HANDKERCHIEF HISTORY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 346, 10 July 1930, Page 7

HANDKERCHIEF HISTORY.

SOME STRANGE TALES. It is ton record that we have to -thank the snuff-taking habit for consolidating the position of the handkerchief as an indispensable dress accessory. Prior to that the Greeks had borrowed the idea from the Persians, invented it, but neither their efforts nor the subsequent attempts of ■the Romans did much to popularise the handkerchief. People merely reit as an extravagant fastidiGermany was, in fact, openly hostile to the innovation, and in most German states laws were passed forbidding any person of plebian birth from using one. This restriction remained in force for 200 years, and as recently as 1790 a German actress was threatened with prosecution for disregarding it. Her successful plea was that she had not used a handkerchief — only “ a little linen rag.” About the same time the handkerchief found it sway to the statute books of France. The story is that Marie Antoinette remarked that it would be an improvement if all hand-

kerchiefs were made square instead of each country having its own style, as Was then the custom. Immediately \liOuis XVI. adopted the suggestion, -and on 2nd January, 1785, issued the following decree: “The length of handkerchiefs manufactured in this kingdom shall henceforth be equal to the breadth.” Subsequently the revolutionists disturbed everything that savoured of royalty, but, strangely, they did not interfere with this decree, and gradually the world has followed the * lead of France in this matter. Now me may buy handkerchiefs at Is per dozen; or, should we want £jpomething a trifle more exepnsive, may be had for £SO. These latter are for the connoisseurs, who Would have their square or Irish linen worked by peasant women in Madiera or have the faery touches added by the Armenian needlewomen in Jerusalem. But we are still waiting for an enterprising firm to adopt the method of the famous Comtesse de Castigli- . one, who used handflerehiefs of different colours according to her moods—blue when she was in love, mauve when depressed, green when she was joyful, and yellow when she felt that she had been deceived. Perhaps Miss 1930 would consider the system too transparent.