The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-22
kits INDECENT!
Think of Such a Thing as That Being
Said to a Scotchman!

1ulllh OI Sucn a In1llS as lndC Being
Said to a Seotchman!
(New York Sum
When Scot meets Scot in Paterson
nowadays, each looks sadly and grave
ly at the other and says, in hollow
tones:
DO you wear kilts?"
Then they both adjourn to the near
est cafe for a "hoot" and drink confu-
sion to the Rev. Frank 3. Hoagland,
general secretary of the Paterson Y.
NJ. G. A. Mr.. Hoagland has declared
that the Highland kilt is calculated to
bring the blush of shame to the cheek
of modesty and to debauch the inno-
cence of youth, and that the Clan Mac
Donald having once profaned the at
mosphere of Association hall by the use
of that abbreviated garment at an en-
tertainment, cannot be permitted to use
the hall again. In consequence of this
the reverand secretary is now having
applied to him some of the most dread
full terms in the Scotch dialect.
On the occasion of the recent concert
given by the Clan Macdonald nothing
was said beforehand about the wearing
of kits, and a number of performers
appeared in the national costume. 1t
is not ON record that any of the ladies
present tainted from excess of horror,
and though there were in the audience
a number of gentlemen prominent in
religious work not single ambulance
was summoned to carry any of them
away in hysterical condition. In fact
the performance was so successful that
there was an immediate demand for a
repetition, and Justice James Maybury
went to the Y. M. c. A. building to see
when the clan could geG Association
hall again. He was informed by the
Rev. Mr.. Hoagland, who wore an air of
severe disapproval, that the hall would
not be opened to the Clan Macdonald
''or any other organization indulging in
dances such as marked the recent en-
tertainment."
Man alive!" cried Justice Maybury.
what was wrong with the Highland
f1ing?"
Perhaps should have been more ac-
curat e,' replied the general secretary.
at was not the dances that were OBJ
jectionable, but the costumes in which
the men appeared"
DO you mean the lIilts?" asked the
head of the committee, while an angry
murmur arose from the other commit
teemen.
Il refer to the kits" replied Mr.
Hoagland firmly Il am informed that
kits are indecent"
Then the committee, individually and
collectively, exploded and filled the air
with bits of Scottish history. When the
storm subsidized Mr.. Hoagland was still
there, wearing his look of sad deter
mination.
Indecent" he repeated. From what
1 have heard, l think / may say that
a man clad in that costume exposes his
limbs"
"Ye may say more than that" cried
an excited Scot. "Ye may say he shows
his legs. An why not?"
Bare limbs observed Mr.. Hoag-
land. "A thing that would not be per-
mitted in the ballet
That may be-" said Justice May
bury. I'm not a connoisseur of the
ballet myself
Il speak from information" hastily
interposed the general secretary.
But the ballet is made up of women,
and these are men,"
"All the worse insisted the general
secretary.
Why, kits are worn at Queen Vic
toria's court" cried Justice Maybury.
Il suppose you'll allow that the queen
is respectable"
Mr.. Hoagland said that he had no
doubt Queen Victoria wac a perfect
lady, but he thought at her age she
should have better judgment than to
allow such a degrading spectacle in her
presence.
Degrading spectacle" raised another
verbal riot. Every Scot on the commit
tee broke loose.
THE Rev. Mr.. Chalmers Wore EN-,
and he was as good as any Y. NJ. C. A"
John Knox preached in them
Wallace fought in them"
Robbie Burns wrote his immortal
poems in EN-"
Its the black oppression back again
to forbid the wearing of the kilt"
They closed around Mr.. HOagland. If
some one had sounded the pibroch of
the clan the general secretary would
have been in peril of his life. But he
stuck to his guns. Chalmers and John
Knox were very good men, he said, but
they lived in other times. AS for Burns,
he was an immortal poet. Justice May
bury at this point hastily gathered his
forces and led them forth, leaving the
Rev. Mr. Hoagland triumphant on the
field. The clan will appeal to the di-
rectors of the Y. M. c. A. to override
the general secretary's decision
1t is not the first time that kits have
been in trouble in Paterson. Several
years ago Gilbert d. Bogert of Passaic,
who is of Scotch descent, was a mem
Der of a grand jury which, at the in
stance of a man named Beam, started
in to indict lot of Highlanders who
had danced in kilt costume. Mr.. Bogert
says:
''This Mr. Beam was a good man, and
had been really greatly shocked, and he
had such control in the grand jury that
he was carrying everybody with him,
and / saw the necessary votes We're
ready when l got just boiling hot, and
my rage got the better of my timidity,
and l got up and Numbered out an OPP
position, and the voting showed but
eleven votes to indict them and as it
required twelve votes to find a bill, my
vote saved them. had been in the war
for the Union, but the only time my
legs trembled was when I found myself
on my feet making a speech before the
grand jury, and 1 astonished myself
that time and saved the countrymen
of Bobbie Burns from being indicted
and punished for appearing in the
streets in bare knees"