The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-06-05
MEN ONCE CARRIED MUFFS.
A Common Fashion Then and Not
with the Dandies Only.


a man. At least SO the legend goes
1t seems classic shade found the ali
of the upper world so beastly colo
when he reascended to earth after hi.
death, that his hands were almost
frozen.
Consequently it was decreed that
the slayer of the poor young gentle
man should kill enough sables-evi
IDENTIFY sables were appreciated even
in those early dats-to make cover
ing for the frosted fingers. He did it,
and that was the origin of the muff.
Even II one is not prepared to &C
cept this account OF the first muff as
authoritative. there is one thing that
is certain. 1t is only in very modern
times that muffs have been the exclu-
sive property of women. Up to the
third quarter of the eighteenth CEN
fury men were quite as addicted to
them as women were.
In the wardrobe accounts of Henry
Prince of Wales for zoos the prices OF
two muffs were set down. The most
expensive cost Ga very big sum
in those days-and is described as be-
ing made of cloth of silver wrought
with purles, plates, and Venice twists
Of silver and gold; the other was a
comparatively plain one of black sat
in embroidered with black silk, and
its price was proportionately less. on
~ GO shillings.
At the time Of Charles I. and
Charles II. there was a curious fash
lon OF double muffs, small one for
each hand, something like big loose
cuff. The single or ordinary muffs
carried by the English ladies of Hol-
lars etchings are of medium size,
says the Queen, and made entirely Of
smooth fur arranged as rule with the
hair running round the muff.
At the extreme end of the century,
after the advent of William of Orange,
mems muffs were still small and were
generally suspended from a ribbon
round the neck; but in 1903 it seems
to have been more usual to loop the
muff to a coat button. There is
widely prevalent idea, think, that
masculine muff wearers invariably
belonged to the dandy class-the fops,
beaux, and macaronies, but this was
not actually the case, although the
fashion was certainly scoffed at by
some contemporary writer's.
Staid and elderly gentlemen carried
NUTS habitually For instance, DR..
Josiah Tucker, Dean of Gloucester and
famous political economist, was so
attached to his huge fur muff that he
carried it even when officiating at the
cathedral services. Englishmen, how
ever, do not seem ever to have favor
ed lace frilled muffs such as were at
fected by Frenchmen during the early
part of the eighteenth century, but
contented themselves with trimmings
of ribbon ows-adornments quite
sufficiently effeminate, one would |
think.
Z Muffs, both ladies' and gentlemen's, |
varied much in size at different times |
from the reign of Queen Anne onward.
In ITO they were very tiny, but grew
somewhat larger during the following
couple of decades. In 174O, however,
they had decreased again, and little
later Horace Walpole writes of send
ing George Montagu "a decent small
ish muff that you may put in your
pocket, and it cost but fourteen shill-
ings." But by 17GO both sexes.were
carrying such capacious muffs that
pet dogs were often concealed in their
warm recesses. About this time, by
the way, muffs made of feathers were
introduced, by reason, It is said, OF an
unusual scarcity of furs in the mar.
ket.
In 1856 ladies' muffs-men, except
such eccentric fogies as Dean Tucker,
had by this time given up wearing
such things-were decidedly diminu-
tive. However, at the beginning OF
the nineteenth century they were
again of monster proportions, and SO
continued for about thirty years.
Two muffs of the year 1900 are of
long. shaggy fur, and in the original
print, one Is colored yellow and has
3 bow Of purple ribbon in the centre,
while the other is deep brown and
has no trimming. Another huge muff
Of rough, dark fur is shown in a
charming set of fashion plates for
1903.
A few years nearer our own time I
he modish muff was large. fiat and .
20 widely open at the ends that it
,ould have afforded but scanty pro. {
ection to the wrists. One example
vas made of ermine, fur which was |
n high favor from this time up to the
period.
only One Death in Family in so Years,