotted, torn or damaged beyond a reasonable amount et wear, I charge for that. You see a nice dress is an easy thing thing to spoil. A spilied cup ot' coffee, or a big grease spot, and it is gone ; but I have an advantage that a dress coat renter hasn't - I can make over my damaged goods and often turn them oflt as goodasnew. Yet, with all the expedienta a nice dress is done for in about one season, so you see the profit isn't so great, after all, when you consider the constant work of altering and retrimming. It is awfully worrisome, too. Women are so particular. A dress never exuctly suis, ot course, and the patience of what's nis name - Job? thank you- is needed to please them. A great many, too, come out of pure curiosity, just to fiud out if dresses are really and truly rented. Perhaps they expect to catch some of their friends hiring one. They always piek out a dress, though, and say, "Keep that formeuutil nextWednesday," or, " I'll make up my mind to-morrow." I never look on a bargain as made with a womau until the money is in my hands, and I always get mv pay in advance. What security do I have against losing the dress? Well, if the lady gives her name and address, I insist on sendingthe dress home for her. That gives me an opportunity to learn whether she has given her right name, and if she has, why, that is security enough. The excuses that my callers give are funny enough. One says she has plenty of dresses at home, but will hire another just for the fun of the thing ; another hasn't time to get one inade ; another can't see why it is any worse to hire a ball-dress thau a niasquerade costumo. As if I cared why they patronized me. I never ask more questions than I can help, and so I seldom know where the dresses are worn unless they volunteer the information. Now, here is a new white silk that was hired last week by a girl who had been TTted toa fashionable wedding. Shewasyoung and pretty, and 1 imagined that she was a poor relation of the bride or groom. Any way sho was so nice and sweet that I took a pleasure in fixing her up for the occasion. I'd have given the price she paid to have seen her rich relations stare and wonder. Am I ever unable to fill an order ? Oh, yes - sometimes. An awful big lady came in one day, and wanted a nice street dress. She lived somewhere in the suburbs, and wanted to make a fashionable cali. But I couldn't lit hadn't a waist that would go more than two-thirds around, and she had to go away without a dress I had a cali last week forseven mouruing dresses í'or a funeral and couldn't fill if. You see, I hadn't anticipated any deniand in that line ; but I shall probably have a qnantity of black goods made up. Once a girl carne and wanted to hiro a walkingdress. She said she was in a great hurry, and seemed a good deal flustrated. She picked one out, and said it wonld do well enough, though it really needed altering to make it fit her decently. What made mo wonder was that she had on as good a dress already as the one she hired. I asked her where I should seud it, and she said nowhere - she would put it on. She paid the reat m advanoe, and left $10 security, and the dress she took off ; but she never came back. I suppose she wanted to disguise herself for some reason or other. Perhaps she had been robbing, oi something; but I wasn't to blaine.was I 'i Another lady - a confiding creature, this one - told me that her husband had given her the money to buy a street dress, but she wantfcd a dog more. Her husband was willing to spend money for dressee but not for dogs. So she just hired a dress from me for two weeks, and bought the dog with the balance of the money. Then she told her husband that the dog had been given her, and showëd him the : dress. He was satisfied, and when the two weeks were up she returned the dress, ' and he probably never missed it. 1 aa i Eeport8from Alabama state that great ' destitution exists in some counties of the State in consequence of the destruction f of crops by heavy rains and the cotton1 worm. Many persons will die from starf ration during th winter, mnlsi rUi' U rtendad.