The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-01
A Little Chat on. a Seasonal
BILE Topic
THE SOCIAL CALENDAR
Afternoon Tea for Two Young Yisi-
tors-Luncheon for Bride-elect.
Other Events for Inter-
esting People
BY MYRTLE iILEs

The increased popularity OF the out
door sitting room and sleeping apart
luent and the tendency of the southern
ueople to wear more comfortable clotn-
ing and live during the summer IN
fashion suited to the seasons heat, Is a
fact to be noted with qualification In
birmingham, where formerly affairs went
forward with much the same strenuosity
as during the winter months, and with
out any effort of preparation for them.
1t has been a pleasure TO many obserVaht
people to note the adoption of silk or
pongee suits by a number OF business
men In lieu of the insufferably hot WOOL
en- things that custom has foisted on CIV
.l,zation. OF course, greater step III
The right direction is the general intro
duction OF the screened porch, and they
arc rapidly increasing.
Last summer about this time in these
columns was printed suggestion that
the safe and sane summer" might be
made a watchword scarcely less impor-
tant and rather more alliterative than a
safe and sane July 4. The truth Is that
suffering from the heat waves which are
the cause every summer of illness and
deaths, might be largely averted but for
our perfectly insane methods of living In
hot weather. In eastern and southern
countries, where the older civilizations
have studied life more carefully, no one
ever thinks of working as we do in hot
weather In Egypt and India all the real
work is done in the early morning. Dur
ing the middle part of the day, men and
women darken their houses and go to
sleep, to wake up refreshed for the cool
of the afternoon and evening. They also
adopt rational dress for hot weather
an important step which has been almost
entirely overlooked by the men of our
good city, as there are but few VINO
have adopted the cooler materials which
ere so easy to obtain. A writer in New
York journal commented with almost
violent enthusiasm on this question OIL
dress the other day, and he CONTENDS
that with all the feminine eccentrieities
of dress there is none that rivals the
folly of men in wearing heavy woolens
III July. He says: I'VE have TO pleau
guilty to being the most conservative and
al the same time the most self conscious
people in the world. For two months OF
every year we go through the fortunes
which ought to be reserved evildoers III
after life simply because we cannot BRING
ourselves to dress in reasonable FASHION.
And it is the male portion of the pop
ulatlon that suffers most and looks most
foolish. We are wont to upbraid the
weaker sex for their strange fantasies in
dress, But nothing that women do COM
rares in folly with the wearing of wooler
garments in July by men. In July and
august New York and Boston and Chfca-
80 and all our great cities enjoy tropi-
cal climate. Ii is hotter In New York IN
summer than it is In most countries that
lie along the equator. In no tropical
country would En dream of wearing
such clothes te wear In New YORK
or Chicago. In'such countries the wear
ing of linen or silk makes all the diner
ence between suffering and ease. In
New York we deliberately choose to suf-
fer And we do so simply because no
one has the moral courage to break away
from custom. 1t is certain that II ten
stockholders agreed to appear on the
floor of the exchange in white duck
trousers and golfing shirt, the entire COM
i1unity would follow the example. But
where could you find the ten sturdy men
We read in the London cables that Loro
I,onsdale had the audacity to appear on
Piccadilly wearing white duck trousers
But he also wore black morning coat
and silk hat. He was eccentric without
being hygienc But at least he exhibited
n little courage. Indeed, the Londoner
is extraordinarily free and easy in his
dress in these progressive times. we
need a little of his independence"
TIE fact that no less than dozen Biz
ruingham men have adopted thin clothing
this summer indicates decided progress
and one may predict by next season
general failing in line" in this regard.