December 28, 2020 Thank you, Barbara Schock, for sharing your extraordinary gift of these vignettes of Galesburg & 19th century American history.
The Bandana By Barbara Schock
In June 1897, Carl Sandburg was
feeling restless. He was nineteen years old, weighed 140 pounds and hadn’t
achieved success in much of anything. He wrote in his autobiography, ALWAYS THE
YOUNG STRANGERS, “I would take my chances on breaking away from my home town
where I knew every street and the people in every block and farmers on every
edge of town.” He thought he would go to the Kansas wheat fields and follow
the harvest north. He wore one suit of clothes, no underwear and put two
handkerchiefs, a piece of soap and the little money he possessed in his pockets.
He found a freight train near the Santa Fe depot that was headed west. He
climbed into an empty car and was on his way. The handkerchiefs may have been bandanas as they had been in
common use in America for a hundred years or more. During the Revolutionary War
Martha Washington had one designed and printed for her husband, the leader of
the army. The little banner promoted the cause of liberty. The word bandana comes from the Hindi word “bandhna” meaning
a tied cloth. They can be used as a handkerchief, headscarf, neckerchief, a
bandage, a sling or to carry a bundle of other things. The cloth can also be
used as a mask during a pandemic. Black is the preferred color. During the eighteenth century the English East India Company
imported them in silk and cotton. They were used by gentlemen who used snuff.
The colored and printed cloth hid the snuff strains. The French created the
turkey red dye that is so familiar today. In Colonial America the fabric squares
were also printed with maps to be used as guides by those who were moving to the
inland sections of the country. The traditional bandana is twenty-two inches square. The
edges are hemmed and the cloth is cambric cotton. The curved feather-shaped
figures printed on the cloth are of Persian origin. The bandana has received mention in many movies, such as
“Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.” It had a part of the story of
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Bandanas have been printed and given away for election
campaigns, sports teams and celebrities such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles. The bandana has been useful for a variety of purposes for
hundreds of years.
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