Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-01-26
Pockets.
From Harpers Bazar.


The coquettish reticule Of our grandmothers
has made an avatar, in our own day, in the
shape of a leathern pouch. This utility ranges
in cost and luxury from the fragrant Russia
leather or CrinXled alligator-skin, quantity ini-
tailed. with which pOmp provides itself. to the
humble morocco of obscure worth. 1t may be
red, black or buff. gay with ornament or
shrouded in Grape; but one condition may
always be assumed ofit-nay. two-beits owner
great or simple, it will be full, and it will be
carried in the hand.
The great law of averages makes it certain
that the reticule of the representative woman
when she goes forth on her walk (Which, by a
fine synecdoche means a ride in the horse-car to
a street Of shops) will contain her handkerchief,
her purse, handful of loose change, several
addresses written on separate slips OF paper
two pairs of long-wrsted evening gloves to be
lett at the cleaners, lead-penCil, a penknife a
boot buttOner, six samples of crewel and Ger
mantOwn wool to be matched, various news
paper scraps, her last receipt from the intelli-
gence office, a letter or two, a set of sleeve-but-
tons. two earrings, and some bonbons Her
suburban sister adds to this collection a time
table, memOrandum-book, and her return
ticket. She is therefore in more evil case than
the other. For the city lady has only to assert
the elegant miscellany of her bag each time she
buys spool of thread or needs a sample, which.
with the day before her. can usually be accom-
plished with deberation and an unrutiled
spirit. But the country visitor finds herself in
the last street car that can possibly connect
with the last ferry-bOat that meets the last
train. and spends the whole time OF her anxious
passage in agltated efforts to find her ticket,
which could not more effectualy elude discovery
if it were an Elcusinian mystery
1t Is Impossible to compute the time lost and
the nervous strain imposed upon women by this
habit OF lndlscriminate gathering up. 1t opens
q question OF Indirect damages as it were and
sets the moral statistician wondering how many
tiffs between lovers, naggings of servants and
children. differences of wives and husbands,
may not be due to the worried mind and wear
led patience fer which the stuffed handbag is
responsible. Nay, we offer our contribution
to that branch of sociology now being so vigOr-
ously studied in the newspapers. the frequency
and causes OF divorce. 1t is eminently probable
that the little rift within the matrimonial lutte,
which by-and by shall make its music mute, too
often begins in the husbands impatient remOn-
STRANGE against the wife's faulty in carrying
bag which holds so much that she can find
nothing, when she has already twice explained
to him with unfailing sweetness that the latch
key he is so disagreeable about is "sOmewhere
in that satchel."
five were asked what is to-day the great
advantage which man has over woman In the
struggle for existence we should answer with
out hesitation, Pockets. Pockets are the SYM
| uoi VI I'LL oIueIly HllnO, OF lOglCaI powers,
practical requirements, homogeneity. A bag, q
woman bag, shopping bag is the emblem of
the Kingdom OF Msrule. Speaking rOundly, a
mans clothes contain dozen pockets. In this
convenient place his change is kept, ever ready
and never in the way; in that receptacle are
his knife, cOrkscrew and shOe-buttOher: another
| compartment is sacred to his purse; still another
holds his handkerchief his gloves may have
separate home if he will; his eyegass lives in an
aristOcratic seclusiOn; watch pencil-case and
| tooth-pcks are comfortably segregated, and he
has room, besides. for Observation-Disclosures, let
tiers, newspapers, the new magazines, visiting
cards, and case of cOurt-plaster.
Is 1t any wonder that he turns the key OF the
worlds great lock easily and WE'LL having both
hands tree for that exercise? And the fact that
he has conquered his pockets, SO to speak, testi-
lies to the supremacy of man. If his tailor de-
INJURED at putting them in, that useful minion
would find his occupation gone. But when
| woman Is told by her dressmaker that only one
| inaccessible pocket is to be allowed her. she
| supinely submits, and thereby procaims her
| inferiority of sex.
We make no account Of such sporadic dashes
| for freedom as are shown in the English walk
ing jacket and the many tapped ulster. These
| are mere whims, not virtues. Already the
jacket is mouting its convenient pouches, and
the ulster exchanges its plain utility for dear
bought stylishness. No; the power and signi-
| ficance OF pockets lie in their being an express
sion of principle. We commend the subject,
which is too broad for single paper. to the
attention OF the next social science convention.