Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-16
THE STOVE-PIPE HAT.
A Scathing Criticism of this I'm
CALMLY Head.COvering

gentlemen persist in wearing tall silk
hats. What can be said against them
would fill an encyclopedia. They are
hard, and easily blown off, yet are
brittle and easily dented. They are
so absolutely unbeautiful that nc
sculptor, however realistic, could put
them on a statue; and they spoil any
picture into which they are intro
duced. Their shape and their
hue are all against them from an
aesthetic point of view. That, how
ever, it may be said, is no matter il
they are handy, convenient, every day
articles of attire. But they are not.
A tall silk hat to look we'll at all times,
requires almost as much care as a
baby. Its owner or his valet must
brush it and smooth it many times a
day. Its pristine radiance does not
last long, and one of the most painful
signs of genteel poverty is the treach-
erous shine on an old silk hat that
has been renovated again and
again by luckless wearer who can
not buy another. Why, then, does an
article which is SO Objectionable from
many points of view still retain it's SUI
premacy? Englishmen have given up
the universal shaving of thirty years
ago, and now everybody, from the
duke to the dustman, is at liberty to
wear beard, whiskers, imperial or
mustache, to shave half his face, all
or none, exactly as he likes. The GUS
tom of strapping trousers under the
boot, leading to accumulation of mud
on mems lower garments, is abandon
ed. Our ulsters and other wraps are
sensible, protective garments. In
fact, we have reformed everything eX-
cept the tall hat. We discard it when
we travel, or when we 60 to the country
or the seaside ; it is not worn in boat
or on a bicycle; it is superseded by
the crush hat for opera, theatre or
ball. In London, before dinner, how
ever, the sign and stamp of the "gen-
tleman" is the tall hat. A few men
here and there defy conventionality
and fashion, and carry, even in the
House OF Commons itself, the wide
awake or the pot hat, but they do SO
at their own risk. They are bold men,
and the beholders infer odd opin-
ions under the eccentric covering.
What can be the reason of
this long reign of the tall
hat? The Swiss, under William Tell,
refused to bow down to Gessler's
chapeau; have we no patriot to lead
us in revolt? Long ago, when daring
men first wore boards, there were old
Tories who prophesied woe. They
pointed out that Socialists from France
and banished Anarchists from other
lands all wore boards; and if English
men took to hairy faces they might
also take up atheistic and revo-
lutionary sentiments. These ex-
lies also wore soft, shapeless hats,
and the tall silk hat OF English
responsibility would, it was said,
follow the razor into disuse. The
has not been fulfilled.
Boards have come in. The bankers
and merchants who, before 1860, dis
missed young men for wearing NOUS
taches, now intrust their cash and
their checks to clerks with luxuriant
hair upon lip and chin. Perhaps the
time may come when low hat. soft
or hard, round or shapeless, will be
permitted on the fashionable
streets or fashionable men, and when
artists can dare to paint
young Englishmen in their hats as
they live. But the hour has not yet
struck. The late Lord Dalhousie, we
Just learn, was rebuked by the Duke
OF Cam bridge for appearing in Rotten
Row as a founder" A Gold Stick
in Waiting, his royal highness re-
marked, must not show himself in
public without a tall hat. 1t was
equivalent to Roland the Just with
ribbons in his shoes"-whose appear
ance at the court heralded, so the
courtiers thought, the horrors OF the
revolution.
If we look at the matter closely, we
may find some reason for this appar-
emily unaccountabIe clinging to the
tall silk hat. Male costume in Eng
land has been leveled very much. A
clerk can wear suit of clothes that
bv gaslight it is difficult to distinguish
from the evening dress of duke or
millionaire. So far good, for it precludes
the richer man from Haunting his
wealth, and it enables poor men
to mix on easy terms in
social intercou Sc with persons who
have ten or fifty fold the-r in
come. The silk hat, however, remains
the one article of attire which the
poor clerk or artisan can not wear day
after day and keep bright and smooth
without an amount of trouble or ex'
pense he can not really afford. A
fashionable young man can take care
of his new silk hat, be careful where
he laws it down, and take it up ten.
derby. A clerk who has to rusf
about the city with money OF
messages can not indy sc il
these fopperies he must wear some
thing that can stand rough usage ant
hasty handling. The silk hat, there
fore, is valued because, when seel
day after day, polished, perfect ant
ever new, it indicates comparative
leisure or comparative wealth. 1t i
the seal and stamp of the man VIII
can brush it or get it brushed an
who can renew it when he likes
Oliver Wendell Holmes on hi
recent visit was struck with th
religious reverence which English
men have for their hats in contrast I
the carelessness OF Americans. Tn
is because we have larger leisure
class, who can "devote their who.
!, minds to it," al Leech's dandy sal
about his neckties. While, howeve
we recognize the excuse, we do NJ
. admit it's reasonableness. Surel
, Englishmen will not wear forever tt
, most inartistic article Of dress ev'
devised-the nsyrow-brimmed stow
pipe headgear, still fashionable,
the shape Of the tall, glossy silk hs
. l-[London Telegraph.
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