Strange to say, it is a fact, melancholy enough, but for all that
too true, that our forefathers, scarce seventy years agone, meekly
endured the pelting of the pitiless storm without that protection
vouchsafed to their descendants by a kind fate and talented
inventors. The fact is, the Umbrella forms one of the numerous
conveniences of life which seem indispensable to the present
generation, because just so long a time has passed since their
introduction, that the contrivances which, in some certain degree,
previously supplied their place, have passed into oblivion.

We feel the convenience we possess, without being always aware of
the gradations which intervened between it and the complete
inconvenience of being continually unsheltered from the rain, without
any kind friend from whom to seek the protection so ardently desired.

Fortunately a very simple process will enable the reader to realise
the fact in its full extent; he need only walk about in a pelting
shower for some hours without an Umbrella, or when the weight of a
cloak would be insupportable, and at the same time remember that
seventy years ago a luxury he can now purchase in almost every street,
was within the reach of but very few, while omnibuses and cabs were
unknown.

But, apart from considerations of comfort, we may safely claim very
much higher qualities as appertaining to the Umbrella. We may even
reckon it among the causes that have contributed to lengthen the
average of human life, and hold it a most effective agent in the
great increase which took place in the population of England between
the years 1750 and 1850 as compared with the previous century. The
Registrar-General, in his census-report, forgot to mention this fact,