The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-17
SOME USELESS THINGS.
How Various Articles of Dress OrigIna

How Various Articles of Dress Originated.
 What is the origin of the narrow band of ribbon which is around hats-wheth- CT tall or silk hat, hard felt hat, wide awake" straw hat, etc.?
 To answer this question one must go back to early days, and we shall see that representations of very ancient hats show them to have been made of some soft material. In order to make the hat fit the cranium a cord was fastened around it, SO as to ad- init of the hat being tied upon the head. This ancient device-useful in its time-has survived up to the present day, although it is now quite useless, except in the modified way of indicat- ing, by specially colored ribbon on a straw hat, membership in 8 certain club or society. In some hats which are bad ly made the original use of the band has been entirely altered and it now serves to hide joint between the crown and the brim of the hat. Perhaps the strings of a Scotch cap show most plainly the now useless employment of a once useful device.
 Again, why are cockades and similar ornaments worn on the left side of hat? The reason is simple, but of very ancient date. These ornaments are de- scended from the larger ones, such as plumes, etc., which were also wPrn on the left side of the hat Look, for ex- ample, at the cavaliers plume.
 Now, men who originally carried such ornaments in their hats also carried sword by thier side, which had often to be used in the right hand; large pro- jection on the right side of the hat would have interfered with the free use of the sword-hence the ornament was placed on the left of the hat, and this position is st Il adhered to, although it is no longer useful. The same req son also explains why hats are cooked, if cooked at all toward the left side of the head.
 What is the meaning of the nick in the collar of our coats and in many of our waistcoats? In rougher times than our own men were glad to turn up and but ton the collars of both coat and waist coat; as We do now with certain coats not, however, with our still-nicked waistcoats Yet this nick is cut in our dress coats, and in many other coats and waistcoats where its presence is of no use whatever-owing to it's position not to mention the fact that in these coats no buttons are provided under | meath the collar.
 We probably all know that the two now useless buttons at the back of our coats were once of real service when men rode on horseback, of necessity, much more often than we do. These buttons then served to fasten back the tails of the coat, SO as to give free play to the legs of a horseman. But au our tailcoats still show these buttons, which are quite useless to us.
 Take the folds of cloth adjacent to the entrance to the tail pockets of "a frock coat, and of others. Years aao these plaits or folds were richly em- broidered flaps over such vertical pock- cts, and could be buttoned for safety. Nowadays these folds are of no use to us; indeed, they serve to guides the hand of a. pickpocket with ease and only by the sense of touch. We may still see these ornamented flaps, with dummy buttons, on the tails of the coats worn by some soldiers.
 Look at the braiding. with fapplne "dog's ears" at each end of each braid which we see across the breast of a military officers undress tunic. Once upon time these braids were. cords which fastened the tunic. But they still exist upon tunics which are sfas- tened down the centre by unseen hooks l Nearly every coat we wear has either one or more seams stitched quite use. lessly--round the sleeves 3 few, inches l from the wrist. Some have a piece oi