Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-02-25
Knee-Breeches-Why NOtl

Kate Field in Our Continent.
"Without black velvet breeches what is mann"
The sudden eruption of knee-breeches on the
person ola young English gentleman visiting
this country has thrown certain American citi-
zens into spasms of disgust. the wearing of these
breeches being in their opinion proof positive of
unmitigated idiOcy. The man or woman of the
world who, thanks the enlightenment oftravel
discovers that no one nation possesses all the
cardinal virtues and that clothes or no clothes
are questions of local coloring, accepts the
unique with equanimity and even with apprOba-
ton, should it possess charm. Provincialism de-
n0unceS whatever is not made in its own image
Men, not yet in their dotage, remember the ignO-
mlny formerly attached to the being erect upon
two legs who dared to wear moustache
Could he have held Office? Perish the thought!
Was he in spite of his sex a man? A thousand
times, no!
Oh, It was pitiful
Uranium were 1t full,
Brains had he none!
The intrepid he who having the courage of
his opinions first went up and down with a
moustache in this land Of the free descended to
the grave fOOl-in the estimation of his neigh
bOrs. How many fools, now called wise men.
have sprung from his ashes.
To-day the moustache is accepted as a virlle
attribute. PrOvincasm has moved on and
now draws the line at him who parts his hair
in the middle. Such creature is beneath con-
tempt. " 1t is no usetalking to me-" exclaimed
middle-aged gentleman recently "The man
who parts his hair in the middle is an idiot"
why ?" " Because only an idiot would make
such a fool Of himself. AS for knee breeches'-
The English language failing to be sufficiently
rich IN expletives to express middle-aged in
dR,natlon, the speaker put on his hat like q
bully and silently strobe away
Let us who have visited Boston and read a
few pages Of American history, Investigate this
vital matter of breeches aud endeavOr to find
out whether these garments are per Sc unmanly
Strange as it may seem, they were worn by our
fOretathers, who, in the dim religious light of
distance that lends enchantment to the view.
are supposed to have been the nOblest Romans
OF them all. Those ifty-tive signers Of the De-
claratiGn Of Independence come down to poster
ity in knee breeches. silk stockings low shoes,
and silver buckles. 1t is generally admitted
that Thomas jefferson and his fellows were no
tools.
How was man of fashion arrayed in the be-
ginning OF this century? According to R. H.
StOddard the coat of an American beau had
three OR four large plats in the skirts. watIding
almost like cOyeriet to keep it smooth cuffs
very large, up TO the elbows open below and in
clined down with lead therein The capes were
thin and low so as to readily EXPOSE the close
plated neck stock OF fine linen cambria and the
large silver stock buckle on the back of the
neck. Shirts were adorned with hand-ruffies.
sleeves were finely plated. Brooches fitted close
With silver, stone or paste geln buckles. Shoes
and stockings were OF thread, worste, or silk
Coat and breaches were generally of the same
Inateral-1n winter br0adcloth in summer cam
let. Lace ruti1eS depending over the hand were
an indispensable mark of gentility. In those
pre-suspender days it was the test of well
shaped Nan that he could by his natural form
readily keep his breeches above his hips and his
stockings without gathering above the calf of the
leg. Why. think of it! Our ancestors were so
lost to all sense of manliness as to wear in win
ter mut1ettees, little wooden muffs big enough
to admit both hands and long enough to protect
the wrists which were exposed on account of
the short sleeves worn to display fine linen or
lace rufles.
Now, l refuse to admit that, Der Sc. knee
breeches are one whit less manly than the hide
Gus trousers of the period. Trousers are of
Oriental origin, and were formerly the distin-
gushing mark between ''barbarians' and Greeks
and Romans. The Gaulish Britons and other
Celtic nations wore trousers very full and gath
cred at the ankles, like the present Highland
truis. During Roman supremacy trousers were
abandoned in England, though Scotland and
Ireland still chung fOndy to the hileOus things
Medievailsm Is but synonym for the
picturesque in male attire. When men
We're ornamental as well as useful they were
none the less brave or great The Crusaders
did not GO forth to the Holy Land in trousers
Columbus set sail in guest Of America in a garb
that sculptor and painter are glad to copy and
long to re-establish. Shakespeare wrote the
manifest of all poetry in Elizabethan trunks and
hose. The world is, according to conventional
calculation. six thousand wears old. On ton of
sixty centuries trousers like scum have risen to
the surface within the last fifty years What
right havethey to claim superiority over fashions
of dress which appeal to sense OF beauty?
Their sole right is that of nine points of the
law. They hold undisputed possession of thirty
million pairs of legs in the United States.