In the beginning, before women wore pants, men and women commonly wore a belt under their outermost piece of clothing. That belt had hooks and bags attached to it. Now people may carry a handbag or a pocketbook that holds a purse or wallet of credit cards or cosmetic bag or a pen-markers’ case, and most important, their cell phone.
Everything Abraham Lincoln had in his pockets on the night he was assassinated at Ford Theater was given to his wife and kept by the family. His granddaughter sent everything in a small box to the Library of Congress, and then it was left unopened for 40 years. When finally displayed, the pockets had contained: two pairs of eyeglasses, a pocketknife, a linen handkerchief, a watch fob without a watch, a button, a soon-to-be worthless Confederate bill, and an unusual newspaper clipping casting the President in a favorable light.
Betty Talmadge, wife of powerful Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge, told the Senate Select Committee on Ethics in 1974 about how she looked through the pockets of her husband’s overcoat every time he came home. She turned over 77 $100 bills she found as well as envelopes of thousands of dollars from those who wanted a favor from the Senator.
Clearly President Lincoln and Senator Talmadge had deep pockets. Even now, men’s pants have more pockets and deeper pockets than women’s do. A study of 80 brands of jeans found that women’s pockets were 48% less deep than men’s. That is at least three inches. Why?
Since women had no access to money or property, they had no need for large pockets. Pockets were seen as liberating and banished during the French Revolution to prevent the spread of revolutionary material. What was called the “Suffragette Suit” in 1910 had at least six pockets. In the fashion industry, men still have pockets to keep important things while women’s pockets are for decoration. Indeed, sometimes women’s pockets are fake or only an inch deep, only appearing on the outside like a pocket, but having no inside. The look is supposed to be more “feminine,” but economists say that the fabric saved equals more profit for the manufacturer.
In the security check in line at the airport, and at the entrance counter of some government buildings, pocket change (if any anymore), keys, scribbled notes, lip gloss, receipts, candy or gum wrappers, snacks, pills, and folded facial tissue are dumped into plastic dishes or trays. My stepfather dumped his pockets on the dresser. My husband used an English change dish. What is in our pockets may still be the last personal items that can’t be discerned on our cell phone.
Writing prompt:
What is in all your pockets? If you are thorough, what is in your pocketbook?
Make a list.Circle the items you would like to keep secret to most eyes, maybe out
of embarrassment.Write a paragraph that explains why.