FROM USE TO ORNAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 337, 26 October 1908, Page 3

FROM USE TO ORNAMENT.

A muff-chain is a thing which is very often seen at tho present day, and this : simple arrangement, coupled with the way in which it is worn, may lead us along a very interesting line of research (says an English paper). If we look once again at the muif, wo, shall see that it is, supported by a chain which goes round the back of the nock, allowing the muff to rest against the front of the body. This is a primitive method'of'carrying a burden. Pedlars of old made use -of it, and it is still adopted by tho hawker, because, if necessary, tho hands can- remain free; while a modification of the same principle is seen where the strap takes tho form of a baldric and passes over one shoulder and' under the arm. In this way travellers earn" their bags and tho sportsman carries his field glasses. The two buttons on' the back of men's coats wore originally put there to support tho sword-belt, at a time when skill' with the sword or rapier was a very necessary part of every man's education, and they have continued to the present time, but only form a decoration that unites us with the "swash-buckling" days of old. Another legend in regard to these buttons is that in former times 'the hunting souires of England used thorn to button up the tails of their coats, so that they would not flap in the wind wlieiv riding. "