The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-02

tain point. The point is that at which
he can lay claim to being as good as
they. Naturally the point is not often
taken. 1t is admitted even less often
than it is essayed. But the question
of SuSpenders is so evident a mark of
equality, that there is hope for man
who heretofore has been compelled to
flock by himself when he took off his
coat-or have recourse to Il belt. The
absence of the coat is more than
dashed by the presence of that con-
straining band. There is one comfort
able attire in the summer time and
one alone fer mankind; q collarleSS
shirt and a beitless waist and pair
of pliable suSpenderS, old enough to
have been taken into terms of a friend
ship that is intimate and true.
Heretofore the women, highest ne
cessities Of life, have with their beau
tiful inconsistency made their enjoy
ment bv man dependent upon mans
discomfort. They have set faces Of
flint against the sight of a gallus. They
have resigned us on hot days to the
stifle of a coat or the strangle-String
of a belt. That has been the decree
like unto the laws of the Modes and
the PcrsianS. And man has dutifully
l.perspired or cut himself in pieces as
the one torture seemed at the time
less endurable than the other.
Surely, however, Dorothea will not
sit in the luxurious comfort Of her
own galluses and refuse a similar boon
to William. That would be a depth
of SeifShness to which even she could
not descend. SO there is hope and
comfort ahead, and may all women
ever more escheW the belt.
In the days when the "shirt-waist"
man first came in for hi share of
notice, | remember to have been ac-
quaint with a gentleman of the old
school who looked askance at innova-
tons He was of the dutiful sort with
a -disconcerting habit of insisting on
certain immaterial points of personal
comfort. one of these was the pair
of suspenders. All the shirtWaist men
in ChristendOm could not change his
views. Very proper, very neatly
dressed, wearing his coat and his vest
like a badge of honor, would he Wend
sedate ways to church on Sunday
mornings, suffering through the SER
mon and coming home with a feeling
of Christian fortitude that at once eX-
pressed itself in the most outrageous
of negligee. With the service behind
him, a day of rest ahead, tobacco iii
plenty and a shady porch for the
double purpose of reflection and OBJ
SerVatiOn, this eminently respectable
citizen would divest himself of every
thing which he could dispense with
according to the town ordinances and
view the passing throng with de-
lighted equanimity. With sippered
feet on the banister, half open book
i'm hand. a long stemmed pipe be-
tween his teeth, without collar, and
with a staring pair of galluSes, he was
a picture of old time comfort. All
the more impressive was it from the
fact that those others returning from
church We're in the way of catching
the full effect of the contrast from
that of his 50 recent Amen Corner
pose. And of course his wife worried.
But he was adamant. Had he not
been to church? Was it not as hot
there, as -? And had he not dress
ed up, and had he not suffered the
tortureS of the ? And was a
man to work all the week and go to
church on Sunday morning and then
stay dressed up for the rest Of the
day? And the citizen would give his
galluses q hitch and puff on his pipe
and call out loud invitations to the re-
turning congregation to come over and
sit.
And about that time came along