THE HANDKERCHIEF

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19628, 24 October 1933, Page 10

THE HANDKERCHIEF

COLOURS FASHIONABLE. The craze for coloured and decorative handchiefs is more pronounced than ever this season. The shops are displaying an endless variety of every kind and price, dainty handkerchiefs of finest linen. or of lawn, or washing silk, for daytime use, and for evening, handkerchiefs of most fascinating georgette, or ninon, or soft chiffon. Some are hand-painted, others have a gold or silver thread woven into the border, and many arc finished off with an edging of filmy lace. Soft blurry shades are much In demand, and the Batik handkerchiefs are perhaps the most popular of all. These are splashed all over with every colour imaginable, but so carefully harmonised that the whole effect is * misty Oriental mixture. The newest silk handkerchiefs can be boiled without losing any of their colour. Very different from the fascinating “hankies” of to-day were the handkerchiefs of Victorian days, the square, stout pieces of linen beloved by our grandmothers, severly plain, except for the hemstitched borders and hand-em-broidered monograms. In those days pocket-handkerchiefs —the word was never abbreviated served the double duty of both handkerchief and table napkin. They were unfolded and spread over the best gown at mealtimes, thus preventing catastrophes in the way of tea and grease stains on the voluminous satin and brocade skirts. Coloured handkerchiefs were the monopoly of elderly men and of children. for whom a large variety of pictured handkerchiefs in gay colours were produced. Often they were sold to commemorate gieat events. Just as

we sell picture postcards to-day. When Queen Victoria was crowned, handkerchiefs representing the younj Queen in her coronation robes were sold in thousands, and when her first son, the Prince of Wales, was bom, every shop window displayed handkerchiefs showing the tiny heir lying in his mother's lap. The death of the Duke of Wellington was another occasion when the markets were flooded with memorial handkerchiefs. On the day of the funeral, the kerbstones were lined with men busily selling cotton portraits of the much loved “Great Duke," edged with a deep black border. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was the last time these handkerchiefs were sold in large quantities. when school children all over the country were given handkerchief portraits of the old Queen. Since then, they have been entirely superseded by the übiquitous picture postcard. Printed handkerchiefs, displaying figures and lettering, were introduced at the end of the eighteenth century. They were often used in plac of lesson books by the poorer children, who learned from the alphabet and tables, and often short hymns and pieces cf poetry. Dickens, in "Nicholas Nlckleby" describes poor little Master Belling wiping n his eyes with the "Beggar's Petition” in printed calico. The use of handkerchiefs dates from time immemorial. We hear of them in early Biblical days, when they were chiefly used to throw over the head as a protection against the hot rays of the sun. During the reign bl Quee:i Elizabeth, they became a very important item of the wardrobe. The ladies of court vied with each other In the beauty and splendour of their "silken handkerchiefs laced round with gold." their "handkerchiefs wrought with silks and edged with silver fringe" and their “satin handkerchiefs edged with tiny sparkling gems" of which old writers speak. Young knights, going off to the wats, would beg for one of these handkerchiefs from their lady love, swearing to cherish it always "for her sweet sake."