Dodge City times., 1883-02-08
Changes in Guns.

Adam wore no cuffs, and to SO!OmOn,S s
seven hundred wives was denied the
delight of seeing their iege lord decked
out in clean shirt and collar. How the
dandies OF those days managed to look
respectable is matter of melancholy
con lecture. The history of the mod
er1 cuf is startling coniirmat.O on of
Mr.. Darwin's theory of creation. 1t
was evolved from nothing. What aw-
full and fantastic shapes it may yet as
sumo no man can tell. Fifty years ago
the cuff was as much curiosity as was
a linen shirt fifty years before. The
gentlemen of the Revolution wore
rutfles or ruffs of lace or crimped linen
about their wrists. 1t was about thirty
years ago that the first linen cuff was
made. 1t was a plain band of linen
sewed to the shirt sleeve and was fast
ened by an ordinary porcelain button.
Its use grew rapidly in public favor,
and in few years there appeared in
the market cuff, buttoning separately
to the wristband. There had been still
no provision made for the orna-
mental button, but several years after a
cuff was made having in one end the
much-coveted hole, and from that day
the success of the invention was assured.
A piece of white linen was a good thing,
but piece of linen and chunk of gold,
and the first sleeve buttons were coined
of that precious metal, combining as
they did utility and beauty, comfort and
elegance. at once found their way into
permanent popular notice.
The linen cuff of to-day is as unlike
that of twenty years ago as is man and
the monkey. There are now sold by
the trade three classes of cuffs, respect
lively made of linen, percale and cellu-
loid. The celluloid cuff, when first it
made its appearance, created a genu-
inc furore; but now it is worn as a
rule only by travelling salesmen, who
have to do their washing on the fly, and
poor people in the summer time. The
percale cuff, likewise once high in the
estimation of the wealthy and the
aesthetic, has gone into at least tenn
porary oblivion, although wholesale
jobbers say they find ready sales for
both the percale and celluloid cuffs in
the extreme South and West. The cuff
which laps over and buttons at one end
is now considered barbarous. The ultra
fashionable kind is the cuff which is
bound together by a link button. 1t
should be attached to the shirt sleeve
by two delicate slips, extensions from
that part of the cuff which sailor
would call amidships" One reason
why the percale CUTS went out of fash
ion was because they cost more than a
good linen article, and were not nearly
so decent in appearance. About fifteen
years ago the paper cuff, likewise the
paper collar, was held up to the admir-
ing gaze of consumers. Millions were
manufactured, and it was thought the
desideratum had at last been found. but
the paper cuff. like the percale, is now
only used in the South and in the ex-
treme West. around Galveston, and in
tie Black Hills. Ninc -tenths Of all the
cuffs sold in this country are n anufact-
ured in Troy, N. Y. Some years ago
a or at many were imported from En-
gland. Now none are brought across
the ocean. On the other hand, Ameri-
can cuffs are finding large sale in
London and Paris.
Six years ago cuffs were made in two
or three pieces. and one st,le, in par
ticular, was about nine inches long, and
then doubled over to within a half-inch
o. the starting! oint. All of the cuffs
of to day are what is known as four ply
that is, they are made OF four thick
nesses OF linen. with the interlinings of
cotton. All-linen Gu IS are but little
worn. They cost from sixty to seventy
five cents per pair. and have not half
the capacity for holding starch and
keeping stiff that the ''adulterated'
goods po sess. There are three general
shapes in cuffs, square corners, round
corners and chopped-of corners. In
New York and Boston the round corners
are fashionable. in Phi'adelphia the
square corners are all the 90, and in
Washington and Haltimore one sees
nothing but the chopped cuffs.
In this city men like big cuff, as big
as they can get it. In New Orleans the
bon-ton wear diminutive wrist bands,