Example: http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2012/08/death-by-crinoline....
I rock flannel and love my military cut! Am not a hipster!
From the various Google Books matches, I get the sense that some people were against crinoline. Eg, from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=CmWbmSzGNNsC&dq=%22w...
> "But," say the opponents of crinoline, "why carry a heavier burden than is absolutely necessary?" We reply that the tension of silks, ...
> Crinoline has been the most abused article under the sun, but ladies have been unanimous in its praise ..
What a dream I had, Pressed in organdy, Clothed in crinoline, Of smoky burgundy, Softer than the rain.
For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her
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 ...
The author might have become enamoured with this phrase, re-using it when it doesn’t make so much sense.
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.
> 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.
Is "if they wore crinoline" an oblique way of saying "if they were women," or is it a turn of phrase meaning something else? I ask because I don't feel like many would understand (perhaps I'm wrong, given the forum?) the significance of "crinoline," a material that, as far as I know, is no longer in regular use...
I would lean toward it meaning "if they were women," but the lists after that phrase are generally men, with only two women.