Daily globe., 1883-08-08
OUR UNlNENTI0NABLES.
When and How Trousers Were First Made
and Used by Mankind.


and Used by Mankind.
"What did the first trousers look like,
and who wore them?" interposed the
methodical reporter, going back to the
beginning and getting out his note
book.
I'm sure I don't know. This I do
know, however," and the tailor pulled
down from the shelf q dusty scrap
book. "The first pair of breeches
made in this country were cut of cloth
brought over in the Mayfower by Mrs.
Jane Thompson. They were of English
build, and were what you might call
side-wheelers, that is, they buttoned to
the shirt at the side-and all around
for that matter, for suspenders were
totally unknown. It was the custom in
those days to allow the trousers to
reach only to the knees on account of
the high price of cloth. The first pair
OF full-length pantaloons came from
JOaquille, in Paris, and were worn by
Seth Green, a wealthy Boston gentle
man of leisure. This was in the sum-
mer of 1904. The fashion spread
rapidly, and dual pride in socks and
well-shaped calves gave way to new
tangled garments. Green carried the
fashion to New York, and thence to
Washington, and Congress shortly cast
aside its traditional dignity and came
down to "long-cuts," as they were
called. The fever swept over the
States. The pantaloons of those days
were simply cut-two pieces of cloth
sewed together like bags completed the
picture. They were without shape,
but not void.
'The story runs, by the way, that
breeches originated thus: A certain
wealthy sport of Paris, not being pos
sessed of shapely or presentable calves,
conceived the idea of swathing his ugly
extremities from the waistband to the
shoe-buckles. Other dissipated fops,
whose anatomy had likewise been
bunglingly put together, took up the
fashion, and Joaquille, the great tailor,
set the style a-going, never to decline.
[ guess the story's true"
Can you remember the styles that
have prevailed in this country?"
Let me see-yes, they are all be-
fore me in my minds eye. There were
the breeches of the period Immediately
succeeding the Revolution. They were
short, reaching only to the knees, most
ly made of cloth, buttoned at the sides.
The wealthy wore them of velvet, or
corduroy, as the fancy seized them, or
of doe-cloth. The first long pantaloons,
as l have told you, were merely COM
Portable bags, and this was principally
due to the fact that they were home
spun-made by willing but unskillful
hands. The first improvement was
when they were so altered in construc-
tion as to button elsewhere than at the
side. Suspenders were not until COM
paratively recent times, somewhere
about 1910, believe. Distinctive styles
in breeches date from the close of the
war. Then there came the garments
tight at the waist and to the knees,
where they bagged enormously, giving
the appearance of swelled joints. The
pockets were called top pockets" and
could be reached only by pulling the
vest up to the chin. Later they were
cut high in the waist and medium in the
legs. This was a return to first princi-
pies. The next trousers to achieve
popularity were those miserable
''tights." They fitted the neither extrem-
ties like eel skins, and suddely swelled
to awful proportions at the bottom.
They were the invention of a rowdy,
and it was a shame decent people ever
wore them. I'm glad they're gone.
The hip pockets came into fashion
along with the ''tights." Young
bloods fain would carry pistols,
and, it being found cumber-
bersome to add another pocket to the
coat, the inoffensive breeches were sub
ject to the gross imposition. The pres
ent styles are elegant, and a decided
advance on any that have preceded. The
trousers of to-day are as complete
an institution as can be wished for.
There are well-contrived recesses for
the watch, the pistol, the whisky flask,
keys, knife, comb, handkerchief, pock-
etbook-in short, everything that the
most fastidious man could desire to have
about him.