The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-07-17
---------X-
COUNTRYMEN IN NEW YORK.
Store Clothes Rob the Hired Man of His
Picturesqueness.

SbOEO SlOjHtS Jno 1llEtu nlaH Oh hlh
ricturesqueness.
cit is a curious thing" said a white
haired man who has lived in New York
all his lie, but who retired from active
business over ten years ago, "that the
countrymen one sees in New York to-
day are few and far between, as far as
may be judged by appearances, or very
rural when they aren't counted. 1
have watched the people in New York
streets for many years, as | have al
ways had fancy for studying the faces
and manners of fellow pedestrians.
Even when 1 was boy it was my fa4
vorite amusement to wander about the
streets after business hours andstare at
people who swept to and fro. Until
ten years ago there was a regular in-
fiux of countrymen about this time
every year. just as sure as summer
came around just so sure did hordes of
cumbersomely clad and awkward peo-
pie come to town. They were guyed,
laughed at and ridiculed, sketches were
written about them and produced in tho
variety theaters, and the writer's for the
DlCoO OQb bllCll lOlllcS. n 6uOIG
time ago the Sun called some attention
to the matter by announcing the almost
entire disappearance of countrymen
from New York. 1t is an actual fact,
and one that has not been noticed until
the Sun spoke of iG, that roughly
dressed and more or less uncivilized
countrymen are now the rarest OF all
objects to be found in New York. The
whole of America seems to have BECOME
suddenly civilized, and men from q
small town from the interior of any of
, the back-woods States come to New
York wearing clothes made by the big
New York tailor establishments, fash
ionable hats and neat shoes.
cit is, indeed, a matter of some diff
Guilty to distinguish at sight an average
New York young man from the average
young man of Keokuk, Penn Yam or
Duluth; but this is worth noting, and
that is, when genuine greenhorn does
appear in the streets OF New York he is
one of the blacklist stripe. l passed
such one yesterday, and | confess that
l stopped and looked back at him; he
must have been from Bayou Sara. He
had an old-faShioned stock such as our
grandfathers used to wear, long frock
coat that reached almost to his heels,
baggy trousers, buff waistcoat and high
stoVepipe hat and heavy boots. The
sleeves of his coat were so long that he
rolled them up, and they had been
rolled so long that the creases showed
plainly at the ends of the sleeves. His
trousers were as much too short as his
sleeves were too long, but be did not
seem to mind that bit, and he STUN
bled along with the air of man fol-
lowing q pillow. That costume was
once common ore in New York-that
is, it was common among the men who
visited The metropolis from the back
woods; but now il is so rare that, as /
say, stopped and looked at it. While
speaking of such peculiar clothes | am
reminded of the hired man of whom so
much has been written and said. The
hired man, you know, has particular
niche in American social life; he is
something between servant and a
friend. In Europe such a person is en-
tirely unknown. There either man is
a gentleman, tradesman, or a servant.
"On all farms, and the hired man,
you know, was always prevalent On
farms, it was always conceded that on
Sunday, after the horses were fed and
the chores done, the hired man should
be what he always termed a gentleman.
To this end he always renowned his
working clothes and dressed up on Sun
day afternoon. He usually had a black
froc6 coat and trousers, heavy but we'll
polished boots, a stovepipe hat which
was invariably a size or two too small
for him, and which left blood-red line
across his forehead when he took it of.
1t was for many years the custom of
the hired man to array himself in all
the glory of this attire and sit in the
shade of the barn door and white Sun
day afternoons away. at night he went
to visit his best girl. A gentleman who
sells moving machines among the farm
ers tells me that this type of hired man
has disappeared as completely as the
suburban visitor of years ago. Ia his
place is a natty young fellow who wears
Derby hats, low shoes, variegated
hosiery, and who dresses up every night
and goes to the nearest tavern or
grocery after his work is done. So you
see in a few years more what are known
as store clothes will have revolution
lied nearly all of the picturesque fig
ures of American life out of existence
7M T. San.