Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-07-22
HANDS IN THE WAY.
O.asr n Dress suit for the First Time
and Youth See.

what can even a man who isn't
..lf r.sps.ting do with his hands
,,bna immured in a dress suit; says
,be New York Tribune let EN-
t,nv of course" will be the reply of
the quick and penetrating reader, and
no doubt that is the best thing he can
a. but it occurs to Us that it should
moi be so. The dress suit is defective,
If is behind the age; is does not meet
the requirements of civilized man.
The man who can wear Il dress suit
and let his hands hang and swing
about without experiencing sense
of discomfort shows an instance Of
ataviSm Man Originally, of course,
let his hands dangle and whip about
him in every passing wind. He 1lSo
ATE his food raw and lived in a cave,
with dark rooms aud perhaps a fam
lv in the next cave with children.
In this primitive condition Of life
man had but little to do, SO he dill
not tina it difficult to look after mis-
hands. even if he had no plGc, TO put
thcu But as he advanced he had
other things TO take up his attention
and thoughts, and relief from the con.
slant strain of attending TO his hands
became imperative. A place where his
hands could reposc in comfort while
his active mind continued to wreStle
with tmpOrVnt problems was seen
10 be "A necessity The result was the
invention of the trousers pocket, the
natural home Of the human masculine
hands Woman, not having any
weighty thoughts like men, and conse-
quently being free to look after her
hands, has never developed any pockets
for them.
one of the most difficult problems
which scientists have to encounter is
why man, after having through long
wears of evolution developed a salts
factory pocket for his hands, should
deliberately give it up in the dress
suit For the trousers Of the dress
suit. not always, of course, but in the
majority Of cases we think taking the
country as a whole, are entirely want
ing in pockets, or the pockets are rudi-
mentary, or they are placed in such
position that it is harder work to
keep the hands in them than it is to at
tend TO them outside OF course the
man who puts on q dress suit every
evening at o'clock becomes i'm time
accustomed TO this unnatural condition
in "A measure, and even appears quite
at his ease while his hands are sway
ing loosely at his sides But even in
this case it is largely the appearance Of
ease, and his thoughts frequently re-
vert to his former pocketed state.
But i'm the case of q man VINO wears
his dress suit only half a dozen or a
dozen times a year the positive misery
involved in suddenly having a pair of
orphan hands thrust upon him is al
ways considerable, and frequently it
is intcnse 1t is lack of trousers
pocket for the hands which makes a
man forget all the good things he was
going to say in lis after-dinner speech.
He thinks of them easily enough the
next day when he can get rid of his
hands. 1t is he mental strain of get
ting along without trousers pockets
which frequently brings man home
from an entertainment in demoral-
lied condition. which his wife foolishly
ascribeS to drink, when perhaps he
hasn't had but five or six kinds OF
wine, with a little brandy and a mis-
cellaneous liquor or two. Statistics