Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1875 — Stockings. [ARTICLE]

Stockings.

Once upon a time people did not know what a tight-fitting knitted stocking was; they wore hose, or trousers made of cloth, that buttoned at the ankle, and never thought of dressing each foot by itself. But when people began to think niore of dress they went to the tailor’s to make them a pair of stockings, and he brought some like the gaiters little children wear now. At last a King of England had a fine pair of knitted black silk stockings sent him from Spain. He thought himself so grand in them that he only wore them at stateballs. When his daughter became Queen Elizabeth she also had a present sent to her of a pair of knitted silk stockings (or silk shanks, as they were called), which she liked so much that she would wear no. other kind, and gave a great price to get some more like them. The nobles of her court wished they could buy some too; but they were very scarce, for no one in England could make them until a young man borrowed some silk stockings and knitted a pair like them in wool, which he sold to the Earl of Pembroke. These were the first woolen stockings made in England. In the hot countries of the East people leave their slippers, shoes or boots at the door when they enter a room and keep on their head-dress, just the opposite to what we Europeans do. We take off our hat and keep on our boots; but then we must remember that these people do not sit in chairs, but on mats or" cushions, with their feet doubled up under them • so that they would make their clothes 'dirty and find their seat very uncomfortable at the same time. The Turks, who are not Christians, but followers of Mahomet, do not allow anyone to enter their mosques or holy shrines with shoes on, as they consider it a mark of disrespect. As they wear long, loose garments you would not notice whether they had stockings on or not; and as, in these hot climates, folks bathe a great many times a day, this essy style of going about with only a loose pair of slippers on and no stockings to trouble about must save the lazy Orientals some exertion. This explains why Moses, the great lawgiver, put off his shoes when he stood before the burning bush from whence the Lord spoke to him. He knew it was holy ground, and this was his way of showing respect.— Little Folks.