The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

Women are not alone in their martry- dom to clothesl
 Mrs John Lane. a brilliant author and woman of fashion, has recently written book which she calls by the very un- usual title of "The Tyranny of Clothes. :"
 Just as this season of the year when the last one of us is suffering in this par ticular line, when we stop and think that after all Adam langulshes under this lash too, we find that is a panacea to some extent, for our position-for mis- cry always loves company to the fullest extent, and women can stand things so much better if they think the men are suffering too.
 There are those women who envy men the apparent simplicity of their toilettes
 But is getting dressed" such an af- fair of moment. even to a man?
 Mrs Lane thinks not.
 She is inclined to think that Adam had quite as much trouble with his wardrobe as Eve.
 And she enjoys his discomfort.
 Mrs. Lane frankly says that 1t re- jcices her soul to see a man struggle Into palr oi DIdnu new 6ioFeS-
 That she adores to see him when his necktie has sliped under his ear.
 That it is a comfort to observe his an- guish far away from tailor and the one he loves best when a nail plays havoc with his only pair of pants and he is reduced to a spectacle.
 Even more than woman, according to this clever writer. is a man victim of clothes that won't go together.''
 And the author is eminently correct.
 Show me that great and independent man who would walk down one of the principal thoropghfares of this big city in frock coat and straw hat or dis turb the severe propriety of a scene by wearing a silk hat with a Norfolk Jacket.
 What heroic soul except waiter would venture forth in the early morning in his evening clothes?
 There are certain things that no man can do which is a comfort to the best of us. who think a man can do almost ANYTHING-and I defy any novelist to put his hero's hat at "a rowdy angle over his ear at a crucial point In his career, and leave him still heroic
 Now
 Any woman who has had a man in the family-anywhere from a very young freshman brotler to a grizzly grand- father, realizes that Mrs. Lane knows what she is talking about when she de- livers her pertinent truths upon. the ''fussy'' man and his clothes M
 As "touchy' as a man is about, his suit and his ties, he is even worse about his hat
 Mrs. Lane declares that the Achilles heel of a man s his hat"
 He must guard that as he does his reputation" the clever essayist chal- lenges. flor 1t is at once his weakness and his strength No profession escapes this universal mascuine vanity. judging from Mrs, Lanes microscopic viewpoint. st Even the clergy has Parthian arrow thrown at it.
 Mrs. Lane says:
 Tt. would hurt archbishop, and we all know that an archbishop stands for all that is good and great-less in the eyes of the public to commit crime than to wear his hat on the back of his sacred head so that the brim forms q halo and thus exhibit himself to his dis tresseds diocese. .He may have all the known virtues, and many that are not known, but even a archbishop cannot with impunity defy convention.
 Further on Mrs. Lane declares that every policeman IS an arhiter of Fashion. for to him any orieinaity in clothes means either crime or insanity. TtSis o7ly the exceptional man accord- Ing tO Mrs. Lane. who has the courage of his ciothes- who would venture on any
 Now7a woman is different. a I.II la- 4 z