Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1890 — Buttons. [ARTICLE]

Buttons.

A curious discussion of a quite unimportant matter arose lately in a party of ladies and gentlemen. Why is it, it was asked, that men’s garments alway« button to the right—that is, have tiie button-holes on the left side, while the garments of women commonly button the other way, from right to left? Trifling as the mattenvas, the people who discussed it found it interesting. It appeared, from a comparison of notes, that women reserve to themselves a certain amount of liberty in this matter, whereas men do not. Now and then a woman’s dress or cloak is found which buttons from left to right. Men often have double-breasted coats, but if the garment is buttoned to the left, it is a pretty sure sign that the left row of button-holes is quite unpresentable. A lady insisted that men’s uniformity in this regard is due to their being much more the creatures of habit than women are; but since three-quarters of the buttoned dresses and cloaks of the women present were buttoned to the left, this seemed to make them also the creatures of habit; but why the opposite habit V A scientific gentleman in the party declared that the whole thing had a foundation in scientific fact.* “Man,” he said, “possesses an eccentric movement—that is to say, a movement tending to fly to the center—whereas woman, on the other hand, is concentric in her movements. We may infer the inferiority of woman from this fact, because the eccentric movement, or movement of expansion, is indicative of superior physical and moral powers.” This explanation sounded well, and w r as flattering to the men of the party, but it was open to the objection that it meant nothing—or whatever meaning it had was beyond the comprehension of any one present, except the man of science himself. An old lady was finally appealed to to explain the fact. “I suppose,” she said, “that it’s because they’ve simply got in the habit of it.” “But how did they get in the habit of it?” “Because they had to get into some habit.” Since theib was nothing more to be said on the subject, the problem was given up.