The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-12-08
CHARACTER IN CLOTH.
No Men Of Standing In His Calling
Wears a Small Hat
From Kate FIELDS washington. ]

lFrOm Kate fielps Washlngton.l
Two men Of equal means will patronize
the same tailor and furnisher, the same
halter and shoemaker. and yet the results
will be as utterly different as though the
two were born In remote continents and
century apart.
There Is the man whose nectie or scarf
strap always crawls:up his collar and shows
above his coat; no matter how much or
how little he pays for his neckwear, 1t
always insists upon making itself painfully
SSo1snis9ons: S ssY This person will Invariably
De found Socially oDtuse, and lacking -
quick perceptive qualities. have seen
many learned chemist, many profound
Greek scholar whose necktie was always
crawling up his collar. but never a book
maker, a bunco-steerer. a smart drummer,
a comedian or a caricaturist.
Inever saw an earnest worker, or man
who had real and serious duties to perform
who wore hat too small for him.
Many great lawyers and statesmen cranky
but shrewd spectators, popular preachers,
and history making generals and editors
wear hats too large NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. so
large that they act as extinguishers and
are stopped In their downward course only
by the projection OF the ears: but l never
saw one VINO wore hat too small, perched
upon the top Of his head. Indeed, l
might assert as q positive and invariable
fact that, save In cases Of dire necessity,
such as shipwrecks or utter and hopeless
poverty, the man who wears hat too
small for him is silly, frivolous, conceited
creature, with no serious ideas on any sub
ject and only the most fippant and shall
low views Of life and Its obligations. Even
among tramps and vagabonds, the fellow
with the "dinky" derby balanced upon his
mop OF unkept hair, is the most hopeless
wreck among his class; while there Is
always CLEAN Of intelligence, a spark Of
hope: 10 the tramp whose hat Is too large
for him.
The man who wears a slope-shouldered
coat when the resources of the sartorian
profession are at his command, and who
Is not driven by necessity into any gar
ment that fate may happen to send, Is
never vigorous, masculine creature. He
may be large and strong, he may even be
an athlete, but the manly habit OF mind
Is never his. OF course. he will seldom be
found brutal or pugnacious, and he may
often have a most delicate and refiued
taste ip matters of art; his manners may
be the perfection Of punctillious courtesy (;
but he Will never put down a mutiny, or
save any one from drowning, or rescue
maidens or infants from burning buildings.
Large, Hat shoes are always called "sen-
| sible." Doubtless they are so. Yet no
alert sharp and clever person. no one in
tellectually or physically awake or SNAP
py." wears large, fiat shoe. You may
say that the feet must regulate the size and
form OF the shoe, but you are wrong; the
man who has broad, fiat feet made them 20
by his habit Of mind. Most quiet, thought
ful persons nave large, fiat feet. Great
hearted, big men, whom women either be-
fool or pet and take care of, are men with
large fiat feet. The small-footed man
neither inspires lasting and solid affection
nor Is he, on the other hand, made the
victim of snrew and heartless women.
| A man makes his own feet. Just re-
member how natty and small your feet
were when yOu went c)urting Amelia OF
Clara, and how splay they are now in your
easy slippers as you sit before Mrs. Amelia
or Mrs. Clara at the breakfast table, sur
| rounded by little Tommy, little Amelia and
the rest Of the young brood. You don't
care fig now what numbered shoes you
wear, as long as your corns don't trouble
you. Consequently you 90 stopping
through life in shoes made upon a No.
common sense" last, and are ready to the
shoemaker and go him one better IL you
feel a little pressure anywhere. Well some
men were born In the condition of mind
which time and domesticity have brought
70 you, anu such men have big feet all theil
lives.
Then there are certain collars and cer-
tain necktles which indicate the character
of the wearer as accurately as the facial
angle or the thickness of the lips. The
man whose wears rundown collar Of
particular sort, with made-up bow fast
tened by loop OF elastic to his collar but
ton, is never vain or anxious to attract at
rentioD. This style of neckwear Is a:,posi
tive bid for modest obscurity, and says al
plainly as words: II dress simply to ciothe
my nakedness and not to adorn my person
and l hold in contempt all who view cloth
ing from any other standpoint"
Such a person would rather tie strip Of
red flannel about the throat, pin his Goa
together across the chest or wear trouser
all tattered and torn than be seen abroa(
in one OF those cheap and fiashy scarf
which vulgarity delights In. He woulC
rather spend month In Jail than wear
choker collar and red necktie.
A hippant society novelist once spoke O.
the sort OF a man that wears a Panams
hat" And, Indeed, though the expression
was used contemptously by the feather
Drained writer, II Is positive brand OF Ger
tain social qualities to wear one of those
wonderful products of the patience and In
dustry OF the South American native.