Evening star., 1925-08-19
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| Men, as a class. are as tired of wear
ing trousers as women are OF wearing
| long hair.
| l believe this is shown by the avid
| ity with which men have taken tt
1 golf knickers, many male Washing
| tonians wearing them to business anC
around home.
There is a reason,
Trousers, the long type introduced
| during the French Revolution, anc
| still in general vogue, are the most
uncomfortable garments worn by hu
| man creatures.
Why men first inserted themselve:
into long pants" will remain as mucf
| a mystery as the whole mysteriou:
monkey business known as dress ant
costume. perhaps l insult the mon
| keysD
Our word costume" is really moth
| ing but CUSTOM" now confined to the
| dress of human beings, the example
| par excellence of habit.
Today we dress the way we do be
| cause our fathers dressed the way
| they did, and they wore their gar
! ments simply because their owr
| fathers clothed themselves that way
| Women, ever more daring and pro
| gressive in such matters (see Roman
! history have made 100 changes tC
every one made by their more con
iservative men folk until today, in thi:
| year 1925, their clothes are the most
| sensible in the whole long history OF
women's costume.
We male creatures, however, trail
along with the same old coats, trous
ers, hats, collars, ties. belts, etc, OF
the same type our fathers wore before
us, and rather pride ourselves or
dressing sensibly''-when, as a mat
ter of fact, we are uncomfortable in
| side our tight bands.
Maybe you have never thought oi
| it that way, but the distinguishing
feature of mems costume today Is the
tight band.
Men are worse offenders IN this way
at checking the circulation than WON
en- ever thought of being, for while
the ladies have been junking their
various absurd Corsets for more sim
pie forms, men plow right along in
closing themselves as of old.
In the first place, the coat punches
us all up around the shoulders, and
tends to pull down the chest with q
lot of haircloth.
Then the trousers grab us around
| the waist, especially If we wear a
belt, constructing us at the mid section
of the body, within which lie the fun
damental processes of digestion and
great nerve centers.
Added to this we put collar around
the neck, tending to cut off the es
sential blood supply to the brain, and
| pull it tight with a halter called q
tie"
Then we strap two rubber bands
called 'garters," around our lower
| legs. at the same time we clamp cuffs
on the wrists and jam an air-tight hat
| on our heads.
Having completed this constructing
process at all possible points, we stru;
into the street rather proud OF the
total effect.
Perhaps. from the external view
point, we appear as well as we ever
| can, but from the strictly persona
viewpoint I am sure there are thou
| sands, nay, millions OF men more OF
| less dissatisfied with their clothes.
Nothing suits these men better thar
to get home and change into the work
| suit in which they jimmy around the
automobile, or to don their goli
| kniCkers for a run around the course
| 1t is true that these selfsame knick
erbockers introduce two more points
of construction, but the sum total ef
| feet is in the escape from the Gus
| tomary long pants"
Anything that gets you out of pants
! is a blessing.
1 never see the monks out at tn.