Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1885 — Boys and Overcoats. [ARTICLE]

Boys and Overcoats.

“Let me tell yon,” said a Detroit man “that it’s all nonsense for boys to wrap up the way they do nowadays. Why, when I was a youngster such a thing as a boy's overcoat was never heard ot” “How did the little fellows keep warm in cold weather?” “Exercise, of course. I was raised up north, and in the winter I had a warm jacket and a pair of mittens, and tied my ears up in a woolen comforter. Chest-protectors and insoles and flannel underwear and such were unknown quantities in those days, and it was cold enough sometimes to freeze the ho/ns off of a brass monkey.” “And were you never cold ?” “You bet I was cold, but I jnst run for it. An overcoat! Why, a boy in overcoat would have astonished the community. And the boys in those days had one pair of mittens to a winter. If they lost them, they blew on their fingers to keep them warm. If ihey wore out, they patched the seat of the mitten with leather. It makes me sick to see the puny boys of to-day rolled up like a lot of gir:s and afraid of catching cold. And that is jnst how they get cold, too. Boys had sore throats in those days and their grandmothers garg:ed them with salt and water, and made them hot doses ot vinegar and molasses sni butter, and they got well the next day. They did not die off at a minute's notice because they forgot to put on their arctics.” And the indignant citizen went off muttering. “Boys in overcoats ? Well, I should smile to remember. —Detroit Free Press.