A President's Old Shears

1895

Dr. W. F. Edmonds of Gate City, Va., has in his possession two pairs of scissors with which Andrew Johnson worked as a tailor at Greeneville, Tenn. Major A. R. Edmonds, the doctor's father, who died about eight years ago, was in partnership with Johnson at Greeneville, and the little shop in which they worked still stands with the sign, "A. Johnson, Tailor," over the door. When they dissolved the partnership. Johnson made Edmonds a present of the large scissors, and they have been carefully preserved. — Baltimore Sun.

Clothing Makes the Man

1905

Historical Personages Stripped of Accustomed Raiment Seem Unreal

A meeting of the Custom Cutters' Association of America was held in Philadelphia the other day. J. O. Madison of New York, in explaining the part that clothes play in making the man, said:

"An undraped Caesar never could have quelled rebellion with a speech, nor could, undressed, our great Washington have awed his friends with his impressive dignity. What do we know of Moses, not knowing how he was dressed? And how much greater would our interest be in Aristotle if we knew the kind of clothes he was in the habit of wearing?

"What do we know of Nero or of Judas, ignorant, as we are, of what their clothes were like? And if we knew how St Patrick clothed himself how much more feelingly would the Christian world do reverence to his memory. We know that Adam wore a fig leaf, and he seems, because of this historic fact, more real than if we knew him only as the man whose appetite for apples made tailoring necessary."

Vacant Farm Houses

1920

It is reported that more than 24,000 farm dwellings are without occupants in the State of New York alone. This is based on a careful survey. At the same time, not a city in New York but is confronted by a housing problem that can only be solved by a tremendous building campaign. In this condition may be noted one of the serious phases of our national problem. "How are you going to keep them down on the farm?"

That bright lights attract the youth is admitted. This is not all the story, but it is a considerable part of it, asserts the Omaha Bee. Boys and girls weary of the monotonous round of life on the farms and flit to the city. There they soon find themselves so immersed in the struggle for existence that they have little time to think of the farm. When the novelty of the city life has worn off, the ugly fact sticks out that underneath all its attractions is the specter of want, that its glittering exterior hides moral and material ugliness of a kind that is unknown to the country.


Old Clothes

Tailors say that they are doing quite as much business in making over old garments as in making new ones, says the Des Moines Register.

"I have a patron who wouldn't have appeared on the street three years ago in a suit that had a patch the size of a pea on the inside of the coat sleeve," says a local tailor. "Now he brings me his clothes to mend as long as they will stay together. He is reputed to be well to do, and I know that he lives on a fairly lavish scale, so I figure that it's a matter of principle with him. He doesn't want to buy while prices are where they are."

"Old clothes, old rags, old bottles." H.C.L. has disposed of the first part of the ragman's cry, and prohibition of the last. The old clothes man is passing out.

Wife Orders Suit for Her 500-pound Husband

1920

Wife Orders Suit for Her Husband; Tailor Finds He Weights 500 Pounds

WHEELER, Vt. - Several weeks ago Henry Boxlight moved his family here from Blounts Mills. One day last week Mrs. Boxlight entered Peter Norton's tailor shop and ordered a suit of clothes with two pair of trousers for her husband.

Norton was anxious to receive the order and accepted $25 as payment towards a $40 suit. Mrs. Boxlight received a receipt for her money, with a statement for the balance in one month. She informed the tailor that she would send her husband down to be measured for the suit.

The next morning Boxlight called on Norton and revealed the object of his visit by bringing out the sample of the cloth for his suit. Norton angrily refused to take his measurement and offered to refund the $25. Boxlight refused to accept it.

A day later Mr. and Mrs. Boxlight and Norton told their stories to Judge White. Norton said that when he accepted the order he supposed that Mr. Boxlight was an average sized man; that he could not make the suit and trousers for a 500-pound man at $40 - that he would be losing money.

Mrs. Boxlight said her husband's size was no excuse.

Judge White ruled that Norton must carry out the contract.

Mrs. Boxlight and Norton have compromised, it is reported, Norton giving her $5 to cancel the order.

German Couple Meet on American Train, Married 6 Days Later

Reno, 1905

CUPID PRESENT ON THE TRAINS

Young People Enroute from New York Meet, Fall in Love and Are Married in Reno

A marriage the result of a six days' acquaintance was performed by Judge Nash in the Justice Court on Second street yesterday morning, when he spoke the words that made Max Freebert, a young German recently of New York, and Miss Sarah Vogel, late of Germany, man and wife. The wedding was a quiet affair, the only person present, besides the judge and contracting parties, being Deputy Constable Groton, who acted as a witness, but even if the ceremony was plain and was performed in a dingy office instead of a gayly decorated church, it is safe to say that two happier people never took the marriage vow.

The groom in speaking of the wedding, afterwards said:

"I have only known my bride six days, but she is the best little woman I ever knew, and the only one I love in all the world. She has no relatives and neither have I, and that is the reason we were married so soon. She had just come from Germany and was going to San Francisco when I met her. We were traveling across the continent on the same train and noticing that she was lonesome I got an acquaintance and learned that she had known my old mother and father, who died just a few months ago. We talked of the old times and she told me that her parents had died only a short time ago and that she was on her way to San Francisco to seek work. I was in the same fix and, well, we just got married; that's all."

Mr. and Mrs. Freebert intend to reside in this city and have rented a neat little cottage on the north side. The groom is a tailor by trade and intends to open a shop in Reno within the next few weeks.

—Daily Nevada State Journal, Reno, NV, Feb. 1, 1905, p. 5.