The Portland daily press., 1879-04-17
Tr0 users Pockets.
THE CUSTOM OF SLOWING THE
HANDS THEREIN.
Curious Comments Upon the Questiona-
bic Habit.

A writer for the Saturday Review thus COM
ments on trousers pockets: One of the MINER
ous cruel devices conceived by women consists
in sewing up the trousers pockets of boys who
have trick Of putting their hands into them.
Such proceeding is doubly pleas
ing to women. First it gratifies their
instructive love Of inflicting petty punish.
ments; and secondly, it affords them the inde-
scribable pleasure of depriving the opposite sex
of a privilege and comfort exclusively its own.
Trousers pockets may not constitute the most
romantic portion of what Americans call gar
menture, but they not the less form highly
characteristic feature of the male costume of
the period; and if poets have not yet Immortal
lied them in verse, it is not from having failed
to make much personal use of them.
ln every nation, and in every stage of social
progress, some special attitude of semi -repose
is adopted, which may perhaps best be de-
scrbed IS mon official standing at ease".
Thus the Neapolitan leans against wsN, the
Spaniard folds his arms, the Eastern sits Cross
legged and the African squats. In the United
States fingers seem to derive rest and refresh
ment from whittling bits of stick, and TIE old
Qaakers found reposs in twirling their thumbs
The Cavalier rested upon the hit of his sword,
in the days of the Regency, one hand found
repose beneath the coat-tals. aud the other
recieati0n with an eye-glass. The favorte po
sition of
NAPOLEON l.,
was with one hand within his waistcoat and
the other behind his back, and less distin-
guished personages seem to find consolation in
twlrling their mustacbes, biting their nails or
even scratching their faces. 1t will thus be
perceived that, while some attitudes of tempo
ind aEn1 4NHA .1t~
the reverse 1t must, however, be remembered
that the inspired Watts assures US that the
angel under whose patronage idle hands are
placed is fallen one To enlarge upon the
varieties of mischief still" which he finds for
them to do might not be easy, but it is less
dlfficult to point out the places which be finds
for them to put themselves in. We have de
scribed few of the favorite attitudes of other
nations and other times than our own, and we
NAV add that the special position of ease dear
to EDglishmen in these days is to stand with
their side hands" in their trousers pock-
cts. 1t is true that the fashion of habtual lly
wearing the hands in the trousers pockets"
has long since passed away with the peg-top
trousers which made it exceptionally conve-
niedt; but although no longer customary in
ladies' society, the practice is still dear to the
Briton, and is much indulged in when men are
emancpaGed from the company of the oppo-
site sex.
AS ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME,
so do all the movements of the hands OF some
men seem to lead eventually to the sanctuary
Of their pockets, and between these receptacles
and their fingers there appears to be a strong
natural affinity. When men had swords to
rest one hand upon. and loose doublets into
which to thrust the other. it was easy enough
to be graceful; but now that we have neither
swords nor at1 Dets, and are severely buttoned
up, our trousers pockets are the only available
crevices in our ungalnly garments. We have
not even easy ganntIets into which to slip our
hands, and the gloves of the period are an oc-
casion of constant torture and anxiety. The
habit of placing our hands in our pockets is,
therefore, simple exigency of costume. With
the exception of our faces and our hands, our
whole bodies are clOthed.-As we cannot see
the former, the only members which are ap-
parenty naked are our hands. Being general
ly gloved in public, they never feel well as
suied of their decency when uncovered, and SO
they instinctively seek their only available
shelter. Then again, Euglishmen generally
seem to regard their hands as inconvenient
additions to their bodies, of which
are ignorant. 1t is, therefore, an important
consideration to find place In which to stow
away these ungainly membranes, and they
like to keep them hidden in their pockets,
ready, like their coppers or their pocket knives.
for any sudden emergency. We are well
aware that there is little grace of curve or out
line about man standing with
HIS HANDS IN his POCKETS;
that his attitude savors strongly of undue self
confidence, and that it may tend to his moral
deterioration. Indeed, we may say that we
fully admit the custom of thrusting the hands
into the trowsers pockets to bs gravely objec-
tionabe, and are quite uuprepered to defend it
upon any moral or artistic ground whatever; at
the same time honesty and love of veracity
compel Us to allow that such position is ex-
tremely comfortable. There is a profane say
ing that most things which are nice are either
nnw0nfpaOma 90
not claim for the consoliDg practice in question
that it can fairly escape from baing placed in
the first of these categories The most cele-
brAteG authority on the subject of meditation
gave it as his opinion that there was no definite
and exclusive rule as o the position of the body
most conducive to that exercise; that some peo-
pie could best mediate when standing, others
when sitting, kneeling, walking, aud 80 ou. If
he had lived in our day, and country, we thiuk
he would have added, "aod Englishmen medi-
tate most easily when they have got their hands
in their pockets" There were times when men
had habit of tapping their heads when short
of ideas. AS the old stanza has it.:
"You knock your head and fancy wit will come;
Knock as you will: there is nobody at home
In these days they search their pockets with an
equally laudable motive, and too often with an
equally futile result. We remember q we'll
known Oxford dou who spent tbree-fourths of
his waking existence in apparently searching
Tor four.penDy bit in his
TROUSERS POCKETS,
which, up to the present date. there is no evil
deuce of his having found. In mis- lectures, in
his studies, at c1apei, aud in his walks abroad
this employment seemed to refresh his mind
and afford him considerable qualification, aud
most of his pupils will ever associate his memo.
ry with this sneegant habit. The same custom,
Is much affected oy many legislators, not so
much in addressing the House ~ in the smoking.
rooms and loobies The British Bar, too,
seems to derive much inspiration from it.
Perhaps no men are so addicted to tricks of
manner as barristers, and, among other pscu.
| liar manners familiar 70 our law courts, that oi
| placing the hands 10 the trousers pockets has
| been adopted by counsel until it has become
| quite legal practice.
| The use of the trousers pocket as q deposi
| tory for the hands is q custom which SAVIOR,
both of vulgarity and impudence. Under Ger
/ tain circumstances it both implies slight and
| suggests defiance, and IL almost mora offensive
| than any other attitude that man can take
/ Oa tce other hand. it may be urged that ther
are times when it ls perfectly admissible, a
| being suggestive of familiarity and friendship
| There are occasions when the act of lying up0r
| a sofa would be al unwarrantable breach o.
| derorum, and there are others wheu it woult
| be consistent with the strictest etiquette. So
| likewise. may the thrusting of ones hands in
to ones pockets be deliberate insult or al
iowable proceeding, according to surrounding
and circumstances. There are various way
of Ddulging in this
| HABIT,
including many gradations between vulgarity
| aud refinement; and We do not think that the
| most copious letter-press accompanied by mum
erous illustrations, could define them ex
haustively. 1t would be hard to sag when thil
practice first became general We can reco
lect the time when venerable arrangement o
the male attire precluded anything of the kind
and when the right trousers pocket was digni
fed by the name of Sob" The introduction
ef rude hand into this highly respectable
niche would have sadly disarranged the studie
adjustment of the three inches of ribbon whicl
suspended from it q large bunch of seals an
watch-keys Nor had the youth of the perio
any temptation to tronsers-pooket their hands
| as these vestments reached to within a few in
ches of their chins, and, If they contained
pockets at all, the held them almost out o
] reach.
As regards the origin Of the trousers pocket
! We are inclined to think that it is lineal de
sceodent of the old waist belt, into which wer
stuck swords, knives, pistols and pouches
| The modern trousers pocket is still the usua
! receptacle of the knife; we have known it t.
contain pistol, and it commonly holds tn
n,,rse or pouch; and although q belt, with ii
scabbard. dirk and wallet, may sound better il
noetr = than trousers pockets, we do not knoS
That Il 's one whit more deserving of honoi, o
that it ia in reality more romanGic. The mos
CURIOUS SPECIMEN
of trousers pockets that we have ever seen wa
Ill H.