All women love to arrange the dresses for a little child because while she is still a tiny tot, she may be made to look very picturesque. Beautiful materials may be used for her that would be in very bad taste for the little women over seven years old. When I say beautiful materials I do not necessarily mean very expensive ones, but I do mean that the fashionable coarse laces, the broad sashes, and if her mother fancies it, a coat of rich bengaline, are permissible on the small lady whose years are not many. Picturesque designs are eagerly sought to make beautiful the little people, and, curiously enough, these picturesque effects are not picturesque in its careless sense, but are decidedly prim and quaint.

For her gowns, after white has been laid aside, soft cashmeres of gray, wood or steel blue are fancied, and occasionally one sees a toilette made of old rose or of the fanciest shade of yellow. However, this, of course, is the gown selected for a festivity, and not the one preferred for general wear. Pretty plaids are specially liked for the girl of seven, and with such a gown she will almost invariably have a coat of the same material with very wide Empire revers, faced usually with a bright color, while her hat is a large felt one, trimmed with rosettes, wings, or if she is a very careful little girl, feathers.

The shoes and stockings of the small women continue to be black, the former being for state occasions of patent leather, and for general wear of soft kid. On very small people the heel is represented by an added thickness to the sole, but with the growth there comes a low, flat heel which permits running and walking without fear of tripping.