Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-19
REMUNERATION or OLD HATS.
An Hour In q Shop on the Bowery-Good
for Fair Weather.

An Hour in . Shop on the Bowery-Good
for Fair Weather.
.What becomes OF all the old hatsf" a
| halter on Park row was asked
"Oh, they go to the skinners, who do
them up again and then ship them to the
country. OF course, you don't know
what a skinner iss There is one right
across the way, and you can find any
number on the Bowery and on Hester
and Baxter streets. Go there IL you want
| to find out something about old hats"
As long as it will hold together a hat,
be it ever so battered and shapeless, re-
tains q certain value in the eyes of the
dealer in old clothes and the ragpickers
The Jewish perambulating merchants,
whose melancholy monotone Of "old clio" "
is as familiar, will seldom refuse to in
vest their small capital in old hats.
Crushed, frayed, and dim, they are car
ried of TO be rejuvenated in frowzy back
shops by Rebeccas and Josephs 1t Is
wonderful to mark the transformation
which the cunning touch Of these man.
ipulators can effect, =. how their glue
and brown paper, blacking and dyed rab-
bits fur can stiffen and smarter the
mangiest old tile into the semblance Of
its early prime. An old hat refreshed at
this perennial fountain of youth is
really wonderful and creditable work
of art. No old painting, worm eaten and
chocolate hued, disinterred from a garret
in Client or Nuremberg and furnished
for sale to millionaire pur chasers could
be touched up with lighter hand or more
trembling care. 1t at last becomes
brighter than the new, sleek, trim, oily,
and the sprucest, II not the most durable
of hats A thing Of beauty it is but not
destined for long to be joy to the san
guine purchaser.
One of the best known establishments
in which old hats undergo a rejuvenating
process is to be found on the Bowery. 1t
is an old, narrow, and frowsy shop filed
to overfiowing with old, mlsshapen things
once appendsges to the seat of human
reason. In the years of its existence the
old shop and its proprietor must have
seen numerous changes in masculine
headgear. The owner Of the establish
ment, for some mysterious reason, is
deeper than many of his brothers on Hes
ter street and Park row in the secrets Of
he elixir which turns old garments into
new. He is no conjurer, and never tries
placing new heads on old shoulders. But
how many, many times has he succeeded
in putting old hats on young heads, es-
pecially in remote country districts. This
Bowery Israelite is real artist. His
womankind serve him well, making it a
labor Of love to replace the lost nap, and
handling the bare edges rs gingerly as if
the felt or pastcboard below were dyna-
mite ready to explode under rough usage.
Refreshed hats at this establishment are
not dear either Tney are quoted at from
sl.0O to g 80. Thirty-ffSe cents represent
the charge of the old clothes dealer, the
rest is for labor, establishment, and fair
profit At sl.00 the pretty and brilliant
thing seems cheap. 1t bears fine weather
well. and may figure creditably on Broad
way for three consecutive Saturday after
moons. But at the first downpour of rain,
glue and gum and paint, silk and brown
paper resolve themselves into their orig
inal constituents, and the whole fabric
collapses like dissolving view.