Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-08-05

no better exponent of his first cropping,
tottering steps out of barbarism can be
imagined than the utter incongruity of
the big chiefs appearance in a cast-of
hat of previous fashionable age. The
negro in the rougher regions of the south
betrays a similar condition of imperfect
development by the worn and well-venti-
lated slouch hal that has dropped down
to him through many years and social
layers. In the swamps he wears none,
and his matted looks are like the coarse
hair of the beast. An old and battered
hat smacks of the gutter and the bar
room floor. 1t is not necessary to smell
the breath and other bodily odors of the
wreck VINO approaches one on the streets
or to get within earshot of his supplicat-
ing whine. One glance at his hat and his
whole history can be written.
What character .here is in a hat! How
1 the Mexican's curious mixture of dash and
laziness is portrayed in his broad somDero!
! OF equal expanse but Numerically oppo-
! site effect is the quiet broad -brim of the
! Quaker. How much of the tierceness of
wars grim visaged front was due to the
spiked helmets of the soldiery. Stern
| irnIn obility is written all over the huge
/ bear skins of the Imperial guard, while
catlike agility and adaptability futter
from the saucy cap and tassel of the you
ave. No surer insight into national char
acter can be obtained than that afforded
! by the broad, fiat, board-like hat of the
! Cinnamon, that has been the same for
! centuries, awkward, useless, and essential
/ ly artificial, or by the high hat of the
| fashionable Norwegian, who betrays his
shallow vanity by Drawing the rigors of
| his Arctic climate with the latest Paris
style of head-dres.
In the outlook tower of the Western
Union Company at Atlantic Highlands
| there is, or was, an aged man who had not
| left his elevated station for 40 years. His
! eyes are worn with looking for incoming
vessels, and his mental perceptions were
in much the same state of mental col
lapse; despotic and crochety in his family
careless and scornful of the world, he was
a relic of the past half century. But to
one who saw him nc lame explanation was
necessary. His hat told the whole story
Tall and straight in the crown, worn in
/ the nap, and narrow in the brim, during
all his hermit life il never left his head
except when he slept.
/ just why there is so much character in
Ai'O INV - NAiiiShiu w ~ pam ~ hihoo w
because the hat is largely Independent of
a mans surroundings and work, and is
therefore an exponent of the man him
self. There are occupations and setua
tons in which old, dirty, and torn clothes
and muddy shoes seem unavoidable; but
nothing less than presidential fishing
excursion will warrant a respectable man
in wearing a dilapidated hat. The per-
feet hat correct in color, shape, weight,
and material, worn at just the right
angle, caps the perfect appearance of the
self-poised, perfect man. Tipped for
ward over the nose, it denotes the rowdy
Tilted backward it tells of hurrying
reckless character. Slouched to one side.
it betrays, good natured, underbred
humanity trying to put its best foot fore
most Punched in at the top it marks
ent-mindedness. There is no article
of apparel that so combines all the 9th
ers into an effective unit for good or i'll.
There is none in which little false taste
can more completely ruin an otherwise
faultless outfit.