Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 209, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1918 — Jackies Ignore Styles. [ARTICLE]

Jackies Ignore Styles.

Fashions may come and fashions may go, but the habiliments of Uncle Sam’s jackies never vary. Trained to face nature in the open, the jacky is invariably ready to meet all sorts of weather. He knows how to dress to meet every condition, and the navy not only has him sufficiently clad, but has more clothes in his sea bag and ready for use when > he ,needs them. His clothes are eternally blue, the pattern never changes and tradition still holds her own in their making. Decades ago when the “old tars”* had to climb a mast and dangle from the stretched-out ends of yardarms to do their reefing, conveniences and custom made necessary the bell-shaped lower ends of the trousers. And time has not changed them one iota. The sailor also clings to his black handkerchief, draped about his blue blouse and tied across his breast Tradition tells that the handkerchief thus worn originated with the British tar, for the blacks were once worn in this fashion as a mark of mourning for Lord Nelson. The custom endures.