Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-07-08
PEOPLES UMBRELLAS.


puddles-watching the steamy -windowed ON
nibus with its STOPPING, shiny capped driver and
independent mOurnful, head shaking conduc-
tor watching the clean-washed pavement
smoking over the bakehOuse ovens watching
the rolling glossy cabs and the struggling
soaked, and weather-beaten foot passengers
is 1t to be marvelled al that my thoughts linger
upon umbrellas? Amongst the dwellers in
this great city-not that few who look upon
their fellow-creatures from the glowing interior
of the yellow chariot or the compact brough ham,
but that many to whom even the hack-cab is a
rare luxury, and the omnibus uncertain
convenience-ths humble instrument is cher
ished as n street god-a cOmpanion-a some
thing to hold silent communion with-an ap-
pendage which, like dog or a walking stick
Is modified by the character of its owner, while
1t becomes, at the same time, part of his sys-
TEN, exerting an influence over him equal to
what 1T receives. Solitary men who take long
constitutional walks to the commons round
London, or lOIer home in the cool of the evening
from quiet Offices under government, carry
umbrellas as companions, and not instTu-
ments to protect them from the rain The old
play -gOer, whose memory extends over the ira
ditiOns of fifty years, who can tell how MANY
walstcoats every actor used TO take off who had
played the first graye-digger in Hamlet for the
last half-ccntury, fights his way to his familiar
seat in the pit-always in the pit-accompanied
by an umbrella of substantial dimensions, upon
which he leans in deep attention, sucking the
handle rs he mutters TO it his opinions Of the
performance. His umbrella has been his con-
slant companion all these years; and although
change and decay have come to it, as to It's
MASTER IN the common course of things, a new
covering confers upon it every now and then
the gift of pc -petual youth, while the old play
goer sinks gradually without any such power
of restoration.
Setting aside the dry utilitarian, who carries
his umbrella as he would macintosh or an
nd Uoth yher
Is a number OF mon whom you may identify by
their umbrellas, as you may identify others by
their watches, their watch-seals, or their snuff
boxes.
There is my nervous friend, my timid friend,
my friend who is sadly wanting in self-posses-
sion. He enters my chambers silently in sOppy
goloshes on rainy day, with dripping abomi-
nation which he will not put in the place ap-
pointed for tho reception Of umbrellas. He
brings it through the mass of hOrriied clerks
into my best official room; he places it against
the wall, but before he can commence his busi-
ness, the Demonstrated nuisance opens with a
burst and splutter, falling helplessly in the
little pool which it has deposited on the carpet
lie picks ii up, and places it once more hur-
rledly yet tenderly against the wall; but it
still persists in falling on the floor with n gra-
ting noise against the wanscOt. Again my
nervous friend puts it in position of safety
and it is not until he has again settled down in
chair, to return to the object of his visit, that
he discovers valuable piece of polished furni-
ture likely to be seriously injured by the close
companionship of the dripping abOmination
BY the time that he has finally determined to
his satisfaction that the only place for a wet
umbrella IN such a room is inside the fender, a
smell of burning discompOses him once more
and his mind is rendered totally unfit to enter
tain business for the day
Then there is my forgetful friend, my friend
with the weak memory, my friend who can
never tell exactly whether he has lost his ring,
or whether he has left ii on the dressing table
lie Is constantly haunted by the idea that he
has LEFT an umbrella somewhere. When you
think you have got rid of him for the day his
familiar voice is heard in the outer room, and
his familiar head IL thrust in mt the inner door
asking in familiar tones the familiar question,
Did leave an umbrella behind me Just now"
Then comes the production Of every umbrella
IN the place for him to examine carefully, and
endeayOr. il possible. to identify the lost one
Then comes his not very graphic description of
his umbrella; its peculiarities Of appearance,
especially its very curious and striking handle;
and his very lengthy and vague account of the
places he had visited that day, and the most
likely shop, club house, or vehicle in which be
had left it. / meet him sometimes full in the
street and see him stop suddenly, hesitate,
scratch bis chin, and then walk short distance
hack in an undecided manner; the suspicion
having just crossed his mind that he had lost
me another visit, after the trouble that he put
me to In searching for a phantom of his brain,
am amused by his quiet statement that the
supposed lost umbrella was resting calmly at
home in its accustomed corner, covered with
the idle dust Of many weeks inactivity. All
men have their uses; and fully believe that
the mission of my forgetful friend, and others
OF his class, is to increase the scanty salaries of
cabmen by providing them with a constant sup
ply Of their regular and rightful perquisites-
lost umbrellas
Then there is my extremely neat and buck
ish friend, my friend who has converted the
umbrella into one of the leading elegances of
life. His protector from the rain is not half
collapsed ballOOn-Oh, no lit is a walking
stick, lightly wrapped in silk And such a
tassel-hole, onyx knobbed handle, gold-mount-
ed, bright-s green silk-altogether, highly ar
tistic production. 1t is a pleasant sight to see
my neat and buckish friend in a very clean
omnibus, with his patent boots, and his tightly
gIoved hands placidly clasped across the elegant
handle of his umbrella, which he holds between
bis knees. Compare his almost tame refine
ment and gentleness with the coarse roughness
of his opposite neighb FROM the country, who
looks upon tho umbrella as part of the serious
business of life-a thing not to be triled with,
OF embroidered with anything like foppery.
My rural friends protector from the rain might
have been constructed from the sails of an old
coal barge, so rough and weather-beaten is it,
stained with mud and clay collected in tramp
ing up that four-mile country lane which leads
from the village to the railway station. The
stick is like a small mast, surmounted by a
brown knob as large as an orange, upon which
are clasped two fat, red, speckled hands with
short, brown, wslnut-picking looking nails.
What a wide impossible gulf there is between
my rural friend and my buckish friend, and
between their attendant umbrellas,
Then there is my puffy, irascible friend, my
cr,o fho far fac nd he oil xni1's
eyes, but, more particularly, with the substan-
tial we'll -to-do looking umbrella, which is, al
one and the same time, protection to its
owner and an implement Of warfare against
the whole world besides. Vagrant dogs look
at IL with knowing horror; and jaunty, impu-
dent errsnd- boys become respectful within the
magic circle Of its action. Many time has I,
come down upon the back of the offending
quadruped q I'd the shielding basket of the i'm.
pertinent butchers boy. Usually it is carried
under the arm of its owner, at an angle 81
elevation troublesome, if not dangerous, to the
r..