Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-11-02
SUGGESTIONS ON HATS.
How They May lie Looked Upon rs Ev'
ponenis OF Character.

How They May lie Looked Upon rs Ev'
ponents of Character.
IT'S the hat that makes the man an6
want of it the fellow. Not that the en-.
tire absence Of hat is necessary to mark
the fcllow-that is indicative of the saw.
age. 1t is want in the sense of n short.
coming in the headgcar that makes the
fellow. The lower n fellow falls in the
social scale the moro glaring do these
shortcomings grow. As he climbs up
from fellowship to manhood the moro
does his hcad.thatch.ng coincide with
the standards of taste. 1t is shown
even in the EXTREMIST case-that Of the
savage. The moment the dawn of civ
ilizaton breaks upon him he breaks for
a hat. Generally it Is a battered speci-
men Of the genus ''stovepipe" that first
falls into his hands, and no better ex-
ponent of his first groping, tottering
steps out of barbarism can be imagined
than the utter incongruity of the big
chiefs appearance in cast-off hat Of q
previous fashionable age. The negro in
the rougher regions Of the South be-
trays similar condition of imperfect
development by the worn and well-ven-
tilated slouch hat that has dropped down
to him through many years and social
layers. In the swamps he wears none,
and his matted locks are like the coarse
hair Of the beast. An old and battered
hat snacks OF the gutter and the bar
room floor. 1t Is not necessary to smell
the breath and other bodily odors Of the
wreck who approaches one on the
streets or to get within earshot of his
supplicating whine. One glance at his
hat and his whole history can be writ
ten.
What character there is in hat!
How the Mexican's curious mixture of
dash and laziness is portrayed in his
broad sombrero! OF equal expanse but
dametrically opposite effect is the quiet
broad-brim of the Quaker. How much
of the fierceness of wars grim-visagcd
front was due to the spiked helmets of
the soldiery. Stern immoblity is writ
ten all over the huge bear skins Of the
Imperial guard, while cat-like agility
and adaptability futter from the saucy
cap and tassel Of the zouave. No surer
insight into national character can be OBJ
tained than that afforded by the broad,
flat, board-like hat of the Chinaman, that
has been the same for centuries awk-
ward, useless and essentially artificial,
or by the high hat of tie fashionable
Norwegian, who betrays his shallow
vanity by Drawing the rigors Of his Arctic
climate with tho latest Paris style Of
head-dress.
In the outlook tower OF the Western
Union Company at Atlantic Highlands
there is. or was, On aged man who had
not left his elevated station for forty
years. His eyes were worn with looking
for incoming vessels, and his mental
perceptions were inmuch the same state
of mental collapse; despotc and
crotchety in his family, careless and
scornful of the world, he was a relic of
the past half century. But to one who
saw him no lame explanation was nee
essary. His hat told the whole story.
Tall and straight in the crown, worn in
the nap, and narrow in the brim, DUR
ing all his hermit life it never left his
head except when he slept.
Just why there is so much character
in the hat is little difficulty to explain.
1t must be because the hat is largely in
dependent Of q mans surroundings and