The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1882-07-05
ALEXANDRIA, La, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5 1882
THE ORIGIN OF LIFTING THE HAT

Whence came the custom of lift
ing the hat, now recognized in al
polite society as an evidence Of goo
breeding7 It is an act Of obeisance
and as such must have had it's orr
igin in remote period, and in to US
remote countries. In the earlier his
tory of the race, captives were strip
ped of their clothing by right O
conquest, tue same as their land
and property were confscated an,
property were scon6scated, and a
their country was annexed as con
4uered territory. Thus in time i
came about THAT part of ones clio
thing was taken off as an act of ser
vitnde, and this grew in time TO b,
only a civility Al any rate, it i.
clear that by whatever particular
way the clothing of the vanauishee
was taken from him; it was origi
nally an evidence of his suhjugation
In the olden days it was SO regarded
in the East, for we read in Isaiah
Xxx l 4, Sand the Lord said, Like
as my servant, Isaiah hath walked
naked and barefoot three years for q
sign. < 4 + So shall the Kline
of Assyria lead away the Egyptians
prisoners and the Philippians cap
tives, young and old, naked and
barefoot
The sculptures Of Assyria prove
that the Assyrians Stripped their
captives. Indeed all through an
cient and medieval history, we find
this to be, more or less, the case.
The less civilized races have simi.
lar customs of disrobing, in whole
or in part, in the presence Of supe
riors. A traveller says: ''In Fiji, on
the day of paying tribute, the chief
of Somo Somo, who had previously
stripped of his robes, then sat down
and removed even the train or Gov
ering, which was Of immense length,
from his waist. He gave it to the
speaker, who gave him in return a
piece large enough only for the pur-
poses of decency. The rest of the
Some Some chiefs, each of whom on
coming to the grounds had a train
several yards in length, stripped
themselves entirely, left their trains
and walked away, thus leaving ali
the Somo-Somo people Naked" Du-
ring Cooks stay at Tahiti 'two men
of superior rank came on board, and
each singled out his friend; this Ger.
emory consisted in taking of great
part Of their clothes and pntting
them upon u.s."
In Samoa this complimentary act
is greatly abridged; only the girdle
is taken off and presented. From
Ion Batula's account of his journey
INTO the Soudan in the fourteenth
century. Mr.. Tyler cites the state
ment that: "Women may only come
unclothed in the presence of tfelli,
and even the Sultan's own daughters
must conform to this CUSTOM" In
Abyssinia interiors must bare their
bodies down to the girdle in the pre-
sence of their superiors' but to
equals the corner of the cloth is re.
moved only for a time. Forster
states that in the Society Isles gen
orally, "the lower ranks of people,
BY way of respect; strip of their
open garments in the presence of
their principal Chiefs"
OF the natives Of the Gold Coast
Cruikshank writes: "They also salute
Europeans, and sometimes each 9th
er, lightly removing their robe from
their left shoulder with their right
hand, gracefully bowing at the same
time." Burton remarks of .them
that throughout Yeruba and the
Gold Coast, to bare the shoulders is
like unhatting in England" In Da-
honey: "The men barred their shout
1ers, doffing their caps and umbrel-
la hats"
Ford remarks that "uncloaking in |
Spain is equivalent to one taking of
The hat"
Hence we can trace lifting the hat
rom stripping tue captives, disrob-
ng in servitude, removing clothing
rom the upper part of the body in
'beisance to uncloaking in polite
'ess. But however, it may have
ZANE about, it is a graceful custom,
10 evidence of good manners, espe.
'ially gracious in the eyes of the fe-
male world, ane an art in the hands
# a Frenchman. II genuaection of [
he body is the symbol Of politeness
he Japanese excel all people in sal
,tations, but if tipping the hat is
he sign of true homage, the French
nan leads the world in civilitY and
ealty to the graces.
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