Overall it's overalls!
By PAT WICK
© Another Day in the Country
Whenever we flew into the Wichita airport from San Francisco, my sister and I used to chuckle and say, "Yep, we're in Kansas," because we'd see men dressed in overalls picking up their kids or grandkids from the plane, with their feed caps firmly affixed to their heads. We were country novices then and amused at the change of scenery — for sure you would never see overalls and feed caps in California.
For us, any piece of clothing resembling overalls were costumes for Halloween and not part of your regular wardrobe. I did have a trendy pair of khaki-colored overalls with a Donna Karan label in them which were hand-me-downs from my daughter who worked for DKNY. And then this summer I bought a cute little pair of red and white seersucker short overalls, but these are not real overalls — they are fashion statements.
When we came back to Ramona and bought the Ramona House many years ago, Uncle Hank took one look at the old California clothes we had brought with us for painting and promptly offered us a pair of overalls. "You girls will have more paint on you than on them there boards," he said with a grin. "These might help." But alas, it took a wizard to undo those hooky-things and I was constantly tangled in straps when I headed for the bathroom. Furthermore long legs were hot, so we just hung the Henry Schubert Memorial Overalls in the corner for display purposes.
Then Jim Thompson moved from California to Kansas. Fresh from the city, with only three or four months of country life under his belt, he shows up the other day wearing brand new overalls. "Whoa," I said, "you've got overalls!" While he still may not feel like a seasoned country resident, he certainly looked the part.
"These are the most comfortable things I've ever worn," he enthused, showing off his new togs. "I just love them. There's a pocket for everything and places to hang tools. These are the greatest invention ever!"
"Can I quote you?" I asked. "Sure," he said, "why not. I may never wear anything but overalls from now on."
For longer than I can remember, overalls have been the uniform for the farmer. When I told my adult art class at Butler of Marion that I was writing something about overalls, they were full of information.
"There was an old farmer in Lincolnville," said my friend Frances, "who used to come into Tiemeier's Store in the spring, peel off his old overalls and underwear (leaving it all behind) and walk out the door in a brand new pair of overalls. In the fall, he'd come back in — buy new red long underwear and another pair of overalls to put over the ones he already owned and he was set for the remainder of the year!" Now that is a simplified wardrobe!
"When my husband started school," Betty Fetrow added, "his mother sent him to school in overalls and when all the other boys had regular long pants on, Mason came home and promptly cut the bib off his overalls so he could be in style." While we wondered how Mason managed to keep those things up without the straps, the overall information continued. "Did you know that overalls were called Bippies?" asked Agnes. "I guess because of the bibs."
All I know is that when my father left the country he also left his overalls behind. I don't believe I ever saw him wear another pair once we'd moved away from the little Scully farm outside of town. He was going off to college to study to be a minister and the wardrobe was about to make a drastic shift. Dad wore suits and white shirts almost every day of his life from then on. When he wanted to be casual he wore slacks — rarely jeans and never overalls.
It's another day in the country, I'm learning more and more about rural America and its folklore, taking notes so I can write this column. Meanwhile, my very adult art class is singing, "Who put the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder."
