The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-30
AND OBSERVATIONS.
BY II. l.. GRAY.


variety in dress or amusement, or
does the cause lie deeper touching
the manifold prejudices and antlpath-
les of birth and race, the thousand
and one secret vanitieS and ambitions
that, hidden like seed in the ground.
sprout THROUGH the crust of pretention
glowing with vernal color?
The vanity of dress and diversion is
a thin deener. | believe, than the
pride of the eye or the tickle quality
of change. For the grown up both
dress and amUSement-eXce~t to those
favored few who know how to crafty
the primal instincts expressed in
life afield or pursuits that embody the
issues of a conteSt-are in themselves
largely matters of work and vexation
of spirit. And vet the best among
us flutter aimlessly down the path Of
fashion like butterflies blown along
on unstable winds. The reason is one
that is as natural as life; it's results,
by the twist of environment defeat
ing its ends. Is it not that man, de-
spising his fellow. seeks to cloak the
sameness of his nersonalit-' with the
artificial distinction of dress or action
AS kipling tersely puts it:
THE ColonefS Lady and Julia O'Grady
Are Sisters under their Skin
But not on their backs. For about
the time that Julia has saved from
the washboard the sum necessary ~
buy the imitation model of the lady
cloak which the shreWd manufacturer
has fastened to place on the mar
ket, the coIonefs lady discovers that
coats are worn tighter this year -
and Julia arrayed for mass in flowing
robes. is moved to bitter tears by the
trim and superior figures of the
quality.
Styles in themselves represent Moth
ing save the silent notice # one class
to another to keep its distance-and
the other class never understands, It's
eye lights with the lust of imitation
at first sight of some new and sWag-
gering quirk O." fashion: imitation
breeds instant ambition. ambition.
often over a road beset with heart
burn. possession. And. by that time,
the swagger is gone from the style
and the streets TEEN with the vogue.
Both aspirants for distinction are
disgusted-the one that he could not
quicklv enough get in the running +"
the other that the crowd was SO quick
t. follow.
Within ten years we have seen the
style in what the tailors advertise.
with more of euphemism than power
of description, as "trouserings' change
from an eXDanSe of some eight or ten
wards of tapping checks" or 0laids.
TO a frank device that fitted like a
gun case and exposed anatomy or flesh
as the case might be with almost i'm
modest detail: we have seen coats that
swept the navements like the trailing
garment of the sawed-off Irishman OF
the comic papers. contract in a season
to a square-rigged and diminutive
garment that finished its course in the
small of the back and rendered the
hip ocket useless as receptacle for
concealed weapons: we have seen
these two extremes pause for breath
in a refuge of sanity. but we are quite
sure that in which ever way the types
next evolve. and to whatever extreme.
we shall be there-arriving. perhaps
Ion the freioht' but in time for at
least one unctGOus strut or Waddle as
the architecture of our clothes de-
mands-before the fashion changes
again!
/ remember one citizen who was
occasionally merry on the inside who
used to make a practice = convivial
occasions of rummaging THROUGH the
cellars and disused shelves of stores IN
search of ancient head-gear. Such
samples as he could buy. he would
string one after the other upon a cord
and parade solemnly through the
the frivolities of the past. his own
present indiscretion. To look at those
hats was an object lesson in the frail-
ity of human hoes. Think of your
portly beef-eater in that diminutive
derby. cut for the prize poodle of the
dog and pony show and yet the rage
of only five years agone. Imagine
the delicate dude of the drug store
corner swathed in the bell-crOwned
town of hat so recent as still to
cucumber wardrobe shelves. or the eX-
quisite man-about-toWn arrayed in
that straw absurdity with a half-inch
crown or any other of a score OI
absurdities-any one of which is ant
TO be the real thing again before the
moon chances.
Here were dozen hats. each good
| in its way and better in its day. and
each. in the blatant and confident for
| getfulneSs of man. an object of merri-
ment and derision. The hat that five
| years ago. no one could afford to be
without is now regarded in the same
| half-facinated and wholly amused way
| in which one regards baby picture OF
| himself
Surely. considering the fact that
| each article of dress serves one pur-
| pose as we'll when it is cut straigh,
or on the bias"-whateve that may
| mean-one must look deeper for the
| cause of the numerous changes OF
| fashion than the superficial cravine
| for something new deeper ever
than the race for money on the part
| of those who make the goods. Does
not change of fashion follow. at bot
| tom. from the cause that / have sug-
gested the constant. never changing
never successful effort of the individ-
ual to be so in some way other thar
in name?
In the other and more important
vogues-the games and amusements OF
people. which in some sense fill g
want-the spirit of exclusiVeness. u
jealousy. is even the more marked
There are only one O" two pastime'
which are strong enough. deep-rootec
enouph to survive the test of caste
| that are not throttled almost in theil
| infancy by the sitting endearments o.
| the mass of people who following
! blindly the lead of the richer or more
| inventive classes take up an amuse
ment as d toy lay with it until they
observe that its originators have oui
j the game and drop it like hot chest
! nut to follow the will o the WlSp o
| a false sense of equality. In the pro
| cess, the one class suffers acutely from
| a vain DISGUST. the other from more
| acute chaorin!
/ II iS both iptarestipo and patheti,