Fur coat

“ Your winter coat must necessarily be very warm, lined with fur and very thick, with a very high fur collar, which when raised—and it must always be raised—must entirely cover the ears; a fur toque is the most practical head-dress, with one’s hair done low on the forehead, as the cold is so intense that it seems to wish to penetrate like a chisel just where the nose begins, between the eyes. ”

“ Most of the fur clothing to which its wearers have objected is made in temperate lands (such as Norway) by people who are unfamiliar with the conditions to be met by the garments they are making; secondly, there is an art of taking care of fur clothing—that a fur coat rots to pieces on a man’s back in a week is really a criticism of the man, not the coat, though the coat usually gets the blame. ”

“ The short fur coat! Why I’ve talked about it all fall. I think every woman in town has one but me. I can’t wear my big seal one shopping and marketing! And my cloth one is simply gone! Why, I thought all the time you knew, and that you’d surely....” There were almost tears in her voice.
“So it’s come to that, has it! A woman has to have a special kind of fur coat to do her marketing in! ”

“ THE FUR COAT IT was a cold winter that year. People shrank up in the chill and grew smaller, all except those who had furs. Judge Richardt had a big fur coat. It almost belonged, moreover, to his official position, for he was managing director of a brand-new company. His old friend Dr. Henck, on the contrary, had no fur coat: he had instead a pretty wife and three children. Dr. Henck was thin and pale. Some people grow fat with marriage, others grow thin. ”

“ You cannot say with reckless prodigality, "Here, I will have a fur coat and make an end of this gnawing passion." The fur coat is not an end: it is a beginning. You have got to live up to it. You have got to take the fur-coat point of view of your relations to society. When Chauncey Depew, as a boy, bought a beautiful spotted dog at a fair and took it home, the rain came down and the spots began to run into stripes. He took the dog back to the man of whom he had bought it and demanded an explanation. "But you had an umbrella with that dog," said the man. ”

“ Opossum, Australian.—16 × 8 inches. Is of a totally different nature from the American. Although it has fur-hair and top-hair, the latter is sparse and fine, so that the fur coat may be considered one of close even under-hair. The color varies according to the district of origin, from blue-grey to yellow with reddish tones. ”

“ As a matter of fact, a coat that meets with the perfection that the standard calls for, is rare indeed. We hear much of the so-called double-coat, but in this breed it is demanded. The outer coat consists of harsh hair, about two inches long and absolutely free from curl. The under coat, which resembles fur, is short, soft and close. It is a real weather-resisting jacket such as we want on Airedales and various other wire-coated terriers, but which is found so seldom, even in this variety. ”

“ The coat of the Smooth or Short-coated variety, should be very close, thick and slightly brokenhaired. In the Rough variety the coat should be dense and flat, of medium length, not woolly, rather longer on the neck, thighs and tail. Colour and markings: orange, orange and tawny, and all shades of brindle, and red; the markings should be as follows:—White muzzle, white blaze up face, the white being shaded with black, also black shadings on the ears, white collar round neck, white chest, legs and tip of tail. The body may be white with patches of any of above colours. ”

“ Colonel Malcolm, of Poltalloch, who is recognised as the great authority on the breed, lays stress upon the quality of the coat. "The outer coat," he says, "should be very soft on the forehead and get gradually harder towards the haunches, but the harsh coat beloved of the show bench is all nonsense, and is the easiest thing in the world to 'fake,' as anyone can try who will dip his own hair into the now fashionable 'anturic' baths. The outer coat should be distinctly long, but not long in the 'fancy' or show sense. ”

“ I am almost sure that it has never been your luck to wear a fur coat that fitted you like a skin, and that could not be spoiled with sand or water, or jam, or bread and milk, or any of the things with which you mess up the nice new clothes your kind relations buy for you. ”

“ WULKOW A good many of 'em has fur coats. That's right enough.
WEHRHAHN This gentleman saw a boatman who stood on his deck wearing a fur coat.
WULKOW There ain't nothin' suspicious about that, your honour. There's many as has fine coats. I got one myself, in fac'.
WEHRHAHN You observe: the man himself owns a fur coat.
FLEISCHER But then he hasn't exactly a beaver coat.
WEHRHAHN You were not in a position to discover that.
KRUEGER What? Has this man a beaver coat?
WULKOW There's many of 'em, I c'n tell you, as has the finest beaver coats. An' why not? We makes enough. ”

“ Everybody wears furs or sheepskins in winter; they are donned when the frosts come, and not laid aside till the trees are budding. Furs are for the rich, or those who pretend to be so, and sheepskins for the lower classes. Both kinds of garments are worn with the fur or wool inside; the fur coat or cloak has a backing of cloth, while the sheepskin coat has only the skin of the animal without any cloth addition. ”

“ The jacket of the man is made something like a broad-tailed dress coat, hanging behind as far as the middle of the calf, and cut away in front just below the waist. It is mostly made of deer-hide, and the hood is lined and turned up with white fur, which forms a curious contrast to the dark, broad face within it. The edge of the coat is generally bordered with a lighter-colored fur, and is often decorated with little strips of fur hanging like tassels. ”

“ In dressing the coat of the cat no comb should be used, more especially with the long-haired varieties; but if so, which I do not recommend, great care should be used not to drag the hair so that it comes out, or breaks, otherwise a rough, uneven coat will and must be the result. ”

“ Mere clothes might be all right for millionaires and geniuses, but sumptuous raiment for ours! We couldn't afford to wear less.
THAT FUR COAT That Fur Coat
Ever since our downy and callow youth the fur-lined overcoat has been for us a symbol of wealth and a certain dashing deviltry. Of course, we are perfectly well aware that a number of tame married men, holding positions worth about twenty dollars a week, own fur-lined coats. Even on the editorial staff of which we are the bright particular star there are two or three overcoats lined with something definitely recognizable as fur. ”

“ The greatest care must be exercised in the matter of coat before any such cross is effected. The smooth that is crossed with the wire must have a really hard, and not too full coat, and, as there are very, very few smooths now being shown with anything like a proper coat for a terrier to possess, the very greatest caution is necessary. Some few years back, almost incalculable harm was done to the variety by a considerable amount of crossing into a strain of smooths with terribly soft flannelly coats. ”

“ For gentlemen, a dark, four-button cutaway coat, with neat, loose-fitting, white panties, will generally scare a fox into convulsions, so that he may be easily killed with a club. A short-waisted plug hat may be worn also, in order to distinguish the hunter from the whipper-in, who wears a baseball cap. The only fox-hunting I have ever done was on board an impetuous, tough-bitted, fore-and-aft horse that had emotional insanity. I was dressed in a swallow-tail coat, waistcoat of Scotch plaid Turkish toweling, and a pair of close-fitting breeches of etiquette tucked into my boot-tops. ”

“ The coat of the curly Retriever plays a very important part in his value and personality. There are many kinds of coat, but the only true and proper one is the close-fitting "nigger curl," of which each knot is solid and inseparable. A coat of this quality is not capable of improvement by any method of grooming, for the simple reason that its natural condition is in itself perfect. ”

“ The little locks should be so close together as to be impervious to water, and all parts of the body should be evenly covered with them, including the tail and legs. A bad class of coat, and one which readily yields to the faker's art, is the thin open curl which by careful manipulation can be greatly improved. Another bad quality of coat is one in which, upon the withers and over the loins in particular, the curls do not tighten up naturally, but are large, loose, and soft to the feel. ”

“ The business coat should be of cloth, never completely of fur unless one's position is high enough to warrant it—and even then it should be only of one fur, instead of a combination of two or three, and made with a regard for simplicity and inconspicuousness. However, the most appropriate business coat is made of a heavy cloth, plain or fur-trimmed for winter, and light-weight, dark-colored material for the warmer days. The hat, of course, follows the general note of simplicity and is usually small and dark. ”

“ The coat is the important point, and characterizes the Dandie Dinmont. The hair should be about two inches long; that from the skull to the root of the tail, a mixture of hard and soft hair, which gives a crisp feel to the hand, but the hard hair should not be wiry as in most broken-haired terriers; the coat is in every sense of the word what is called piley. The hair on the under part of the body is softer and lighter in color than on top. The skin on the under body should accord with the color of the dog. ”

“ The coat is hard in texture, without any silkiness. The color most admired is blue grizzle with its various shades but brindle and fawn, either light or dark are admirable. There should be no white on any part of the body. As to formation, he should be made on the same lines as the grey hound. ”

“ A tailor here, the man that has done my coats for me, says he will line my ulster with minx or racoon, or the something ratskin, for 18 dollars, and, as I told mother in my last letter, he would make just such an ulster for 20 to 25 dols., so that you could get a very good fur-lined coat for 40 dollars, or about eight guineas. Of course the furs I have mentioned are not beautiful soft affairs like beaver or sealskin, but I imagine they are almost if not quite as warm. ”

“ It is as though the animal saved his stores to paint his inside to a warm red during the cold season instead of wasting it in mere vanity upon his outer clothing. At the same time nothing could be more reasonable than a white coat for concealment against a snowy background. ”

“ How to get Good Pelage on a Cat. The feeding of course has much to do with the length and gloss of the coat. Fish I have found is good for the coat, and a mixed diet generally, with not too much vegetables to scour them. But your sheet-anchors, after all, are the brush and the comb. The comb must be fine, and not too close in the teeth, and it should be used gently, after which brush the coat briskly all over with a long-haired soft hair-brush—a baby’s brush in fact. ”

“ The Points for Show of the Curly Retriever are not much at variance with those for the Flat-coated. But [Pg 66] the latter is often the larger dog. The head, should be not so wide, with strong jaws, and muzzle more inclined to be snipey; the coat, a perfect mass of short, tight curls on the body, legs and tail, but only short, smooth hair on the face—the stern, quite straight and carried without any curve in it, substantial at root, lessening in size by degrees to its point. ”

“ Both fore and hind legs should be moved straight forward when travelling, the stifles not turned outwards, the legs free of feather, and covered, like the head, with as hard a texture of coat as body, but not so long. COAT—Hard and wiry, free of softness or silkiness, not so long as to hide the outlines of the body, particularly in the hind-quarters, straight and flat, no shagginess, and free of lock or curl. COLOUR—Should be "whole-coloured," the most preferable being bright red, red, wheaten, or yellow red. White sometimes appears on chest and feet ”

“ From the fur of the beaver the best hats are made that are worn. They are called beavers or castoreums from the material of which they are made, and they are known by this name over all Europe. Outside of the coat of fur many shining hairs appear called wind-hairs, which are more properly winter-hairs, for they fall out in summer and appear again in winter. The outer coat is of a chestnut-brown color, the browner the color the better is the fur. Sometimes it will be a little reddish.
“When hats are made of the fur, the rough hairs are pulled out for they are useless. ”

“ Banded lemmings are unique among the mouse tribe in their change from the rufous brown, or gray summer coat to pure white in winter. With the assumption of the white winter fur a thick, horny, padlike growth develops on the underside of the two middle claws of the front feet, which is molted in spring when the winter coat is lost. For an animal living in the far North the usefulness of a white coat in winter is evident, but no good reason is apparent for these curious claw-pads. ”

“ The neck should be long, body fairly short, with well sprung ribs, chest deep and forelegs straight. Any tendency to cow-hocks in the hind legs should be penalized. The tail should be fairly long, carried low when in repose, and straight or gaily when excited. The coat, except on the mask, tips of ears and legs where it is smooth, should be very abundant, especially around the neck and chest, where it should form a distinct cape and frill. A dense undercoat is also very essential. ”