New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-14
CLOTHES AND OTHER THINGS.

| 1t has been an extraordinary summer the
most comfortable for city dwellers- and work
ers-that has been known in years. OF course,
there were not wanting wiSeacres and statiS-
ticans in the earlier weeks Of the season TO as
sure us that there was nothing At all remark
able about the weather They cited figures and
averages, though these have anything to do
with the question. As mere matter of fact.
we bidding farewell to the coolest
summer IN years. we repeat. it has been
extraordinary. But in one respect ii has been,
indeed, very like Other summers 1t has wit
messed the same old foolishness among men in
| the practical relations of everyday living
Long ago it was observed that even in the
temperate zone one could experience pretty
torrid weather. But TO this day few Americans
seem to have grasped the idea that it is pos
sibe so to arrange ones affairs to make even
the hottest of days endurable The average
business man resigns himself to the blaze of the
sun with the good nature of that early martyr
whom a modern novelist has quantity repre-
scented as saying to the tormentors beside his
gridiron Turn me; this side is done" He is
amused when he hears OF the unwritten but
powerful law which compels English clerk TO
go about his business wearing frock coat and
a pot hat but he himself ciines to a costume
scarce one whit cooler. Ask him to wear light
iannels or ducks and really easy shirt and
to dispense with a waistcoat and he points out
with a superior air that these things do very
well for a holiday in the country. but that bust
ness is business, and cannot be carried in
frivolous dress Time when he seemed
willing to compromise, to the extent of wearing
unstarched shirt with low collar but he
has got back TO n garment that is ''negligee" in
very nominal sense indeed. and his throat is
encircled as of yOre with collar tall, stiff and
altogether homogeneous. No wonder he swelters
He will go on sweltering until he learns that
conditions demand new cOnYeniences We
have had. on the whole. very cool summer.
but we have had hot days, after all. and thou
sands of men would have been able to endure
them far more successfully if they had made
up their minds to use little common sense
We may not be living in the tropics, but when
we happen TO have tropical weather we ought
to adopt tropical ways
We ought to adopt them. moreover NOT only
in respect to our clothes. but in respect to our
habits. For example the man whose office
hours in the winter are from in the morning
TO D in the afternoon too often considers that =
half holiday taken Saturday is ample for
purposes Of recuperation. The idea of going to
work, say. at O'clock. or even ut / in the
morning, so as to cut the day off a couple of
hours earlier at the other end, strikes him as
preposterous. In the first place ne argues the
business world cannot be turned upside down
TO suit MS convenience. OF course if cannot
and we admit that for a great many of lis any
such arrangement as that suggested above is
out of the question Nevertheless, there are
numberless men of business who couId manape
1t with little if any difficulty, and in REFUSING 70
consider the notion they are merely giving q
blind adherence TO tradition Then there ;s tho
question OF eating. Does the average man really
make any change in his diet as the warm
weather comes on beyond absorbing an in
creased number of cooling drinks? We doubt #
Ii the bills of fare provided in the restaurants
offer any criterion, much the same food ar ,e.s+
N SO far as heavy meats and so on are con-
cerned. is eaten in July and August as in De-
cember.
The spectacle presented by the crowd in the
streets. in the ears and In restaurants during
the heated term would be enough I'm itself To
justify the foregoing remarks But If they are
offered at this time, when the summer is ended