The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-02-08


hundred years or so, as many changes aa
the renowned knife Of that sentimental
sailor who, after having the instrument
thrice rebladed, and once fitted with new
handle, regarded it as keepsake still.
The fierce little hat Of Marlborough's days,
with its Families cock, its broad lace and
the dainty snow-white edging Of tiny,
downy feathers, was not by any means
twin-brother to the ungainly head-gear
which, in times not very remote, the naval
veterans Of Greenwich hospital put on as a
part Of their uniform; and this again, diff
fered much from the opera-hat Of our great
grandsircs, the chapeau-bras Of the French :;
a slim contriyance that was made to be worn
under the arm rather than on the head and
which never seemed quite in its right place
when il was perched on the frizzled and
powdered locks Of its owner,
Hats, by the first year of the seventeenth
century, had begun to moult, 50 far as their
feathers were concerned, but they were
decorated with cockades Of the national or
dynastic color, and above all, they were
handsomely bound with gold rsilver. We
have come, with the change of manners
and opinions, inevitable. after a lapse of
time, to think lightly Of these ornaments.
We smile as young Buttons, the surgeons
page and bottle-boy, goes by with his oil
eloth-coyered basketful of pink draughts,
and a glittering band of gold around his
shiny hat; but even lynx-eyed Swift saw
nothing ridiculous in the richly laced
beavers worn by the gentlemen whom he
daily met and johnson could not easily
have been made to understand how such
inery would be relegated to footmen. The
tall hats ofthe French revolutionary epoch,
the astonishing things which the Marveil-
leux, and lncroyables, the dandiesand wits
of the Partisan party Of progress, clapped
upon their heads as the monarchy tottered
to its fall, were probably meant as a protest
against the lank three-cornered head-gear,
which withered old Viscounts and fresh
complexioned cadets Of Breton house per-
sisted in retaining as they hung about the
Tuillerios and sneered about the popular
/ ferment Perhaps it was in a similar spirit
Of defiance to subserye Gaul that our own
grandfathers put on the hideous hat
that is still, throughout the continent, more
or less associated with the idea Of an Eng
lishman. That low-crowned, uncomprom-
ising broadbrim Of the coaching days, was
supposed to be somehow mixed up with
high taxes cheerfully borne, high prices
willingly paid, and the general mainten-
anee of our glorions constitution against
home renovators and foreign foes We see
it in mildewed caricatures, usually in COM
pany with a many-caped great-coat, flap
ped pockets, a stout stick, and bulldog
the whole being the acknowledged present.
ment Of the sturdy John who was once es-
teemed rather as a model to ingenious
youth than in any merely ludicrous point
Of view. The bell crowed successor of the
flat old fivorite Of the public never attain
ed to the same rank in popular regard. 1t
was rakish hat from the beginning asso-
ciated in mems minds with punch, pugilism,
and the wild Mohock pranks to which the
registering bucks and bloods Of the later
Georgian era were peculiarly prone. 1t
suggested not merely the turf and the road,
tavern and the prize-ring, but also debts,
gambling, wrenching off of knockers,
thrashing watchmen, painting house-fronts
Of q staring red and palc-green, and all the
practical joking of Corinthian Tom and his
high-spirited comrades. 1t was replaced
by more domestic-looking beaver and
from that time to this, the chimney-pot
cylinder, though subject to some variations
as to height and breadth, has only been
notable in so far as silk has utterly super
seded the costly fur Of the North Ameri-
can rodent Some mention is deserved by
the so-called Leghorn hats, delicatcly braid
cd by deft fingers out of selected straw,
among the pleasant wales of Tuscany; by
| the yet daintier sun-shades of Panama. for
which the French customers are willing to
give what appears to us preposterous
price by the eabbage-palm hats Of Aus
tralia, the Palipot hats of Ceylon, the pith
hats worn as a protection against sun-stroke
both in India and China. The Burmese
halter knows no material handler for his
purpose than split bamboo, while the wa
ter-proof hats Of seamep probably earned
for them their seventeenth century nick
name Of tarpaulins.
So long as it win hold together, hat, be
it never so battered and shapeless, retains
q certain value in the eyes Of the expert
enced rag-picker. Those Jewish perambu-
lating merchants, whose melancholy mono-
tone Of aOld Clo" is as familiar % the
inhabitants Of London as is the sight Of the
chiffonier's hook and bag to the denizons Of
Paris, viii seldom refuse to invest their
copper capital in hats Those ill-treated
cylinders, crushed, ffayed, and dim, are
carried of to be rejuvenated in frowsy back
shops, by dark-eyed Aliriams and hook
nosed Josephs It is wonderful 70 mark
the transformation which the cunning
touch Of these manipuIators can effect or
how their glue and brown paper, their
pcaeh-black and dyed rabbits fur can
stifen and snarten the mangiest old chin.
neypot into the scmblance of its CLASSY
nrin,e