[knownothing]

I'd guess that "wore" should be printed as "were". And further that it's intended to be a figurative use of the word meant to convey that he disliked people who were stiff or formal, like a crinoline. Disliking women has nothing to do with it.

[eesmith]

The author seems rather fond of that phrase, which shows that it's not a typo.

This essay is excerpted from The Life of Mark Twain: The Early Years. The relevant quote it:

> In the course of his long career, Sam Clemens lost as many friends as he made. He did not suffer fools or rivals gladly, especially if they wore crinoline. He targeted them indiscriminately—from religious leaders (e.g., Mary Baker Eddy, John Alexander Dowie, De Witt Talmage), politicians (William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Tim Sullivan), fellow writers and lecturers (Bret Harte, Kate Field), to literary pirates (John Camden Hotten) and military leaders (Frederick Funston).

From "Twain in His Own Time" (same author), we see very similar text, but not identical - https://books.google.com/books?id=Po0GV2mONToC&pg=PR17&dq=%2... :

> In the course of his long career, Mark Twain lost as many friend as he made. He did not suffer fools or rivals gladly, especially if they wore crinoline. He targeted them indiscriminately - from religious leaders (for example, Mary Baker Eddy, John Alexander Dowie, DeWitt Talmadge), to politicians (William McKinley, Tim Sullivan), to fellow writers and lecturers (Bret Harte, Kate Field), to literary pirates (John Camden Hotten), to military leaders (Frederick Funston)."

From "Kate Field: The Many Lives of a Nineteenth-century American Journalist" (same author: - https://books.google.com/books?id=y3j5MT6gM5EC&pg=PA82&dq=%2...

> ... and coedited the Buffalo Express. He did not suffer rivals gladly, especially those who wore crinoline. In early January ...

[knownothing]

Reasonable interpretation. Nice research. I wish the author had expressed what they meant more clearly. That phrase is poorly deployed.

[kgwgk]

Interestingly, the last quote seems to be the original one as it appears in a book published earlier. And it seems to refer to women, at least those wearing crinoline, because it is used to introduce Twain’s dislike for Kate Field.

The author might have become enamoured with this phrase, re-using it when it doesn’t make so much sense.

[eesmith]

I think that's a reasonable interpretation.

In looking for a connection between Twain and crinoline just now (spurred by your comment), I found https://webb-deane-stevens.org/swimming-against-the-tide-in-... :

> In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum will host a lecture, “Swimming Against the Tide in Crinoline and Pin Curls: The Life and Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker,” ... Raised to believe that her place was at home, Hooker chaffed at the role. She was prickly. She refused to go quietly. She sided against her powerful family when her brother, a noted minister, was involved in a sex scandal that rocked the nation. Though he was a neighbor, Mark Twain avoided her, as did some of her family members.

On the other hand, there's also the book "Crusader in Crinoline: the Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe", and Stowe and Twain were next-door neighbors and friends.