too poor to afford a greatcoat or a slicker , when he ventured out into winter conditions , his only recourse was to clothe himself in every ratty , moth-eaten garment he owned , so his ensemble comprised layer upon layer of old shirts , threadbare hand-me-down sack coats two de cades old , and a blue frock coat that had barely survived a house fire back in tennessee , and still bore the black-fringed fire-eaten holes to prove it .