The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-10-02

still; such a hat, for example, as that
given to Henry Clay by the hat makers
of Brooklyn, with narrow brim and
tremendously high crown, having wide
bell at the top. This hat was black, and
when it was presented to Mr.. Clay was
believed to be as perfect as hat could
he made.
7 Calhoun wore Panama, as did MANY
of the Southern gentlemen Of his time,
wide brimmed and having years of wear
in it. But when he came to Washington
he gave way to the power OF the high hat
and added a beaver to his collection:
Daniel Webster always wore beaver cx-
Tie utilized thessilk plush which had
been invented. in. France, covering with
it body OF muslin stilfeucd with shcllac
varnish. The silk hat speedily drove ont
The beaver from general use, although
the latter has not been set aside yet, and
is sometimes seen in our streets worn by
o very old man who is conservative or u
very young man who is loud.
The charge of the Light Brigade dur
ing that war which Louie Napoleon, or
rather the Duke de Morny, provoked, in
order to consolidate the Second Empire,
was made by men, many of whom when
at home wore hats which have fixed the
nickname of "stovcpipes" on high hats
for the generation now passing away.
Perfectly straight up and down, high
and perfectly fiat in the brim, they re-
scmbled nothing so much rs section of
sheet iron pipe. But the young men who
left the drawing rooms and rushed to
India as fast as transport or troopship
could carry them when the news of tho
mutiny set the civilized world in flame,
wore hats which were almost curiously
unlike those of 1854. Brims that rolled
until they touched the baud, and bells
that overshadowcd the brims, with long
front and rear pieces, were the style then.
In some of the old prints of the relief of
Lucknow hats are seen on the heads OF
rs gallent men as ever bowed. Havelock
wore cap with anuttering cape of linen,
still called by his name, hanging down
behind to protect the neck.
The CivilWar in this country eamc at n
time when the "stovepipe" hat was once
moro popular. The style seems odd as
one looks at the old pictures of Lincoln
and Seward and Stanton and Chase,
those giants who carried on the Govern
ment during that period of trial. Liu-
coin wore q hat which was rather nigh,
with a;straiglt brim and crown. At the
beginning of the war, when all the days
of trial were before him, and when the
great news came ofpeace at last, the hat
was the same. Twice during the four
years the fashion had changed, but we
may we'll believe that the war President
had no time to notice the STYLE. Davis,
of the Confedetacy. wears d soft felt. in
many OF Che pictures which are cxtant OF
him at the time. And when the Ger
man army corps drove the French before
them and girdled Paris as with an ever
tightening belt of steel the mode had
run once more to the extreme bell with
the rolled brim.
Steadily since its first introduction the
high hat has made its way, until now 1t
holds place from which it cannot be
lightly shaken. It is the "dress hat"
and more than that, it is the respectable
hat. Solid men like it, and, oddly
enough, fashionable men orc not willing
to give it up. Many judges Of headgear
hold that it is, after all, the best hat i'll
the world, and declare that it will never
be supplanted. But while the man of
the town admires the "silk," his liking
for it is as nothing to the devotion felt
by the ragamuffin for the "plug hat"