Three stories about men.

This man, from an 1870 newspaper ad, doesn't look like he would be at all afraid of a milliner's shop.

The husband of the future: The model husband walks out with his wife on a week day and is not afraid of a milliner’s shop. He even has change when asked for it and never alludes to it afterward. He is not above carrying a large bundle or umbrella or even holding the baby in his lap in an omnibus. He runs on first to knock at the door when it is raining. He gets outside if the cab is full. He goes to bed first in cold weather. He gets up at night to rock the cradle or answer the door bell. He believes in hysterics and is melted instantly by a tear. He patches up a quarrel with a velvet glove and drives away the sulks with a trip to Central Park. He never flies out about his buttons nor brings home friends to supper. He respects the curtains and never smokes in the house. He never invades the kitchen and would no more think of “blowing up” at any of the servants than of ordering dinner. He is innocent of a latch key. He lets the family go out of town once every year while he remains at home with one knife and fork, sits on a brown Holland chair, sleeps on a curtain-less bed, and has a char woman to wait on him. He is very easy and affectionate, remembering the wedding anniversary regularly. The Holmes County Republican, (Millersburg, Ohio] September 8, 1870.
 

The well-dressed man in 1910.

Mr. and Mrs. F.F. Bartels of Eldorado, Kansas, celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary on July 15, 1920. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bartels do the cooking and housework and Mr. Bartels has a fine garden as well as many beautiful flowers. They have eight children who were all present to celebrate this occasion. There were also eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren present at this occasion. 

They have one son, deceased, who died in a hospital in St. Louis after an operation in 1910.

A bountiful dinner was served to the family at two o’clock and in the evening about one hundred friends of the family gather on the lawn which was lighted with electric lights. The Liberal Democrat, (Liberal, Kansas) July 29, 1920.

 

The well dressed man in 1921.

And one last story for today - this one about a dead man:

In the English court of appeal has just been concluded a remarkable trial in which the question at issue was: Can a dead man be divorced by law? Under the English law a decree nisi for divorce is granted and the divorce is not completed until six months afterwards. In the case in point the nisi decree was made and the husband died before the six months had been expired. The question was whether his relict was a widow or a divorced wife and on the decision hung the distribution of a considerable amount of property. The court decided that a decree nisi was not a dissolution of the marriage and that consequently the man was not divorced at the time of his death. It would therefore necessarily follow that he could not be divorced after death any more than he could be married or condemned.

None will question the propriety of the law here laid down but how much better it would be if men and women did not rush rashly into matrimony! The society-breaking divorce courts would be unnecessary and marriage would be elevated in dignity from its present fallen state. If divorces were not so easily procured, husbands and wives would bear with one another’s failings and not blazon to the world the shameful story of their misdeeds that are rendered necessary to secure legal separation. The Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) April 10, 1886.

1912 Fashion News

Update on CHICAGO CLIPPINGS and then on to fashions.

I have been working on the cover for much of the past two days.  I'm learning a lot about ebook covers and Photoshop I didn't know before and am getting close to finishing a cover thanks to very helpful suggestions from a Facebook writers group.

But for now, here are a few news items about what to wear that make me happy I did not live in 1912.

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Fashion’s latest decree to women is that they wear pictures of sweethearts on shoes.  This decree comes from Boston, and, perhaps the fact that Boston is headquarters of the shoe trust, has something to do with it.

San Francisco, Cal.––It took six women jurors just six minutes to decide that when a lady had set her heart on having a certain pink corset in a shop window –– brocaded silk trimmings and fluffy ruffle edges––and finds, after taking it home, that the said corset does not fit, the lady has right to take the corset back and demand her money.  On the calendar of Justice Chas. E.A. Creighton, this is recorded as the Penn-Burdell corset case, and is the first to be decided by a jury of women in this city.

Dr. Mary Walker, champion of male attire for women, has left Presbyterian hospital, N.Y. where some people thought she was going to die because nurses tried to make her wear nightdress.  She wanted, and now is wearing, pajamas.

Chief of Police McWeeny says he’s going to inspect all bathing suits used on Chicago beaches and decide if they’re proper or not.

Chicago Great Western Railroad has issued order forbidding men to wear red shirts and ties.  Afraid they might be taken as danger signals.

Milwaukee.––Miss Letta Buschmann fainted in court when a tailor she is suing declared before everyone in court that she ordered a suit from him “to make her look thin.”

Miss Aline Gordon of New York, of course, has bought two pairs of stockings.  That isn’t so strange; most young women wear ‘em but Miss Aline’s are of pure gold, $100 a pair, and she can wear a pair but twice.

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