Apropos of the minor details of man’s garments, the button as a feature of clothes has never been fully done justice to.  It is a sustaining thing we know, something we can hang to, fasten to, and even tie to.  That properly placed buttons contribute to our mental poise and therefore to our physical repose, is hinted in that absurdly engaging story, anent the smart boy who was the envy of his spelling-class, because he always stood first.  You remember, no doubt, that an envious but keen-eyed classmate observed that the smart speller worked off his nervous apprehensiveness by twirling the top button of his coat as he correctly spelled word after word, day in and day out; and how the keen-eyed one played the part of a stealthy villain and surreptitiously cut the button off the coat.  And do you remember the dramatic ending?  How the smart one on the fatal day sought to “press the button” and finding it gone, lost his wits completely and failed ignominiously?  Many of us when we have lost a sustaining button, have we not felt as ridiculously helpless and wit-benumbed as the smart speller?

[Illustration:  No. 79]

We all sub-consciously acknowledge our dependence upon buttons, but not many of us, evidently, have observed that even buttons have a certain possibility of caricature in them; and that they may add to, or detract from, the appearance of manly forms.  The consideration of properly placed buttons may seem trivial to you, but if you will observe sketches Nos. 79 and 80, you may discern that a thin man may apparently increase his breadth and add a certain manly touch to his figure, by changing the buttons at the waist-line of his coat.  The buttons placed so near together, in No. 79, really make his toothpick proportions too obvious.  His back is made to look broader by placing the buttons wider apart, as shown in No. 80, and changing the cut of his coat-tail.

[Illustration:  No. 80]

That the fat man may also present a more attractive back to his enemies by considering the placing of his buttons, may be seen in drawings Nos. 81 and 82.  The buttons decorating No. 81 are placed so far apart that they increase in an ungainly way the breadth of the back at the waist-line.  If they are placed nearer together, and the seams graduated to meet them, they give the illusion of better and more desirable proportions, as may be seen in No. 82.

[Illustration:  No. 81]

[Illustration:  No. 82]

That the thin man may also present a more imposing and broader front to the world, is suggested in sketches Nos. 83 and 84.  The contracted look of the coat in No. 83 is somewhat due to the buttons of his double-breasted coat being placed too closely together.  The slender man who wishes to give the impression of being broad-chested may have the buttons on his coat placed a little farther apart than fashion may allow, as shown in sketch 84.  The proportions may be easily preserved by a careful adjustment of the shoulder-seams and the seams under the arms.