ng the court ladies who
again dance pavanes in sunlit glades, wearing wigs and crinoline, such
data will amuse.

That the women of Finland make worthy members of their parliament does
not prove anything outside of Finland. That the exigencies of the
present hour in England have made women equal to every task of men so
far entrusted to them, proves much for England. Women, like men, have
untold, untried abilities within them, women and men alike are
marvellous under fire--capable of development in every direction. What
human nature has done it can do again, and infinitely more under the
pressure of necessity which opens up brain cells, steels the heart,
hardens the muscles, and like magic fire, licks up the dross of
humanity, aimlessly floating on the surface of life, awaiting a leader
to melt and mould it at Fate's will into clearly defined personalities,
ready to serve. This point has been magnificently proved by the war now
waging in Europe.

Let us repeat; that from the beginning the story of woman's costuming
proves her many-sidedness, the inexhaustible stock of her latent
qualities which, like man's, await the call of the hour.

IN CONCLUSION

The foregoing chapters have aimed at showing the decorative value of
woman's costume as seen in the art of Egypt, Greece, Gothic Europe,
Europe of the Renaissance and during the seventeenth, eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. To prove the point that woman is a telling note in
the interior decoration of to-day, the vital spark in any setting, we
have not dwelt upon the fashions so much as decorative line,
colour-scheme and fitness for the occasion.

It is costume associated with caste which interests us more than folk
costume. We have shown that it is the modern insistence on efficiency
that has led to appropriate dress for work and recreation, and that our
idea of the chic and the beautiful in costume is based on
_appropriateness_. Also we have shown that line in costumes is in part
the result of one's "form"--the absolute control of the body, its
"carriage," poise of the head, action of legs, arms, hands and feet, and
that form means successful effort in any direction, because through it
the mind may control the physical medium.

It is the woman who knows what she should wear, what she can wear and
how to wear it, who is most efficient in whatever she gives her mind to.
She it is who will expend the least time, strength and money on her
appearance, and be t