8 May 1858

FRESH FERN LEAVES.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by ROBERT BONNER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

A CRYSTAL PALACE MEMORANDUM.

To a country lady "who desires to know the spring fashions" I would say, that if her neck be very thin and long, she must by all means wear a dress cut low in the shoulders. If she be very short and dumpy, she must affect a dignified strut, and wear a swelling hoop and tiers of flounces. If her complexion be sallow, I would decidedly recommend pea green, and if her shoulders be high, a tight-fitting sacque for street wear, and a bonnet hung very low on the back of her head. If, on the contrary, her complexion is on the peony order, bright crimson or orange would be the thing, and light-colored gaiter boots if her feet be large, and her ankles thick; light gloves, also, if she has hands to match her feet, and the shortest man she can find for a lover, if she be on the barber pole pattern, and vice versa.

And lest she should think I am joking, allow me to inform her, with one hand on the Concordance, that I am in serious earnest; that after the most critical research into feminine apparelings generally, and after a protracted promenade and stare at the late Crystal Palace "fete," I am satisfied, if she follows the above directions, that she will not fail, when she comes to Gotham, to look as the stunning Gothamites look.

FANNY FERN.