Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-07-09
UNI RELLAS.
Those Of Even Eighty Years Ago Were
Crude Affairs.

Those of Even Eighty Years Ago Were
Crude Affairs.
What is 1t that will not go up a
chimney up, but which will go down
chimney down? That is a conun-
drum. If 1t had been asked of Prov
idence man 140 years ago, or, for, that
matter, or almost any other man in
the American colonies, that man could
not, unless he had been abroad, have
given any possible guess at the an
swer. The reason Is that the answer
is an umbrella, and there were very
few umbrellas in this country at that
time.
In Guilds Early History Of Brown
University" a passage is quoted from
Howland's memoirs, which reads in
part as follows:
Gov. Wanton headed the process
sion with the president The govern
or's wig, which had been made in
England, was Of the size and pattern
of that Of the speaker Of the house of
commons and 80 large that his shallow
crowned hat could not be placed on
his head without disturbing the curls.
He therefore placed 1t under his left
arm and held his umbrella in his right
hand This was the first umbrella
ever seen carried by a gentleman In
Providence, though they had been some
time is use by ladies on sunny day."
In carrying the umbrellas on sunny
days the ladies-God bless them-wers
using the umbrella according to Its
name. 1t is the Anglicized diminutive
of the Latin "umbra," meaning shade,
and the protection was originally used
only for the purpose Of keeping off the
rays Of the sun as parasol is used to-
day.
Umbrellas originated in the orient
and were used in that part Of the
world thousands Of years ago. En-
cravings on stones found in Egyptian
excavations have been discovered In
which umbrellas were pictured. They
were at that time and are today in
some Of the eastern countries an EN-
blem of rank. In 1855 the king Of Bur-
NAH told the English who had come
into his kingdom that he was 1.-The
monarch who reigned over the great
umbrella wearing chiefs Of the east
ern countries"
Jonas Hamway was the first Eng
lishman to carry an umbrella, and he
appeared with it in London in 1856.
He was hooted and jeered at, but he
had picked up the habit in the far east
and stuck to it, living to see his ex-
ample followed, until now an English
man without his umbrella Is as un-
dressed as a man without a hat.
Gov. Wanton's umbrella was an i'm
ported one, as were all those in Prov
idence in the early part Of the nine
teenth century, for umbrellas were
not made in this country until 1872 In
any quantity sufficient to supply the
trade, which had grown to fairly large
proportions.
Providence was conservative then,
as now, and 1t was not until 1920 or
thereabouts that man who carried an
umbrella could escape the charge Of
effeminacy, which is made today
against a man who carries a parasol.
The umbrellas then were crude affairs
with long bone handles, stretches Of
cane or whalebone, roughly pointed
and covered with oiled silk or cotton.
Later on gingham was substituted,
then alpaca and now a really good UNI
brella is covered with silk.
After the first few years the fashion
of carrying umbrellas in Providence
became common, and everybody who
was any one had one, and instead Of
being used as sunshades they were
carried as &. protection from the rain
Made as they were, they were not Of
especial value, but it was the fashion,
and as fashions were as rigid as they
are now 1t was doubtless no uncom-
mon sight. to see a bowling swell
promenading the street with the rain
dripping through the interstices Of his
umbrella.
Silk, however soon took the place
of cotton, gingham and alpaca. The
Providence papers Of 1880 or there
about frequently advertised the I'M
portation of lease Of silk and ging-
ham umbrellas" along with list Of
other things.
But with the introduction Of the
umbrella into the city Providence en-
tered upon a carnival Of crime, theft
being the nature of the crime. Minis
ters, deacons and respectable citizens
who would sooner commit suicide than
take money lost all moral sense when
they caught sight Of an umbrella. If
a man came to a gathering Of any sort
without an umbrella he was almost
certain, If he left a little bit early, to
return home with one.
1t became a habit with all classes or
citizens to take umbrellas whenever
they could do so unobserved and the
habit has continued to this day, as
nearly every one who has received or
Is foolish enough to buy a silk UNI
brella may have reason to know
In the onward march Of civilization
the umbrella marches and changes in
style from year to year as do clothes
and other things. A man seen on the
street today with a Providence UNI
brella Of the style Of seventy-five years
ago would excite considerable remark
1t would open and close and that was
almost all that could be said about It,
close roll was absolutely impossi-
BILE with the rattan or whalebone
framework, on which the cloth was
stretched and altogether it looked even
bunchier than the umbrellas with
which Uncle Hiram Is always furnish