Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-05-31

periority on that account, while the gen
eral Introduction of trousers had gwen
the death blow to that particular form OF
masculine vanity and placed all legs, SO
to speak, on an equal footing.
Knee breeches and stockings were, now
ever, prescribed for ceremonial wear. nor
only at court. but for all sorts of officiai
and social functions in England az Wen
as on the Continent They were de rig
ueur at the court of the Tuilerles
throughout the reign of Napoleon Ill,
worn with embroidered coats in the case
of officials, or with plain evening dress
coat and waistcoat where American ana
Swiss diplomats and unofficial guests
We're concerned. The latter garb-that is
to- say, close-fitting black broadclOth
knee breeches and silk stockings, with
plain evening dress coat and waistcoat-
was likewise worn by the men at all the
great dinners and balls given at Paris
during the Napoleonic era, and since the
! early years of the Victorian reign has a. /
| so been in vogue i'll England at the pri-
! Vate entertainment of royalty or at din
ners, balls, etc, at which royalty is pres
| ent. 1t is known as .frock dress, and
has been worn by every United States en-
voy when invited to dine with the British
| sovereign at Windsor castle either on
state occasions or privately, and has also
! constituted the attire of all the members
of the United States diplomatic corps ac-
credited to the court of St. James at state
balls, state concerts drawing rooms ana
other functions of the same kind. Til.
occasions wear the same garb, everyone
else being either i'll uniform or in court
ldress.
| 1t is in this attire that Mr. Breckin-
ridge. who represented the United States
at the present cars coronation. appeared
at the various ceremonies in connection
| Herewith. and at Moscow. as at the va
| riOus state functions at the court of St
James, the simplicity of the attire of the
American and Swiss diplomats has rcE-
dered them conspicuous among the
throng of gorgeously uniformed person
ages. AS Prince Tdlleyrand and Prince
Metternich remarked of Lord Castle
reagth, that he was the most distin-
suished looking member of the interna-
| tional congress al Vienna, owing to tn
| fact that no order or decoration adorned
| his coat, so in the same way have the
diplomatic representatives of the Unitel
States and the Swiss republic always APP
| pearcd on all state occasions more dis
tinguished than any of their foreign col
| leagues, and, indeed, than any others OF
| those present, by reason Of the abSenCc
of gold and silver embroidery to detract
| from the democratic simplicity of theiI
| 'frock Dress
Frock dress is sometimes exactcd nj
great balls and entertainments. even
| when royalty is not present. Emperor
do not possess a uniform of either a mill
| tary or civil character should don frocli
| dress when they attend any of his court
| entertainments. How very general this
garb has become abroad may be gathered
| from the fact that in London, Paris and
| Berlin there are men who do very large
business in the manufacture of silk
stockings and knee breeches, especially
| padded and finely shaped for those whose
neither eXtremities are, from an artistic
point of view. liable to criticism. For
well-Shaped legs-that is, legs which look
well in black knee brooches and silk
stockings-are nowadays the exception
rather than the rule among men.
This question of neither garments is OF
a
sociological but likewise from political
point Of view, than most people would
be willing to believe. Indeed, the fash
ions in this respect constitute a very in
terestng corollary to the history of ma
tional enlightenment, progress and de
velopment.
lower limbs denotes the barbarism of the
ages which preceded the crusades. The
brooches made of chain armor and steel
plate-very uncomfortable they must
have been-folOwed next. and are aSso-
ciated in our minds with feudalism. tour
naments and the medieval era. The hose
and trunks of the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries demonstrated that fine
art, sciences and. in one word, the ele-
ganceS of the mind, had supplanted might
and rule by the superiority of brute
strength that had characterized the pre-
ceding epoch. The knee breeches and
silk stockings inaugurated in the
eighteenth century may be regarded as
in keeping with an age of courtlness and
acteriStic of a periou where men have no
longer time nor inclination to devote to
the cultivation of that "politeness du
occur" which contributes so much to
sweetcn human intercourse.
And yet, for all that. trousers possess
very marked characteristics. and to the
initiated: at any rate, constitute an ad-
and social position of the wcarer There
is an old proverb which says: SHOW ms
what company man keeps and | will
N,ll Il 1
amiss to ask to see his trousers in lieu
Of the company which he keeps. 1t is not
so much in the shape or in the cut as III
the pattern that an indication to the per-
sonality of the owner can be found. In
cut everyone more or less follows the
prevailing fashion. Color and pattern af-
ford, however, a much more subtle test.
There are patterns and coiorS which none
but gentlemen bora and bred would Sc
lect. and there are others again which no
man possessing any claim to good form
would dream of wearing And yet the
difference between possible and impoS-
Sibe pattern is often exceedingly slight,
sometimes consisting in the merest shade
of color. There are checks, for instance,
which arc unexceptionabe, while there
are others which are the very acme of
bad form. And the trouble is that the
fashion plates furnish but a sorry guide
in this matter to the uninitiated. A man
who dresses strictly according to the die
tates of the fashion plate, and who Sc
lects the patterns of his trousers there
from, looks dressed, not as a gentleman.
but as a tailOrs dummy. Nor is it well
to permit. as so many men are in the
habit of doing the tailor to select the
pattern of the trousers Their taste is al
most invariably wrOng-a fact which is
not astonishing, since it is hardly to be
expected that a man born and bred
tailor should possess the same notions
of refinement and taste a gentleman.
The trouSer is Il distinctly inartiStic
garment, which men have over and over
again endeavored to beautify, but always
without success. 1t is irretrevably ugly
cry sculptor entrusted with the produc-
ton of the statue of some statesman,
ruler public benefactor of the present
age.
In conclusion. it may be said there is
but one court in Europe where one may
see men who wear neither trousers nor
knee breeches, but who sans culottes"
in the true sense of the word, content
themselves with kits, namely, the Scit-
fish lairds and mobiles and the officers of
the Highland regiment. The kilt is very
picturesque but somewhat startling to
the uninitiated. and created positive
CONSERVATION at Il court ceremony at
Berlin some years ago, when young Ian
Malcolm, NJ. p, appeared in the garb of
his clan. The kaiser sent word to him to
select some other costume on future oc-
casions, but evidently thought better Of
the matter afterward. as a few weeks
after he himself appeared at a court