and brown tweed ulster which our artist has sketched at Nilsson's, and which is made in a semi-fitting shape, so that it can be worn comfortably over the big sleeves and wide skirts of our latter-day gowns without any undue crushing. The full bishop's sleeves seen in this sketch are likely to form a leading feature of all the wraps worn during the autumn, and they certainly look very smart in the present instance, finished at the wrists with deep cuffs of chestnut brown cloth. The wide collar, reaching well over the shoulders, is of the same brown cloth, and is so cleverly arranged that it can be fastened closely at the throat if required, or worn open, as shown in the sketch. NEW DIAMOND PENDANT. 99 As far as millinery is concerned, "modes may come, and modes may go,' but the sailor hat, like Tennyson's brook, "goes on for ever." It is some consolation to find this year that there are many varieties in the way of sailor shapes, for after a time one gets a little tired of the plain severe straws, trimmed only with a straight band of ribbon. Madame Yorke (51 Conduit Street) has introduced a very pretty. sailor hat, which is a kind of happy compromise between the ordinary somewhat trying shapes sacred to boating and the fanciful hats of the rose-garden kind, which have been so popular this summer. The shape of the hat is admirably shown in our illustration. The crown, which is quite soft, and rather like that of a Tam o' Shanter in character, is made in pale pink straw, while the brim is of black straw. A smart bow of wide black ribbon, deftly tied on one side and having a black quill thrust through it forms the only trimming. These smart sailor hats are made in various combinations of colour, and look particularly well with black BROOCH IN DIAMONDS AND CHRYSOPRASES. brims and crowns of pale apple green straw. The soft ruches for the neck, made in fine black gauze or lace, and edged with a narrow bordering of cream or pure white Valenciennes lace have been very popular both in Paris and in London this summer. They have, no doubt, suggested the ruche trimmings for sailor and other hats, which seem likely to be in vogue during the autumn. I have seen some particularly effective sailor hats of this description in coarse brown straw, the crowns of which were outlined with a closely box-pleated ruche of golden-brown Mechlin net, edged with narrow coffeecoloured lace. With the revival of old lace, the wearing of diamond jewellery follows as a matter of course, and in the accompanying illustrations may be seen some charming diamond ornaments, sketched from de original signs, produced by Messrs. Wilson and Gill, of 134 Regent-street. The star-shaped pendant is made in quite a new design and is wonderfully effective. It is So arranged that it can also be worn as a brooch or a A USEFUL TRAVELLING CLOAK. hair ornament. A quaint idea is excellently carried out in the cat and bird brooch, with a miniature pussy in the act of springing upon a frightened little bird. The circular brooch will make a delightful present for a bridesmaid. It consists of a ring formed alternately of diamonds and chrysoprases, the steely brilliancy of the one stone making a delightful contrast with the cool, pale green of the other. CAT AND BIRD BROOCH. from a drawing by A. Quinton. THE VALLEY OF THE STOUR, FROM EAST BERGHOLT. (See article on "Constable's Country," page 884). 'N the first IN place Clark for a ship is a very perilous thing to Russell writes what he touch. Dana conclusively proves this in knows, and only what he his Two Years Before the Mast, which knows. He has himself been Clark Russell claims as the only real a sailor. In order to write sea-book in the language, in the sense of about the sea, a man must being written out of pure suffering and have gone to sea as a sailor, bitter experience. But then it is no It is difficult enough to sail a real ship, but to sail 66 a painted ship upon a painted ocean,' to manœuvre a full rigged vessel on paper, this indeed takes some doing.. But Mr. Clark Russell has done it, is always doing it indeed, he is the only novelist of the sea, who, since the death of Dana, strictly confines THE himself to doing busi 312 ness in deep capacity" was "very good." Here then is official testimony to his knowledge of the duties of a seaman's life, and consequently to his ability to write accurately upon what he knows from actual perience. ex In person he is a slight, middle-sized man, with a keen, pleasant, sailor-like face, great frankness of manner, and a capacity for clean-cut, forcible expression which I have never heard excelled-the result possibly of between six and seven years of hard sea-faring experience, -a man of admirable spirits and inexhaustible store of anecdote. Forced by rheumatism to keep much upon his sofa, he dictates all his novels, finding indeed that he can work better so than if he were to pen them with his own hand. "I close my eyes, I realise intensely the whole scene, I see it as in a magic-lantern, I can dramatise the whole thing," said he to me when I questioned him upon his method of work. "My mind," continued he, "is full of memories of the sea; I close my eyes and they crowd thick upon me ready for transference to paper, and thus I can vividly render a scene upon a ship's deck. The sunlight slipping to and fro between the dows, a flash of sunset off the wet oil-skins of the sailors, with a mountain of white water roaring in thunder off the bow. There on sha is a group deck, hard-fea tured, weather But it is not only memory with Clark Russell. He never puts pen to paper till all is carefully planned and mapped out. "The play is finished," Racine used to say before ever a word was written of it. And so with this novelist of the sea. Experienced as I am in the methods of writers upon every kind of subject,novelists, scientists, dramatists, theologians, journalists, politicians-yet I know of none who go so systematically, I may say so interestingly, to work as Mr. Clark Russell. Each thrilling story is first placed in skeleton within the pages of a large note-book, just as a conscientious artist draws the naked figure and then clothes it in the garb of the period he has chosen. There is first a general plot of the story, the dates of which are most accurately thought out; then come the dramatis persona, the name of the vessel, the number and names of the crew, the passengers, with their general characteristics limned out. "I generally choose some-one 1 have observed with attention, who acts as a lay figure right through and so I do not lose his personality," explained Mr. Clark Russell, "as for instance, Sir Mortimer Otway, bald, bright red face, sixty.' I know a man who exactly answers to this description. 'Captain Burke, pointed beard, sharp, bright,' and so on with the whole personnel. With regard to dialogue I find a difficulty in creating a verisimilitude for my sailors. I cannot make them swear, and a sailor, I am sorry to say, is nothing if he doesn't swear. They must W. CLARK RUSSELL AND HIS CHAIRMAN, From a photograph by A. F. Perren, Bath. SO |