The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-10-13
Nan 5 frs; real step forward TO-
ward civilization was the assumption

Man : first real step forward TO-
ward civilization was the assumption
ii = collar. !; = :%ly lii;ji ::i:' early
collar WIS lnH'Ic 10! 4 necklace. and
: Ihat i WIS m:,dr ut teeth or cnWrle
shells. tile teeth being the >po:l> OF
some enemy, such as a man Of anoth-
er tribe. OF a wild beast which it was
credit to have killed. And it is a
curious thing that the neck should
have been the first part cf the body
to be decorated. It comes before the
head, with the band Of grass, or hide,
into which feathers were stuck. and
which evolved into the crown in one
direction and into the hat in the 9TH
cr. It comes before the wrists. on
which bangles have developed into
bracelet and the kindred cuffs; be-
fore the waist and long before the
fingers. It was this primitive instinct
for adorning the neck that led the
African chieftain to reject all other
forms Of European raiment and to
bedeck himself with the paper col
lar of the wandering white man. And
| the more important man became the
greater was the number OF Strings of
shells or teeth that he put round his
neck, until he became as swathed as
Beau Brummel or the Prince Regent.
and no doubt as di cnified. But then
comes the curious gap in history. The
ancient civilizations we're moi habl-
tual collar wearers: but that was pro-
badly because they lived round about
the Mediterranean. where it is too
hot to wrap up the neck. and because
they looked on it as a barbarous
thing to do. habit to be left to the
outlandish tribes. In fact, the Baby
onians, Greeks and Romans classed
collars with trousers as things which
no one but a barbarian would wear.
and that is the real reason why our
civilization is 50 superior to theirs.
The white. or linen, collar is quite
modern invention. It turned up
suddenly in the Middle Ages in the
form of the ruff, which was said to
have been invented to hide
a scar on some royal personage's
neck. It reached its height in Eliza
bethan times, and then sank down in
to the lace collar Of the cavalier, and
starched and plain linen Of the Puri-
tan. In Georgian days the collar
was merged in the stock. only to come
to the front again in Byronic times,
when the poet wore the turneddown
collar, which almost proclaimed its
wearer a f-ee-thinker. Next came
the Regency collar, with its folds up
on folds Of cravat, which was worn in
a modified form by old gentlemen
even in the seventies, though twenty
years before smart young men in Lon
don had Worn a small all-roulld, just
like that which is known today as
the military Then in the sixties
there was a painful lapse into the By
ronic collar, which for some reason
or another was called the "Shakes-
peare,' perhaps from a line draper's
other.
idea that one poet was as good as an
For the last thirty years the all
round stiff collar has reigned Sill
preme, with such little eccentricities
as turned down corners and butterfly
fronts; though Of late it has been
threatened by the double collar, var
iously known as the "Roddy Owen"
or the "Barmaid.' By all the rules,
l. single collar adds dignity to the
wearer, double collar should in
crease that dignity; but this is not
the case. In fact, it is one Of the
mysteries Of collardom that the wear
ing of double collar in evening dress
is a hideous and incapable crime.
The great thing abort COLLAR. that
which gives it its Importance. is its
aloofness from tie coat. A coat-eol-
lar has no dignity, and is merely a
fraud, pretending to be that which it
is not. The true collar must be SOW
ereign and independent; it must en-
circle the neck justly, and neither
hang round it like a necklace, nor
compress it like a boaconstrictor.
And, above and beyond all. it must
wear the white flower Of a blameless