The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-01-07
VICTIMS OF VANITY.
Men Who Are Enslaved by q
Love Of Dress.
Some Pccuiiarities OF Clothing which
Are an Index OF Character-How
the Modest Man Attircs
Himself


Two men of equal means will patron
lie 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, says
Kate Fields Washington.
There is the man whose necktic 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, it always insists upon maxi
ing itself painfully conspicuous. This
person will invariably be found socially
obtuse and lacking in quick perceptive
qualities. have seen many learned
chemist, many profound Greek
scholar whose neclStic was always
crawling up his collar, but never
bookmaker, a bunco steercr, smart
drummer, comedian or caricaturist.
never saw an earnest worker or a
q man who had real and serious duties
to perform who wore a hat too small
for him.
Many great lawyers and statesmen,
cranky but shrewd spectators, popular
preachers and history max ing generals
and editors wear hats too large for them
sometimes SO large that they act as
extinguishers and are stopped IN their
downward course only by the projec-
tion of the ears: but | never saw one
who wore hat too small, perched upon
the top ofhis head Indeed, | might as
sert as positive and invariable fact
that, save in cases of dire necessity,
such as shipwrecks or utter and hope
less poverty, the man who wears a hat
too small for him is silly, frivolous,
conceited creature, with no serious
ideas on any subject and only the most
fippant and shallow views of life and
its obligations. Even among tramps
and vagabonds the fellow with the
'dinlSy" derby balanced upon his mop
of unkempt hair is the most hopeless
wreck among his class; while there is
always aglcam of intelligence, spark
of hope, in the tramp whose hat is too
large for him.
The man who wears a slope-shoul-
dercd coat when the resources of the
sartorian profession are at his COM
mand, and who is not driven by neces-
sity into any garments that fate may
happen to send, is never n 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 refined taste
in matters of art; his manners may be
the perfection of punctilious courtesy;
but he will never put down mutiny,
or save anyone from drowning, or res
cue maidens or infants from burning
buildings.
| Large, fat shoes are always called
sensible" Doubtless they are 80.
| Yet no alert, sharp and clever person,
no one intellectually or physically wide
awake or ''snappy," 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. flat feet made them SO by
his habit of mind Most quiet, thought
full persons have large. fat feet Great
hearted. big men, whom women either
befool 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 shrewd and heart
less women
man makes his own feet. just re-
member how natty and small your feet
were when you went courting Amelia
or Clara, and how splay they are now
in your easy slippers as you sit before
Mrs. Amelia or Mrs. Clara at the break
fast table. surrounded by little Tommy,
little Amelia and the rest of the young
brood. You don't care a fig now what
numbered shoes you wear, as long as
your corns don't trouble you. Conse-
quently you go stopping through life in
shoes made upon a No. . common
sense" last. and are ready to see the
shoemaker and go him one better ii
you feel little pressure anywhere.
Well, some men were born in the con-
dition of mind which time and domes-
ticity have brought to you, and such
men have big feet all their lives.
Then there are certain collars and
certain neckties which indicate the
character of the wearer as accurately
as the facial angle or the thickness OF
the lips. The man who wears turn
down collar of particular sort, with a
made-up bow fastened by loop OF
elastic to his collar button, is never
vain or anxious to attract attention.
This style of neckwear is positive bid
for modest obscurity, and says as plain.
ly words: II dress simply to clothe my
nakedness and not to adorn my person,
and hold in contempt all who view
clothing from any other standpoint"
Such person would rather tie strir
of red flannel about the throat, pin his
coat together across his chest or weal
trousers all tattered and torn than be
seen abroad in one of those cheap ant
fashy scarfs which vulgarity delights
in. He would rather spend month II
Jail than wear choker collar and rec
necktie.
The poets sing. in dainty rhymes,
l do, 4 II.