The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-06-06
THE MANS PLACE


Geneva Lane in the st. Louis Globe-Lem-
ocrat
Not his place in the world. social or
economic but his place to put things.
There are a few blest men who in wide
house built with direct reference TO the
comfort of womanl1ind. yet have an en-
tire clothes closet and whole chiffonier
for their own, but they are very few.
To be sure, the upper shelves Of that
closet get used for the storing OF extra
bedding, and occasionally things entirely
foreign to the mans own wardrobe creep
In and have to be sternly weeded out
or he opens his hat box and a strange hat
ruffles its feathers at him, but the closet
is his, II he but stand up for his rights
and sit down on the intruders.
But the average man finds that his half
of the common wardrobe accommodations
is narrowed down to one bureau drawer,
into which are crowded his modest be-
longings, and two hooks on which to hang
his extra suit and his robe de mutt, or,
possibly, Instead, that artistic new two
piece night garment which an unfeeing
man iiclc dH OAlc Poit ORcA ais
one jumper"
A man may not be, naturally, any more
orderly than a woman, when 1t comes to
caring for his clothes, but he generally
gets the credit for being so since he has
fewer things to take care of and does not,
as a rule, possess that distressing and
reprehensible habit of boarding things.
When, for whatever reason, man gets
through with a suit, he gives 1t to the
hired man. or his urban equivalent, or
tells his wife that she can do so, and next
minute she sells 1t to the old clothes man
for a granite iron dish pan that is a
second" or a cheese-clotn path towel
Some Sunday morning a man gets out
all his shirts, and In a strong and unconi-
promising light he critically looks them all
over, and, undeceived by any CLOSING
starch applied by any cunning Celestial
he separates the sheep of whole shirt
from the goats of frayed collar band and
fringed wrist band, and puts a herd Of
the latter under the back steps for the
cooks husband, and there is peace and
room in the shirt drawer.
Now, safe to say, that same mans wife
has stored away useless shirt waists and
clothes generally, dating back to the vlnt-
age of 1898.
He also mercilessly weeds out his collars
and cuffs, and into outer darkness he
casts the ailing whether peeled off as to
surface or out of fashion as TO cut, and
this he does often, and there Is room in
the collar drawer where those remaining
fall into orderly lockstep and occupy the
space of soup plate; while doubtless his
wife is keeling some inch-high collars Of
her own until they shall come in style
again
OF course, this orderly. systematic
streak is not in all men. and some of them
never know where their clothes are, but
every day ask their wives for them as reg
ularly as II 1t were perpetual house clean
ing time, but they belong to the class Of
helpless men, and are another PROPOSE
ton, although not another story.
And then, too, there comes In the class
of orderly men to which belonged the
young bridegroom, who. when he brought
wife to his home said to her: Now.
Mary, am not hard to please, nor overly
cranky, but I have one popularity that
I want you to respect. and that is my con-
firmed habit of having a place for every
thing and everything in that place-and
here it Isl" And out from under the bed
he pulled box that had in 1t everything
he owned in the way of odds and ends
from boots and backing brushes to ties
and collar buttons.