AMERICA 1900-1910 -- 'A MAN'S WORLD' (Part 2)

SEIFERT

Posted By: David (email)
Date: 3/7/2004 at 21:11:36

'AMERICA 1900-1910'

'A Man's World'

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THE MASTER SEX (Con't)

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Whether he was a bank teller or a board chairman, the American male usually managed to fit himself out in a style that was suitable to a member of the privileged sex. He acquired clothing and accessories - such as the fancy shirts, silk hats, matchboxes and other articles - that solidly proclaimed his membership in the world of men.

Sartorial artifacts of the men's world of 1900 included detachable collar and cuffs, pocket watches, a silk hat, eyeglasses in a silver case and a silver-headed cane.

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'The Dandy's Gear'

The average man used an impressive array of grooming devices, to keep his hair sleek, his face smooth and his moustache trim. The most essential item was a folding, straight-edged razor with a wood or ivory handle, which he honed on a leather strop. Using a brush of soft badger hair, he worked up a lather in a china shaving mug, which was often ornamented with a personal insignia. The mugs in the cabinet include one bearing the owner's initials, another decorated with the emblem of the owner's fraternal organization, the Elks. After-shave lotion was kept in colorful glass bottles; cologne bottles were occasionally protected by boxwood cases. For the hair and moustache, there was pomade - and sometimes hair dye to preserve the youthful look that all men desired.

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'The Master's Toys'

Most men's pleasures were fairly simple - a good cigar, a tot of whiskey, a poker game with friends - but the paraphernalia that went with them was often elaborate. Cigar cutters took the shape of guillotines. There were oil lamps that both clipped and lighted a fragrant Havana. The majority of men chewed plug tobacco, and prided themselves on their talent for scoring a bull's-eye in a shiny brass spittoon. But cigars and pipes, from simple briars to elegantly carved meerschaums, were almost as popular. Whiskey was often kept in fancy crystal decanters that could be locked into a portable case, or in handy breast-pocket flasks shaped like cigars. Poker chips and counters for various other card and dice games ranged from conventional disks to rectangular counters and ivory fish.

To Be Continued . . . 'The Immigrants' Ordeal'

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
February 25, 2004