The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-08-22
OLD HAIR TRUNKS AND MAHOG.
ANY DESKS

tlan Advocate.
Under the papers, yellow with age,
Sone may sometimes find, as he rum
images through the Old Hair Trunk,
small flat bottle, pear-Shaped, which
enay awake inquiry; or he may find
Advertised in a newspaper one hun
Z dred and fifty years old, Bosom
Bottles" for sale. If the searcler,
among these old documents, had
found the peculiarly shaped bottle
without the discovery of the adver-
tisement, perhaps, he would not have
guessed the use of the bottle so long
preserved in the trunk in the attic.
Placing the two, the bottle and the
advertisement, together, with the e1-
ercise of a little imagination, he
might be able to trace close con-
nection between them. If the little
bottle was covered, as they some
times were, he would be able to see
that the velvet covering was o. fine
material, originally richly colored,
lastly embroidered, tough now fad
ed and moth-eaten, and that, there
fore, it was designed for a lady's
toilet. He observes that the neck, or
rather, the mouth of the little i5ottle
is widened, funnel shaped, $50 that
the neck was much smaller than the
mouth; therefore, it could not have
been designed for stoppeg. What
use could bottle be, he would nat
urally think, without stopper? at
is too small for vase" he would
naturally soliloquize-ah the thorght
of a vase suggests flowers, therefore,
the strange litcle velvet covered bot
tie, very fiat, flowers, Bosom Bot
tles'-ah, could it have been worn
on woman's breast as receptacle
for cut flowers? A kind of pecam
bulating vase. The funnel-shaped
mouth, the small oriice at the neck
would admit water, and the stem Of
the cut-flowers pressed into the ORR
fee would make a very good stopper
could it have been worn OF wo-
mans breast as receptacle for
flowers? That was precisely is use.
These bosom bottles were very fash
ionable from 1855 to ITO, the ad
vertising columns of the old news
papers prove the style.
These little fat glass bottles were
filed with water, fresh cut-fowers
were inserted into the neck Of the
bottle-thst is, the stems of the
flowers were pressed in closely
through the small orifce at the neck
and made very good stopper when
neatly executed; the funnel-shaped
mouth of the bottle gave room for
the flowers to spread out in any way
the wearer designed to arrange
them; the bottle was usually insert
led in a pocket made for that purpose
in the stomacher, girdled high up
around her waist land your great
grandmother, or possibly ne" meth
er, went forth to calrci1, visiting or
shopping, as the case might have
been, with fresh cut flower; in this
portable vase. A lady at the time
these pear-shaped, flat "Bosom Bot
ties" were in style was not thought
to be in full dress without bunch
of fresh-cut flowers on her breast.
One of these bottles used as late as
ITO is still preserved.
The styles and usages, after all do
not change so much as we are dis
posed, sometimes, to think. We pass
and repass the ladies of today, as
they walk the streets, with punches
of violets and roses tucked beneath
their belts, the only difference is
that the Bosom Bottle is not there
to keep them fresh. The flowers,
the good danes and damsels of the
eighteenth century wore, were not
allowed to wither, neither should we
permit the flower of their memory
to perish. These old Boston Bottles"
tell sweet story; our mothers of
the eighteeneh century dressed well
when they could afford it, strived to
be attractive and adorned themselves
with Natures most beautiful pro-
ducts. l am glad that they were not
slatternly slovens. Their good taste,
tidy habits, pride of person and prac-
tice of persnoal adornment were no
small factors in buildings our great
American civilization.
The stomacher which contained
the pocket for the Bosom Bottle" is
an interesting piece of feminine at
tire. 1t survives to this day and has
rarely been out of style, in varying