OurBrownCounty 17July-Aug | Page 61

you won’ t go to work wearin’ the wrong clothes or maybe so you don’ t accidentally show up at the wrong job.

Overalls have been around since the late 1800s. Back in the 1700s they had a sort of overall pants called“ slops” and they may be the forerunner of overalls. But it wasn’ t until around the Civil War that a top was added. At first the top was called an“ apron” but then it slid over to“ bib.” In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis came up with the idea of making work clothes out of denim and riveting the stress points with copper rivets. And the modern version of overalls showed up some time after 1891.

Overalls didn’ t come in to real popularity until the early twentieth century. That means that overalls and artists showed up in Brown County around the same time. Then the photographers were right behind’ em. That must be why you see them in those early photographs. You can still find quite a few Brown County locals sporting overalls.

I have an idea. I think that everybody who lives in and works in Brown County should, forthwith, commence to wearing bib overalls. We could make’ em our native costume. It would set us apart, kind of like the Amish, and add to the Brown County mystique. •

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checking their spread, I can monitor, limit, and reduce my impact on the planet by being more responsible.

Leopold’ s Land Ethic was a needed change in the thinking of the American public. Conservation, as he witnessed, wasn’ t getting the job done. We had to be more mindful of practices and impacts. He envisioned an entirely different way of looking at land use. It was a stretch, he admitted, and wondered if he would be taken seriously. If we looked at land and treated it the way we do another human being, would our perspective change? If I love my neighbor, my friend, my spouse, can I love the land equally? Do behaviors, ethics, and morals have a place in the thinking of how we live on the earth? He thought they did. If I borrow a tool from a neighbor, I am sure to return it in as good if not better condition. Can I do the same with the land?

Years ago, when I dropped off our three sons at school, there were always bags of cans, plastic milk jugs, and glass rattling around in the back of our small station wagon.“ Dad’ s on his way to recycling,” Karl would say. Erik and Kurt nodded and pushed the stack of newspapers and magazines into a pile on the seat. They saw this as a normal practice and now do it themselves. I asked them“ Why do it?” The word“ obligation” kept coming back.“ Isn’ t it my responsibility?” •

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July / August 2017 • Our Brown County 61