The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-03-26
RABBITS AND HATS
How Skins From the One Help tx
Make the Other.
Men and Their Head-Gear-The Invention
of Felt Hats-The Silk Hats History
: -Australia's Rabbit-A Rabbit
Law Murder.

rive centuries ago the NTSt Ieit natS
of which any written record has been
preserved were worn in Europe. Pre-
yious to that time all head coverings
had been knitted OF made of cloth.
When Caesar invaded Gaul and Albion
he found their inhabitants bareheaded
and dressed in skins, and he left them
only the Roman dress, which at best
included a light cap. The invasion of
the Saxons gave to the Britons the
wooden cap called holt, from which our
modern term hats is derived. For
many centuries after silk and satin and
velvet were the favorite materials from
which to fashion the headgear of peo-
pie rich enough to have any choice in
the matter. The poor went bareheaded
or in rude caps of coarse cloth, or skins
worn with the fur out, like the cat-skin
cap still popular with the toughs of
London. Thus, from Biblical times
down to the thirteenth century, the
fashion in dressing the head had, as far
as the common people of the earth
were concerned, hardly changed, and
certainly not enough to make their gen.
eral appearance different.
ANCIENT FELT HATS.
The first felt hats were made from
lambs skins, and afterward from the
skins of beavers, the latter material con-
tinuing to be used till recent times.
The change from lambs skin to beaver
was not effected without great diff
Guilty, and the record of subsequent
changes in the material and the manu-
facture of hats would form striking
and curious chapter in economic and
political as well as industrial history.
In the sixteenth century the trade
guilds and corporations all had certain
privileges. of which they were jeal-
Ously watchful, and they had rules and
customs which, under preteXt of pro-
tecting industry and favOring trade,
went far to hinder and to ruin both.
The supply of beaver-skins becoming
unequal to the demand, some of the
manufacturers had the idea of making
hats partly of beaver and partly OF
other hair stuff. The new hats, which
obtained the name of demi-castors,
had the advantage of chcapneSs, and
soon were largely patronized by the
public. But, as beaver was 4 product
of the French colonies Canada then
belonging to France-the trade OF
which was declared to be injured by
the new fabric, the Guild of Hatters
persuaded the Government to inter
fere. In 1864 an edict forbade the
manufacture and sale Of Gemi-castors,
D fine of two hundred livres being i'm.
posed on the manufacturers, with con-
fiscation of their stock.
Despite this prohibition, however
the public demand for demi-castors
continued, and merchants continued tc
sell them. The law was then made
more stringent. For the first offenst
expulsion from the guild was the pen
atty, with a fine Of two thousand
livres, and for a repetition of the of
Tense fine of three thousand livres
half to the informer, while persistence
in the sale was punished by imprison
ment. Many heinous crimes were in
those days punished less severely. ant
still the severity proved Intellectual
An attempt was made to remedy the
injustice and hardship by afiiXing {
stamp TO all hats already manufac
tured, and to allow period to elaps,
for using up the material prepared be
fore the PRONUNCIATION of these ordi
nances. This compromise could no
be strictly carried out. New hats still
continued to be made, and it was no
till the middle of the eighteenth cen
fury that the State tolerated the sale o
demi-castors.
Felt hats were worn to any extent il
England for the first time in 1910 o.
so. Their manufacture had been a
that time just introduced there. Som;
of the old chronicles of the time pre-
serve vague stories about the manufac
ture of felt caps long before. but ii i
certain that there is no definite proof O
such an industry, and. if it was prac
ticed at all. it was in such small ant
modest way as to have escaped genera
notice. Besides, no felt caps of
period anterior to Elizabeth are pre-
served in any collections, which is yer,
fair proof that none existed 20 be pre-
served. The use of felt did not becom
universal even in the reign of tn
virgin Queen. In the history of a late
reign we read that Guy Fawkes, @
Gunpowder Plot fame, wore velve
hat, bequeathed to him by his grand
mother in her will.
ORIGIN OF SILK HATS. 4
Silk hats appear to have originate
In France. In 1850 halter of Paris
by name Leprevost. had the happ