The Period of Mourning.—­The length of time during which mourning is to be worn has been considerably shortened of recent years.  Widows formerly wore deep mourning-crepe, bombazine, etc., for two years, and “second mourning” for another year.  Now, even among the most rigid sticklers for form, two years is the limit, and there is a tendency to diminish this period.  Eighteen months of woe inconsolable; six months of grief assuaged.  Nor are all recreations debarred the widow, as formerly; she may go to concerts, small entertainments, even to matinees, after some months have elapsed.  This is as it should be.  Many women have settled into gloom and despondency which have darkened their homes because there has been nothing to lift them out of their low frame of mind.

For a parent, a grown son or daughter, the conventional period is two years, one year of deep mourning.  For a young child a mother wears black for a year.  The same time suffices for a brother or sister.  Six months answers for grandparents; three for an uncle or aunt.  Often one does not wear mourning except for husband, child or parent.

Young girls need not wear mourning as long as an adult does, nor do they wear crepe, unless it be a hat with crepe trimmings, or one with ribbon bows and face veil with crepe border.  It seems as unnecessary as it is unkind to put young children into black.

[754 Mothers’ remedies]

French Mourning.—­The French, with characteristic cheerfulness, greatly abridge the mourning attire, dividing it into three grades, deep, ordinary and half-mourning.  For the first only woolen materials in black are employed; the second, silk and woolen; the third gray and violet.  The wife laments her husband for a year and six weeks,—­six months of deep mourning; six of ordinary, and six weeks of gray and violet melancholy.  The bereaved husband, on the other hand, is let off with six months of sorrow, three in deep mourning, three in ordinary; he has not to pass through the gray-and-violet stage at all.

Six months is also the period for parents, evenly divided between deep and ordinary.  One gets off with two months for brother, sister or grandparent, and three weeks suffices for a mere uncle or aunt.  Good taste decrees mourning should be discarded gradually.  From black one may go to quiet costumes in dark colors, gray being an approved hue.

Mourning for Men.—­Custom sets more lightly upon men than upon women in the matter of mourning.  Here, as elsewhere, the details of etiquette devolve upon women.  A widow would incur censure if she married within two years after her husband’s death; indeed, if her marriage followed soon after the expiration of that term, Mrs. Grundy would infer some surreptitious courting had been going on.  A man, however, may marry again after a year has elapsed.  A widower would abstain from society and the theater for six months.  A parent is mourned for a year.