, 1885-01-08
SERIAL SHIRT Q N
nvsnti ~ y Man who
the weak ness Of Mankind
Rhiladolrh5n Haccrd

the HeHk ness Of m4AAAu0<
philadelphia Hecord.l
III anybody thinks tho inventive genius OF
the American people Is ON the wans he's
hopelessly left. that's all" remarked one Of
thu loading patent lawyers Of Philadelphia
as he sat With his feet on the o1lco table and
annexed a patent Connecticut cigar. "James,p
be continued. addressing the Office boy,
"bring me that package that came from
Washington tho other day"
Tho lad produced a large paper parcel,
from which the lawyer took what WAS to all
appearances an ordinary colorod shirt, being
apparently OF white linen. with a small design
IN the form OF a horseshoe and jockey cap
stamped all over the bosom and cuffs.
II have just taken out q patent on this for
a man In fackarannn county, who calls 1t
the Excelsior patent paper shirt and
novelette," Here the speaker inserted
the shirt bosom and procseded 70 tear of a
layer OF the paper OF which tho shirt was
made. He then tore OF another layer, and
then another and another. untc six separate
sheets ia -aape OF The bosom lay on the
table, and no still held what looked like the
original shirt In his hand. you see it's a
really remarkable idea Here Is this shirt,
made Of very tough paper. that won't tear
without a good deal of pressure, and the
bosom rs made up OF seven layers, one for
each day in tho week, II a man chooses TO be
lavish with his linen, or, II he likes to be an
out-and-out swell, he can change half adozen
times n day. Now, on this sample all the
fronts are the same. but they win be made in
all sorts OF styles, so that a fellow can wear
this horseshoe figure II he wants TO GO to
Coney island 10 the races, or q crossed base
ball design II he Is going out to see the Phila-
delphias play the Athletics, or a neat little
design in dots or bars, or something OF thai
sort, II he Is going of with his girl to At
lantic City or the matinee. Thatn be all
fixed by giving a card with eaoh shirt telling
the pattern on each Of tho seven fronts, which
viii be numbered rom one to seven. Enough
collars ard cuffs will go with each shirt for
the seven fronts, and the whole outfit will be
sold for the small sum OF 30 cents for the as
sorted patterns and SO cents for all the white,
Why, It's the biggest thing that has been
struck since the telephone was patented"
"But what about the novelette, part OF the
schemeTr
AAh, / had forgotten to show you; sec
this and the lawyer handed over ono OF the
torn of shirt fronts, on the back of which
was printed IN fine type one chapter of a
story entitled: 1.-THE Phantom Jockeys Ro-
nance Of Sheepshead Bay" There you are,
chapter |, Of a sporting novelette,, and i's
continued and hnished on the other six
fronts OF course, sometimes you will run
across the same yarn twice on two shirts,
but some thousands of different stories viii
be printed. and the lots made up 20 as to
give each city and own as few duplicates as
possible. Anyhow, the card VIII tell you
what story is on the shirt, and you can BE-
careful not to buy the same twice. Some men
viii get SO Interested in the story when they
rip of Mondays front that they win tear
the whole week off, so as to learn the hero's
fate, but that will be all the better. and is,
indeed, part of the scheme In printing
them all.n