The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-09-17

ccpt during his vacation days at Marsh
field, and the pattern Of his hat is still
preserved. 1t was wide and fat in the
brim, with q moderately high crown and
but little bell in the shape. Webste1's
hat was of silk, the material now used,
and the style was first shown in q hat
made by Townsend in London in 1885.
He utilized the silk plush which had
been invented in France, covering with
it body of muslin stiffencd with shellac
varnish. The silk hat speedily drove out
the beaver from general use, although
the latter has not been set aside yet, and
is sometimes seen in our streets worn by
very old man who is conservative or a
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 "stovepipes" on high hats
for the generation now passing away.
Perfectly straight up and down, high
and perfectly fiat in the brim, they re.
sembled nothing 80 much rs a 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 the
mutiny set the civilized world in flame,
wore hats which were almost curiously
unlike those of 1854. Brims that rolled
until they touched the band, and bells
that overshadowed the brims, with long
front and rear pieces, were the style then.
In some of the old prints of the relief OF
Lucknow hats arc seen on the heads OF
as gallent men as ever bowed. Havelock
wore cap with ahuttering cape of linen,
still called by his name, hanging down
behind to protect the neck.
The Civil War in this country came at
time when the "stovepipe" hat was once
more 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
mcnt during that period of trial. Lin
coin wore q hat which was rather high,
with q straight brim and crown. At the
beginning of the war, when all the days
of trial were before him, and when the
great news came of peace 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 Confederacy, wears soft felt, in
many of the pictures which are extant 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 arc not willing
to give it up. Many judges OF headgear
hold that it is, after all, the best hat In
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 ragamufin for the "plug hat"