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Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 293, 20 June 1929, Page 2

“ The inventories of even small estates show that very early in her history New England had gathered in many homes luxuries and evidences of taste far in advance of the bareness associated with pioneer days,” stated Mr. W. J.. M’Eldowney in his address to the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Historical Association. “ With the increase of wealth the question of personal adornment exercised, the ingenuity of the lawgivers. Sometimes, as when, in 1651, Massachusetts ordered that no individual not worth two hundred pounds should wear great boots, the tops of which were frequently as large as the brim of a hat, this was done primarily to prevent economic waste, but more often moral motives were predominant.” Legislation to moderate “ the evils of costly apparel and new fashions ” was of .?mall effect, however, according to the Puritan Winthrop, “ for divers of the elders’ wives were in some measure partners in the general disorder.” An attempt made in 1634 to prevent the wearing ,of long hair by men proved abortive. Concerning this evil the Rev. Michael Wrigglesworth preached: “It hath been a loathsome thing to all the godly in former ages to wear long hair. . . . Why will you come so near to the brink of an evil? He that Satan can persuade to wear his hair an inch too long, he will be brought to wear it much longer.”