Los Cerrillos rustler. (Cerrillos, N.M.) 188?-1891, 1889-01-10
CLOTHING.
The Coarse Garments Nop by the Goths
and Cromwsli's Houndheads

NV aAN NAA AANAAH NAAA ~ ~ NA1Na
and Cromwelts Roundheads
In the days when Adam delved and
Eve spun wool clothing Eas too costly,
and hg-leaves too frail forconstant al
The antediluyians found that n sheep
skin made a very comfortable and pict-
uresquo garment. and aor ages skins
were extensively used in localities whore
the Roman arms and Roman civilization
had not penetrated. Alanc. and other
Goths, who glutted their ire on degener-
ate. c~masculated Rome were like hairy
Esaus, and even to this day those de-
~scendauts Of the unconquerable Par
thians, the Cossacks OF the Don, and tho
Tartars OF the steppes, are-substantially
clothed in heavy furs. Tho Russian
peasant. with his ~sheepskin coat, and
the red Indian. in his mantle Of deer
But In the course of time ~fur-bearing
animals became scarcer, and the popula-
ton larger. There were not enough
skins to supply the demand. Then wool
was spun into warn clothing, and az
civilization advanced hides were tanned
and used for harness and sandals.
In the days of the bow and
arrow, shields with brazen studs and
tough bull hide we're those primarily
used, and still exist amOug the Iulus
and Hottentots. As the art of tanning
advanced. soldiers were furnished with
leather jenkins, and Cronswell's round
heads were called ''the men of iron and
leather" Textile fabrics, on account OF
their softness and pliability, In the
piping times OF peace and improved fire.
arms, In which leather and iron were
more an incumbranee than a protection.
entirely superseded tanned skins for
clothing, except among the p%casantry
and poorer classes. But when the loun
superseded the spinning jenny. ard sub
stantial clothing was within the means
of almost all, leather went entirely out.
with the exception OF doeskin, so much
affected by the sporting fraternity. But
such habiliments are costly, and tho
poorest kind OF leather was dearer than
the best is at present. To-day it costs
thirty per cent. less man it did n quar-
ter of a century ago. and the many new
devices in ooze and kid, intcrmiuglej
with costly fabrics, lend a beauty 20 the
ordinary footwear which was ouly re-
served for state occasions by our Encas
tors.
Now the finest feathers, embracing a
very large variety, are made at a com-
paratively cheap rate, and could he
worked into garments that would be as
beautiful as they are substantial. The.
public were charmed last year al the
introduction OF colored shoes, and tho.
boot and shoe department at the Paris
Exposition was one OF the finest, and
the one that showed the most ad a
ment that the world has yet seen.
Leather Is now susceptible. of h0ing
made as soft and pliable as silk, and,it
could be manufactured into a variety Of
articles of apparel for ladies, many OF
whom are now wearing embroidered kid
hats, bonnets. collars, cuffs and vests.
The ancient kztecs have left brhind
them specimens of embroidery on buck
skin which. it is acknowledged, can not
be surpassed in the present day for fine
ness OF finish. softness OF texture and
rich, imposing display. The objection
may he advanced that leather garments,
on account of not being porous, are un-
healthy, but this difficulty is easily sur
mounted by perforation, and many evir
dences now exist that the soft, delicatn
products OF our tanneries are destined
for more extensive use in wearing APP
parel and in the decorative arts. Shoe
and Leather Review.