ODIOUS TROUSERS. A Plea for the Knee Breeches of Long Ago.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 208, 25 June 1887, Page 8

ODIOUS TROUSERS. A Plea for the Knee Breeches of Long Ago.

No 'fr*fcicle of 'cioftKihg' more distinctly reveals the condition tif a> man's- purse than the trousers. The f toying, at the lower edge of ihe leg, which is sure to come with much wear, is generally tak&n 1 as a sign of very narrow means, and the-bagging at the knee, which is also in gat. table, beside producing a f6undered appearance, like that tot a horse which is " gone " in tfoa- foreleg.% is a sign that a man lias only ow©^ or two> paira. It is assumed ' by the Atatid generally that nobody would wear trousers bagged at the knee, with nil the term implies, if he could afford the number of changes necessary to prevent this phenomenon: Iro fact, almost the only marked differenoe remaining in our day between the clothes of a man of fortune and leisure and those of a> toiler of moderate means lies in the &/traightness and smoothness Avhich mark the tromer-lif-g of the former. His wavdrobfc al\vay.s contains a gi-cat many pairs. At any theatre, too, the makeup of a poor leaoher ov literary man, or poor devil of any kind, include^ invariably a pair of baggy trousers. And though last, not least, the condition of the troust' rs in muddy weather is something which it is painful to dwell oorn r the conversion of an inch or two of the bottom into a wet and filthy band is only preventable by turning them up, and we all Know how this looks. An effoi t lias recently been made to meet the struggles of men of few trousers to escape the* bagcing at the knee by the invention of a. machine called "the 'trou^on stretcher,'' which is literally a metal rack on which the offending trousers are stretched over night and the deformity effaced by a powerful tension in the direction of their length. It may therefore be said that on the whole kneebreech-ea are the more democratic of the two. They undergo no degeneration in wear except what comes from the actual destruction of the cloth. They iCAcal nothing as to tho condition of a man's wardrobo untlil they reach their last stage. They always look neat and tidy and do not como in contact with the mud, leaving that to be encountered by a boot or stocking, which can be readily changed. But they are »n summer a hot garment, owing to i.lveir fitting so cicely round the knee — a defect, however, Avhich is perhaps compensated by the possibility, without dama^o to appearance, of making them very loose. They are, too, now making a gallant effort to regain their old supremacy and ou-t the trousers. Tn.ey have made conquests of most of tho sporting men owl athletes, and have made con-ideral le gains in the continental armies The Tuik*, who abandoned them under Mahmoud, the reformer, for the (on them) hideous trotters, have gone back to tho breeches. Some- faint attempts have been made to introduce them again into evening drcs% but these have failed, owing in part to the light and frivolous character of those who have made them. If undertake!* in a serious .spirit by any oj the crowned head- , or by great warriors and fetatcsme-n, or in this country by great railroad men or «.tock operators, the enterprise would probably succeed. — " N ew YoikHorsid."