INVENTION OF THE COLLAR.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15922, 10 September 1923, Page 7

INVENTION OF THE COLLAR.

A BLACKSMITH’S WIFE. The i evolution ,of die collar through the stages of “ruffs” and “cravats” is an interesting study. Paradoxically, too, we owe the introduction of the separate linen collar not to anyone connected with the textile industry. Just as we owe the linen spinning frame to a maker of spectacles, the shuttle to a watchoaker, and the loom to a barber, the first linen collar was made by the wife of a blacksmith in Troy, New York State. This happened in 1825. Aside from inventing, this woman did the family washing (says “Linen”). She found that the collar soiled much more quickly placedthan the rest of the shirt, so she devised a removable collar, which could be replaced by another attached to the same shirt. At first she made collars only ,for her husband’s shirts. Then she began making them to sell outside of her home. The innovation attracted tlie attention of the Rev. Ebenezer Brown, a retired minister, and he, with the aid of the womenfolk of hih family, went about selling collars. This was in 1829. All the work on these early collars was done by hand for the sewing machine had not yet been invented. In those days not more than a dozen collars a day were sold. Their name, “string collars,” was especially appropriate, for they were tied around the neck with a string of tape attached to each end of the collar. Except for the bands, the first separate collars were generally all linen, and of two thicknesses. As a matter of fact, the linen was actually woven in the United States in those days, when almost every farmer grew his own field of ilax and prepared the fibre, which the family spun and wove into the household linens. Even in dress fabrics, the celebrated “Linsey-woolsey,” made from flax and wool, was the stylish material before cotton came into use, about 1830. These primitive collars were highly starched, and had high points, extending above the chin on either side, somewhat akin to the collars which have been so long associated with all portraits of W. E. Gladstone in more recent years. So much for the evolution of the linen collar; and so greatly did the wearing extend that it was estimated a few years ago that there were in Ireland about 60 shirt and collar factories in Londonderry, Coleraine, Belfast and other towns, engaging an aggregate of between 10,000 and 15,000 workers.

She: “Stop your flattering, or shall hold my hands to my ears.” He (trying to be gallant): “Ah! your lovely hands are too small.”

Now, son, what was the very first thing the Children of Israel did a ter they crossed the Red Se a new minister. “Speah loud, als oan hear.” “They dried themselves,” yelled the seven-year-old.