CLOTHED IN SIMPLICITY

Since the fig leaf went out of style, the problem of proper dress for state occasions has bothered each succeeding generation. When Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was hastily summoned to the dictatorship of Rome in 458 B. C., he is reputed to have left his oxen hitched to the plow, but history does not say whether he changed to a fresh toga before proceeding to the Capitol. Twenty-two odd centuries later, Mrs. Jackson was intensely annoyed at some of the President's convivial adherents, who, coming in their native gard to congratulate him at his inauguration, stood in muddy boots on the White House furniture. Still more recently, American tourists were rudely shaken when George the Fifth attended a daytime regatta at Cowes, with his trousers pressed sideways like pajamas!

Despite the pronounced mannish tendencies of the late Dr. Mary Walker, modern Washingtonians have perhaps been inclined to consider the capital comparatively free from advocates of secentric dress. But they have not yet dined with Senator Brookhart of Iowa. Shrugging his broad shoulders contemptuously at custom, precedent, and style, he insists on informality at any cost. "If I am asked to the White House," he says, "or to any other state occasion. I shall go as I am, with cowhide shoes and the clothes I wear on the farm." It is thought that the shoes, of a rich ochre tint and big enough to allow free play to legislative toes, will save him the necessity of going further, but he magnanimously concedes: "If my constituents wish me to do so, I shall go to the extreme of donning overalls." It will doubtless be interesting to observe the effect of six years' exposure to the civilizing influences of Washington by comparing photographs of Senator Brookhart before and after his term.

But so far, at least, the Senator is consistent. Regardless of circumstances, he is clothed in simplicity. "I have never owned evening clothes and never propose to. I do not care for social functions and would prefer to remain away. If the occasion requires that I should be present, I will go just as I am."

It has not been definitely ascertained precisely what he was wearing when he made this remark, but the report that Washington hostesses are attempting to exploit the Senator as a curiosity is emphatically dented.