The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-27
A elk HAT FOR A DOLLAR.

How Young Men on Small Salaries Manage
to Get Nobby Headgear.
"Howmany silk hats do you get in the couFse
of season, anyhoVsS asked one clerk Of an
other in the Office Of big insurance COM
pany the other day as he picked up his asso-
ciate's shiny ''stove pipe and glanced inside.
| 'Here's an imported hat from Paris, If the
stamp don't lie; two or three weeks ago you
had a London hat, and shortly before that
you were sporting one of the fashionable
makes here. You must spend half your salary
on hats"
The fellow clerk smiled and looked about
for moment "Will you keep mum If 1 let
you into good thingT" he asked, and the
promise was quickly given
"Well, lost silk hat bet on the last cleo
ton and one pay day ruefully put away IS
and suggested to my successful friend that
we go over on Broadway and get that hat
Broadway said he. Not much. You just
come with me- So he marched me up to
Chatham street, into narrow doorway in a
| rickety old building, up dark flight of stairs,
and ushered me into a dingy loft. Great
heaps of high hats ran up to the ceiling along
one side of the room and the other side was
filed with derbys The hats in the heaps
were tough enough looking, but there were
shelves OF silk hats that were just as shiny
and as tony looking as any you ever saw in a
Broadway window.
"a number of men stripped to their under
shirts perspired as they worked away on hats
in all stages of development, for red hot
stove in the center of the room kept the tenn
perature pretty high. Ny friend had evil
IDENTIFY been there before, and was cordially
greeted by one of the men who stepped for
ward.
This gentleman wants to buy me silk
hat,' he explained, and in two minutes he
was fitted with dandy looking bit of head
gear, the lining stamped with very English
looking trade mark, with a lion and shield
and that sort Of thing, surrounded by the
handsomely engraved name Of a firm and the
address in Piccadiliy. ] don't know whether
there is any such firm in existence but what's
the oddsi TIE hat was just as glossy as any
you ever saw on Fifth avenue, and 1 rather
envied my friend as l asked the man how
much should pay.
Three dollars said he.
swell, was prepared 10 find the price
lower than On Broadway. l thought So, or
possibly s., would be the figure. But 50
knocked me silly. Without asking any ques-
tons / said, Let me have one at the sans
figure and there / was with two elegant
silk hats instead of one and 81 to the good
"My friend explained the mystery TO me
after we left the place. 1t seems that the
majority of the 'blocds' around town, after
wearing their expensive headgear for brief
period, which does them very little harm ex-
cept as to the lining, leave them with the
fashionable dealers The protector Of the in
dustry we had just observed has an arrange
ment with these men TO purchase all the bats
that are turned into them at fifty cents
apiece. It doesn't cost him much more than
fifty cents more TO put them in first rate
shape again, so you see he can make q nice
thing out of them at S.
But here's further wrinkle in the thing.
You don't need 70 spend as much a. So even.
when you want a new silk hat. These
Chatham street folks are quite accommodate
ing, by the way, and urge you to come IN
and hsTe your 50 hat iroRed up wheneveR it
gets unused, free Of cost. I had mine ironcd
8 couple Of times, and one day, after getting
it thoroughly soaked and denorAlizsd in
rain storm, called In again / had had it
then more than six wseks. 'Supposs you
give me this hat and dollar, suggested ths
proprietor, and we'll give you braDd Few
one l closed the bargain right OF, snd
walked out with that elegant nat q London
make that you were speaking Of. Oh, l tel
you, there ara ways OF b@ing pobby without
being extravaganza in this town il fellow
can only find them out. New York Hsrald