LEATHER BREECHES.
A hundred and fifty years ago the farm hands and house servants of England were clothed im leather. A good pair of. leather breeches was said to pass from father to son as a heirloom. Then a boy went to school as well protected as an armoured cruiser. The author of “Didisburye in the ’45” offers some observations upon these articles of common wear.
“The test of a good pair was to try if • they would stand upright ©f themselves'when nobody was in them. If they would do so they were good, strong stuff, and likely to last for many years.
“My father remembered a ’prentice lad coming to his father, whose fond mother had provided him with such a pair, and they were the means of a ‘vast amount of fun’ in a game that is unknown in these day*, that is, for the boys to set the breeches upright and then jump into them without touching them with the hands. ‘ ‘lt was probably a pair of such leather breeches that the Windsor boy was wearing when George 111. asked him if. he did not know that the man before him was the King. “ ‘Yes,’ ssid the bo£.
“ ‘Then why don’t you g© on your knees, and you might kiss the King’s, hand ?’ said the King. “ ‘Because I’d spoil my breeches.’’
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NORAG19070514.2.46
Bibliographic details
Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 39, 14 May 1907, Page 6
Word Count
224LEATHER BREECHES. Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 39, 14 May 1907, Page 6
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