UMBRELLAS AND THEIR HISTORY

BY

WILLIAM SANGSTER.

"Munimen ad imbres."

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER II.

THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE UMBRELLA

CHAPTER III.

THE UMBRELLA IN ENGLAND

CHAPTER IV.

THE STORY OF THE PARACHUTE

CHAPTER V.

UMBRELLA STORIES

CHAPTER VI.

THE REGENERATION OF THE UMBRELLA

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Can it be possibly believed, by the present eminently practical generation, that a busy people like the English, whose diversified occupations so continually expose them to the chances and changes of a proverbially fickle sky, had ever been ignorant of the blessings bestowed on them by that dearest and truest friend in need and in deed, the UMBRELLA? Can you, gentle reader, for instance, realise to yourself the idea of a man not possessing such a convenience for rainy weather?