ent we watched the two
Frenchmen getting ready for the drive. Their elaborate preparation to
face the current of air to be encountered en route was not unlike the
preparation to-day for flying. It was Spring--June, at that--but those
Frenchmen wearing very English tweeds and smoking English pipes, each
drew on extra cloth trousers and coats and over these a complete outfit
of leather! We saw them get into the things in the public courtyard,
arrange huge goggles, draw down cloth caps, and set out at a speed of
about fifteen miles an hour!

PLATE XVI

A portrait of Mrs. Thomas Hastings of New York painted by
the late John W. Alexander.

We have chosen this--one of the most successful portraits by
one of America's leading portrait painters--as a striking
example of colour scheme and interesting line. Also we have
here a woman who carries herself with form. Mrs. Hastings is
an accomplished horsewoman. Her fine physique is poised so
as to give that individual movement which makes for type;
her colour--wonderful red hair and the complexion which goes
with it--are set off by a dull gold background; a gown in
another tone of gold, relieved by a note or two of turquoise
green; and the same green appearing as a shadow on the
Victory in the background.

We see the sitter, as she impressed an observer, transferred
to the canvas by the consummate skill of our deeply lamented
artist.

[Illustration: _A Modern Portrait By John W. Alexander_]

The above seems incredible, now that we have passed through the various
stages of motor car improvements and motor clothes creations. The rapid
development of the automobile, with its windshields, limousine tops,
shock absorbers, perfected engines and springs, has brought us to the
point where no more preparation is needed for a thousand-mile run across
country with an average speed of thirty miles an hour, than if we were
boarding a train. One dresses for a motor as one would for driving in a
carriage and those dun-colored, lineless monstrosities invented for
motor use have vanished from view. More than this, woman to-day
considers her decorative value against the electric blue velvet or
lovely chintz lining of her limousine, exactly as she does when planning
clothes for her salon. And why not? The manufacturers of cars are taking
seriously their interior decoration as well as outside painting; and
many women in