The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-06-28
An Essay ON Closets.
New York Times.


In the opinion of the Sun, adge
Hilton is mistaken in assuming that
the failure of the Woman's Hotel
was due to the fact that young men
were neither kept on draught at the
hotel nor were permitted to be
brought in by the boarders. The
real cause of the unpopuIsrity of
the enterprise was the absence of
rocking chairs, ootstools, hooks and
closets-srticles which are even
more necessary than husbands or
lovers to the comfort of woman.
Doubtless the Sun is right, for thel g
is nothing better established than
the utter inability of women to live
without closets.
The nature and the origin of the
female passion for closets ought long
ago to have challenged the investi-
cation of scientific men. The love
of closets is a distinguishing charac-
teristic of the sex. Man does not
care for closets, and can live COM
fortably in q house without q single
closet. A bureau, q trunk, or even
two or three chairs are all that he
needs. He keeps his shirts, collars,
in the bureau drawers or in the
trunk, and throws his coat and
trousers on the chairs. If an un-
married man has q closet, he rarely
knows what to do with il, aAd as q
rule, uses it only as place OF depos-
1t for boots, guns, and crumpled
newspapers. The married man
looks on the closet IS only q diabol-
ical device for the coneealment Of
his other coat and his new umbrel-
la. Articles such as these constant
ly find their way into closets, where
they are concealed behind ionumer-
able skirts, all of which must be
thrown on the floor before the OBJ
ject of search can be found. In fact,
IL may be truly said that the male
mind loathes closets in every form,
and there is no case on record Of g
solitary man building closets for his
own use. Robinson Crusoe built
chairs, but he never dreamed OF
making closet.
On the other had Woman's CON-
fort not to say her life is wholly de-
pendent upon closets. She refuses
to use q trunk except when travel-
ing, and she believes that . bureau
drawer is meant to hold nothing ex-
cept pasteboard boxes, in each one
of which she puts . piece Of ribbon,
an artificial flower, or q small lace
collar. ft ls alleged, though Of
course there are difficulties In the
way of proving it, that women do
not object to placing their garments
on chairs when preparing for bed ;
but there is, no good scientific de-
scriptiOn of the female process Of
going to bed, and we know nothing
concerning il with certainty. There
are stories to the effect that when
midnight fires have occurred at
large hotels, female garments have
been found hanging over the backs
of chairs, but the. stories need au-
Identification. However this may be
it is morally certain that no woman
will use q chair as q permanent
place of deposit for clothing. Net
only Is this true of her own clothing,
but she refuses to permit her hus-
bands clothing to occupy chairs.
Many q man who has left 9 coat
temporarily on q chair has seen II
snatched up by his wife, with the
remark that she wished he would
quit tcluttering up the whole room.
OF course one coat laid on half 8
dozen chairs cannot truthf1lly BE-
said to clutter up Q whole room /;
but of such is the veracaty OF wo-
man.
So deeply rooted is this feminine
passion tor closets that It is doubt
full If any woman can live when to
Italy deprived of closets.