The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-04-05
TROl SFRS POCKETS.
THE CUSTOM OF SLOWING THE
HANDS THEREIN.


HANDS THEREIN.
Curious Comments upon the Questio liable Habit
/ bue Oi the numerous cruel devices CON
""i\ Il by women consists in sewing up th;.
trousers ',nck-tS OF boys who have q trick
"i putting tnar hands into them. Such Il
proceeding l. d'uhly pleasing 10 women.
First, II gratltit> tm"ir instructive love of
INJECTING petty punishm,nts: and secondly.
ii affords them the ind"Srri'n''l, pleasure Of
dcpriring the opposite sex OF Il pr, 'ilcgr and
comfort exclusively its own. Trousers ,,ck
cts may no; constitute the most romanil,
portion of what Americans call ytrnenturr,
but they not the less form Il highly charac-
tcriStic feature of the male costume of the
period; and if poets have not vet immortal
lied them in verse, il is not from having
failed I" make much personal us" of them.
In every nation, and in every stage of So
"ial progress, some special ATTITUDE of semi
r"poae is adopted, which may perhaps hest
be- described as Il nnn-ofdci "Standinr al
"iSc Thus the Neapoltl,n leans against Il
wall, IN" Spahlar'( folds hfS arms, the East
rrn sits croSS-lrgged, and h. African su,latS.
In the United State, fling h> seem to derive.
r's and rrfrrShlnrni tron whiting bits Of
stick, and the old t,uakr found r.po,c in
twir!lng their thumbs. . Cavalier rested
his left hand upon he hi If his sword, and
thrust his right hand In hi, ,loublr,: and
in the days Of the R"g,n, one hand found
r"poa.' beneath the coat Us, and the other
recreation with an ryc-gys. The f,vorte
position III
NAPOLEoNl
WAS with on" hand within his waistc"a' and
tn" other hchiild his back. and les, ,iiSlin-
guishrd ptrsonagr> seem to ind consolation
in twirling their mliStacls. biting their
nails, orcNrn scratching thrr faces II will
thus he perceived that, while some attitudes
Of temporary Incidence ar graceful. others
are very much the reverse 1t must how
ever, he remembered that thoinspir,,l Watts
assures Us that tn" angel, under whose PAT
ronage idle hands ar" placed, is Il fallen one.
" Nl"li lll' N'tIltlltN bl llllStllltl
still, which he finds for rh"lI to ln. might
not hr easy, bun il is less dikcuit To point
ont the places which he tin,E tor them to
pun themselves in. We avN,lr>rrih.d a
few Of the favuritr atritudr, Of s,oWr nations
and other times than our own WV We may
add that tn" special position dear to
EngiiShincn in these days is A,lmd with
their :" idle hands in their Il g., @S peck
cts 1t is true that the fashion, irbitualIy
wearing the hands in the ~ uTer> peck
cts has long since PASSED afay with the
l''s-t"p trousers which mad" y m'r'i"nally
rnnyenirnt; but. although, II" pgrcuSton.
AIRY IN ladies' society, the IND rye is sill
dear to the Blitpn, and il is md ri INDUCED
IN when h,"n are enanripatrd u rom III. coin
pany OF the opposite sex.
As ALL ROADS LEAD 70 NOME
So do all movements of the MSml> ri some
men seem To- lead eventually tn TN. ,anrtu-
AIRY of their pnrket>, and brtwe} en- tIt+, re-
."ptacl,'> and their fingers thertr appear, to
br . strong natural affinity. )Whcn men
liad swords I" resi- one hand dn, md ntr
d"ubl"t~ int" which t" thrust he other, il
was easy rnNpsl! to he graceful but nov
thai We have neither SWnr,'' NOR duublrt>,
ami are severely huttonrd up. our trul,S"rs
pockrlS are The only available, rrcvirt- Ii,
our ungainlN garments. "" have not even
easy gluntletS into which I" slip oar hands,
and the gloves of the period are. an occasion
of constant tortur and anxiety. The habit
of placing our hands in our pockets is, there
fore, a simple eNig,nry 1T costume. With
the exception at our faces and uur hands,
our whole hndrS ur clothed. As We cannot
sec the former the only nr,nb,.rI which are
apparently naked ar" our hand. Being gcl!-
tF;llA .Gln>ed IN public, they never t,ml welt
aS>'lra ut thrir derrnry when Uncovered,
and )" they ihStiurri,cly Scck their only
available shelter. Then, again, Enylisl,ncn
generally seem IL regard their hands rs i'll
convenient additions to heir bodies, of which
they are ASHAMED and IF whoSt. u,. they are
ignorant. II is, therefore, an inlpor,N., con-
Sidrra,ion to find Il place in which to Shaw
away these un.ainly membranes. and
they like to keep them hidden in their peck
cts, ready, like their r"pprr> or their pocket
knives, 10y ans spaden e,,I,rgenoS, "" are
we'll aware that there is a li,tl" grace Of
curry" or outline about Il man standing with
HIS HANDS IN HIS POCKETS;
that his attitude savors strongly Of undue
Srlf-runtiucucr and that il NAV tend TO his
moral deterioration. Indeed, we may say
that we fully admit the custom of thruSting
the hands into the pockets of the trousers To
he gravely Objectionable, and are T - un-
prepared to defend it upon ~
artistic grounl whatever at
honesty and Il inNc of vcracit'
allow that such Il position
Portable, There is II v
most things which ar