Shocking Trousers

Quick Quotes 1.  The following is taken from Max O’Rell’s Jonathan and his Continent (1889):

In America, gentlemen’s dress is plain, even severe : a high hat, black coat, dark trousers, fancy cloth is little used, even in travelling.

I remember well the sensation I created with a pair of light-grey trousers in a small Pennsylvanian town. Everyone seemed to look at me as if I had been a strange animal ; in the hotel the waitresses nudged one another, and scarcely repressed a giggle ; and the street-urchins followed me as if I had been a member of the Sioux tribe in national costume. The day after my arrival, one of the local papers announced that ‘‘a Frenchman had landed in the town the day before in white trousers, and that his popularity had been as prompt as decisive.”

“Quick Quotes” are some bonus content for the blog.  Each time I find an interesting or amusing little quote from and old (verging on forgotten) book, that does not really need any further explanation or background information, it will appear on Windows into History under this heading.  You can keep updated each time I post a new entry by clicking on the follow button on the right of the screen. I welcome any comments or suggestions, and will consider guest posts.