Sackcloth

“ Amongst stuffs associated immortally with history and romance are sackcloth and samite, and the latter, besides bearing its fame down from biblical days, has been credited with possessing every known virtue that the textile is heir to ”

“ Hen Mordecai perceiued all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the citie, and cried with a loud and a bitter crie:
2and came euen before the kings gate: for none might enter into the kings gate clothed with sackcloth.
3And in euery prouince, whither soeuer the kings commandement, and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Iewes, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing, and †† Heb. sackecloth and ashes were laid vnder many. many lay in sackcloth and ashes. ”

“ They adjust it by drawing it close to one side of the body, and by making folds on the other side of all the extra width in proportion to their body. This sack, which by day is a garment—so shameful to decency, because it so ill satisfies it—serves at night for mattress, sheets, and curtain. For on retiring they ungird the sack, and the part which they doubled about the knees they put up to the head. That is all the opulence and comfort that their beds can boast of, which are made of a thin mat. ”

“ We prefer the sack buttoning on the shoulder, with short sleeves, and rather full in the skirt, reaching a little above the knee. It may be made of any material—for spring, cashmere or mousseline de laine, plain colors or small plaids—brown Holland, with an edging of linen bobbin sewed on flat in two or three rows, as the weather grows milder, and finally, for summer heats, cambric in solid colors, as blue, buff, pink, or green, also very prettily finished by rows of bobbin or coronation braid. Needlework scalloping is also a suitable finish. Nothing could be more simple or inexpensive. ”

“ Stockings should be bulky and shoes roomy. The layer of knit wool between foot and shoe leather is elastic; it gives the exercising foot free play, cushions the weight of the body, and, by filling all the space, prevents rubbing. The rough bulky stockings known as lumbermen’s socks are excellent. If their coarseness is harsh to the skin, finer socks (of cotton, if preferred) may be worn beneath. If the woolen stockings available are light, wear two pairs together. Never wear [5] a stocking so small or so badly shrunken as to draw or constrain the toes. ”

“ The lap of the sidepiece and forepart, and the lap of the bottom of the sidepiece and top of the back skirt, are explained as follows: A sack coat is wider at the back of the waist and runs down straighter than a frock. A straight line from the shoulder blade down to the seat is shorter than a line running down closer and in a greater curve toward the body. The circumference which the sack coat occupies at the back of waist is larger than that of a frock. The closer the garment fits to the body of the back the narrower it must become, and at the same time it must become longer. ”

“ Her upper garment, which dropped with water, was of a coarse dark-coloured stuff, called wadmaal, then much used in the Zetland islands, as also in Iceland and Norway. But as she threw this cloak back from [Pg 78] her shoulders, a short jacket, of dark-blue velvet, stamped with figures, became visible, and the vest, which corresponded to it, was of crimson colour, and embroidered with tarnished silver. Her girdle was plated with silver ornaments, cut into the shape of planetary signs—her blue apron was embroidered with similar devices, and covered a petticoat of crimson cloth. ”

“ The uniforms of these Cossacks were richer than any I had yet seen. Each had a blue jacket, edged with yellow lace, hooked over a scarlet silk vest; loose blue trousers, fastened high above the waist; busbies of black shining wool, terminating in a crimson sack, with a scarlet sash, cartridge-box, and sabre, completed their costume. Like ourselves, they rode with the lance slung, and resting on the right toe. ”

“ The two pieces of cord that pass between the great and the first toe, and by which the clog is held on the foot, compelled me to wear the Japanese sock, which is made of white cotton, like a mitten, the great toe being separated from the rest of the foot. These socks are short, only coming to the ankle, and are fastened by two or three metal clasps. The shoes are never worn in the house, always being left at the doorways, the thick cotton sole of the stocking protecting the foot. ”

“ Anything more supremely ridiculous can hardly be imagined than this figure, scantily draped in white, its one foot covered with a big blue sock, a dingy cap set rakingly askew on its shaven head, and placid satisfaction beaming in its broad red face, as it flourished a mug in one hand, an old boot in the other, calling them canteen and knapsack, while it skipped and fluttered in the most unearthly fashion. ”

“ She was about the average height—slightly inclined to embonpoint, with a full and beautiful bust. She was dressed in black silk, which, drawn tightly over her breast, showed off her figure to perfection. Her hair, black as the raven's wing, and platted in two broad bands, was drawn back behind her small, prettily-shaped ears, from which dropped sparkling pendants, and tied by a scarlet ribbon which contrasted well with the ebon locks it bound;—two tresses were suffered to escape this bandage, and waved in a negligé manner over her bosom. ”

“ Neither men nor women use stockings; though, during the winter months, the more opulent sometimes wear a short kind of sock, called a jooraub, made of cotton, or of silk, perhaps both intermixed, and of various colored patterns. ”

“ The socks or stockings, for winter, ought to be either lamb’s-wool or worsted; it is absurd to wear cotton socks or stockings all the year round. I should advise a boy to wear socks, not stockings; as he will then be able to dispense with garters. Garters, as I have remarked in a previous Conversation, are injurious—they not only interfere with the circulation of the blood, but also, by pressure, injure the bones, and thus the shape of the legs. ”

“ At forty, a man generally lets his beard grow its full length, and cherishes it much; part of a Persian’s religious exercises is the combing of his beard.
Socks, knitted principally at Ispahan, are worn: they are only about two inches long in the leg. The rich, however, affect a longer sock: white cotton ones are worn in summer, and coloured worsted in winter. The patterns of these worsted socks are often very pretty and effective. The villagers only wear a sock on state occasions, as at a wedding, the New Year, etc. ”

“ He dismissed his physician, lost his eye-sight, and almost his senses, and is now led about with his hair in a bag, and a piece of green silk hanging like a screen before his face. Count Saxe, and other military writers have demonstrated the absurdity of a soldier's wearing a long head of hair; nevertheless, every soldier in this country wears a long queue, which makes a delicate mark on his white cloathing; and this ridiculous foppery has descended even to the lowest class of people. ”

“ There is still another way in which the laundry devil tortures the sock-owner. He can find ways to shrink any sock that is not made of solid heavy silk; and of course he can rip silk socks all to pieces. He will take silk-and-wool socks of normal length, and in one washing will so reduce them that you can hardly get your foot into them, and that the upper margins of them come only about an inch above your shoe-tops. ”

“ They wear instead of shoes mere soles of wood or matting, held to the foot each by a peg which runs between the great toe and its neighbor, through a hole made for that purpose in the sock. These clouts they put away on entering a house, as we should put away umbrellas, and wear only socks in-doors. Nevertheless the people here look handsome in their loose, wide gowns, bound by a girdle round the waist, with long sleeves, of which, by the bye, you may perceive that the dependent ends are Japanese coat-pockets. ”

“ One sleeve of his vest was dark green, curiously laced and embroidered with devices in silver, while the rest of the garment was scarlet. His sash was twisted and netted with gold, and besides answering the purpose of a belt, by securing the upper garment round his waist, sustained a silver-hilted poniard. His finery was completed by boots, the tips of which were so long 58 as to turn upwards with a peak, after a prevailing fashion in the Middle Ages. ”

“ From time to time, as I climbed to the summit of the Divide, I stopped to take photographs, but on the summit the cold pierced my silk gloves and I felt for my mittens, to find that one of them was lost. I stooped, put an arm around Scotch and told him that I had lost a mitten and that I wanted him to go down for it to save me the trouble. "It won't take you [52] very long," I said, "but it will be a hard trip for me. ”

“ There is also the cutaway suit for morning wear. This is worn mostly by elderly and heavily built men. It consists of a cutaway body-coat four buttons, waistcoat single-breasted, and trousers. These three pieces are always of the same material and pattern. The same things are worn with this as with the sack body-coat.
Heavy cloths for winter and light weights for summer wear.
The sack body-coat becomes all men, tall or short, thin or stout, old or young.
Fancy serge waistcoats, also fine linen waistcoats, and sashes in summer, may be worn with the sack body-coat. ”

“ He had to make his observations for himself, for she told him nothing; she did not tell him how she wilted daily as she passed through the factory on her way to her own work, which lay among the heaps of white powder and the myriads of little scent-bottles, and was congenial to her,—soft powder, coloured boxes, gilt labels, pretty cut-glass, and a constant rainbow of ribbons. She snipped them with her scissors, sitting on a high stool before the table, in company with rows of other girls, all in blue overalls ”

“ The naval is sometimes a little sore, but seldom needs any dressing more than simply vaseline or tallow.
At night a child should be entirely undressed, and its clothing replaced by other garments, those that are loose, light, and sufficiently warm for it while it is under the bedclothes. For a very young child the proper night-dress is a loose slip; when older, a pair of drawers, fitting up well around the neck and covering the body and limbs, is a good article. The clothing worn during the day should not be worn at night, and the clothing when soiled should be immediately changed. ”

“ During the period of waiting for the tree to fall, I had made a needle of bone and taking an empty flour sack proceeded to manufacture a pair of legs which, with infinite pains, I stitched to the waistband of my long lost trousers and added wooden pegs to insure stability and strength to the flimsy ravelings. In order to form a fair idea of my appearance, one must imagine a youth with a six weeks' growth of hair and beard, a shirt that had to be taken off once a week to wash, a black band around his waist, to which was stitched and pegged parts of flour sacks. ”

“ In the first place there are easier ways of terminating one’s life; in the second place a man can jump into the river with perfect ease without going to the trouble [Pg 337] of sewing himself in a sack; and in the third place it is exceedingly difficult for a man to sew himself into a sack. It is almost impossible.
To sew himself into a sack a man must have no little skill, and he must have a large, roomy sack. He takes, let us say, a sack-needle, threaded with a good length of twine ”

“ Now make a pair of little socks to fit your first and second fingers. Here is a picture of the style in which they should be gotten up. These socks can be made of white linen or calico, and painted with water-colors of the desired pattern—the shoes black and the socks plaid. If the colors are mixed with very little water they will not run on the cloth. [Pg 101] We suggest water-colors because the plaid can be very neatly represented by cross lines of red and green. If, however, you have no water-colors, you can stitch the stockings across with red and green thread. ”

“ Buy me a thick under-waistcoat like the one I am now wearing, and a lighter one for the summer. Worsted socks are of no use—they scarcely last a day. Cotton ones are poor things, but they are better than worsted. ”

“ The hair is very tightly gathered up behind, twisted into a small knob on the top of the head, and either drawn straight back from the forehead or parted in the middle, allowing a small fringe to hang on the temples. Nearly every woman wore a small cap or a small round straw hat with a ribbon round it.
The lady’s shoes would be high-heeled and pointed-toed, with a little buckle and strap.
About the middle of the reign the sacque became the general town fashion, the sacque being so named on account of the back, which fell from the shoulders into wide, loose folds over the hooped petticoat. ”

“ Finally I thought of a case of rheumatiz that I had up in Bitter Creek years ago, and how the boys filled their socks full of hot ashes and put 'em all over me till it started the persbyterian all over me and I got over it. So we begun to skirmish around the tent for socks, and I hope I may be tee-totally skun if there was a blame sock in the whole syndicate. Ez fur me, I never wore 'em, but I did think young Joe would be fixed. ”

“ A three-seamed over sack can be very much improved by judicious stretching, as well as by shrinking, for the reason that the forepart is a very large sheet, and if made up flat will never fit the outlines of a man. At least, if all parts are first properly stretched or shrunk a better result can be obtained than if made up flat. For instance, the front edge will never lap over the center of the body 3 or 4 in., and button smoothly, if it be not drawn in at least 1 in. all the way across the chest, unless the [49] surplus length is drawn upward and balanced by a gore under the lapel. ”