The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1866-08-11
HATS AND BONNETS.

luo, ny pllIdSc Olily hlttHl lOT pOttTN,
makes prophecy, and in this way gun
powder, the steam-engine, and the mar
iner's compass are said to have been an
ticipated. Time works the miracle, and
causes the event to correspond with the
guess. Even now there is certain hy-
perbole becoming fact. Did the lady
who first called her bonnet ga duck'
ever imagine that season would ap-
proach when milliners would go as near
a duck as possible when composing a
head-gear? Far be it from us to question
any de C the taste of the sex offers for
our g ration. We can only stand by
and wonder. In these bonnets are re-
vealcd to us the strange mystery of the
female notion of attire. Here they have
full swing. In dress the fall has neccs-
STATED Il few restraints which, however
irksome, must be borne, but touching
bonnets nothing is imposed. And so
their variety is infinite, and their name
legion. We turn back to the portraits
Of our reat-grandmothers or to their
fashion-books, and find that "coal-
5cuttle" was the rage. Historians and
essayists who will describe for you the
private views of Cornelius a Lapidc, or
julius Cesar, might find it difficult to
account for the matrimonial success of
those great-grandmothers; for, reading
by our light, can we comprehend man
falling in love with woman whose ap-
pearance was ridiculously suggestive of
Wallsend? OF course our age has i'm
proved in this respect, and when lie
Foltet for June, 1866, is disinterred by a
curious wentieth-century writer, he will
find therein legacy of designs worthy
of us.
We would not be taken in with "coal-
scuttles." Welilie flowers growing nat.
urally from the human hair, or a small
platter of straw laid on the summit of
the head. An inverted soup-plate is
considered a graceful coiffure, and lace
trimmed oyster-4hell is worn rs a sweet
thing. We have, to quote lie Foiiet,
the Trouville," the Biarritz," the
" Clarisse," and the Mandarin" You
wear a "green butterfly with silver
wings" on your Mandarin. 1t is neces-
sary this butterfly should be green. The
"Clarrisse" has II scarf of gauZe round
the crown, fastened under a large ro-
sctte of gauze trimmed with feathers
from the throat of the peacock. See
how particular we are as to details, al
most as much so as the German drama
tist who noted in his play, Here is to
heard the sound of a red coat brushing."
Anglers are not more precise in their
hackles than ladies in the ornaments of
the bonnet. \ few weeks since Mr..
Tupper warned us of Il robin-famine, in
consequence of the red-breaSt being sac
rificed at the shrine of fashion.
Last year sca-gulls were in danger of
determination, to judge by the run upon
their wings. No lady's hat was perfect
without a wing, and we believe it was
this poor fowl that furnished the deco
ration. Can il. be that the custom is just
relic Of the savage state, and owes its
origin to an idea connected with that
which induces the dandies of the Feeiee
Islands to wear trinkets of sharks teeth
and the tibias of departed relatives,
while the ladies of the same district
cover their heads with feathers, after
first sleeping them in grease? We dress
our feathers; they have them az ndturci.
But have they anything resembling
the "Tarte" or the Fanchon?" The
"Tarte" is Il real love, not bigger than
a saucer, and constructed identically of
the same shape as that useful article.
" La Tarte" is much sought after. 1t
serves no vulgar purpose, though, such
as protecting the head. Wreaths of tiny
blossoms garnish La Tartc," and long,
floating strings depend from it. The
hair must be carefully got up to set off
" La Tarte." A recent traveller men,
tions a tribe in which the chiefs twisted
their hair into helmets, and, if we adj
vance as we are, there is nothing to pre-
vent the ladies from twisting the hair
into bonncts. The chignon is II step in
that direction, the first Darwinian de-
velopment. This fashion would have
the merit of economy, hair being more
lasting than straw or tulle.
At present the bonnet is not bonnet.
Pour years ago it commenced to dimin-
sides disappeared first, then the
front; last year the back went, and
now the top is about to depart. Wesus-
pcct the Mandarin" is the last we shall
see of it; and what change from the
straw tunnel in which lady's face once
resided to the paltry thatch from under
which it now smiles at us! One was
house, the other Il mere cot
tage OyWee. There is Il singular circum-
stance to be remarked here. How gen
eral the quantity of hair is, how perfect
the plating, and how universally the
ladies are able to meet the cXigencies of
Il custom which would appear to be
more or less dependent on natural ad-
Vantages. They seem never short of
hair, to use common phrase. They
can even have it what color they wish,
and Mr., Tupper's robins We're unfortu-
nate III possessing Waistcoats which
the prevailing hue. The bon
nets play but Il secondary part after all
The Mandarin" only presides over II
chignon. A kind of poultice or bande-
lette of lace, as we should write, just
protects this sacred bump. Unfeeling
persons suspect the bump to be stuffed
with cotton. At the bottom of it we
have seen fruit sprouting. 1t is the sub