Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-06-28
TIE CHINNEY-pOT Eat.
ONE WHICH AGE CANNOT w1THER NOR
CUSTOM STALE.
All Civilized Nations Wear lit has an
Air of Solvency When New,
of Pathos When Old.

Nobody, says the 81. james Gazette,
thinks of defending the tall hat When
doctors combine with artists to denounce
an item of feminine apparel, and universal
common sense backs up The charge, a swarm
of eager amazons crowd to battle and over
whelm the assailants by their clamorous
multitude. But our masculine hat is sur
rendered as prey to the mildest of satir-
lists. Yet it seems improbable that civil
lied men all over Europe-throwing Asia,
Africa and America into the bargain
would cling to an object which they really
think ugly, inconvenient and uncomfort.
able. Women are irresponsible beings in
all that relates to costume. Neithe,
health nor reason nor a sense of the be.
coming will check their instructive i'm.
pulse TO follow the fashion; some would
add that decency and piety are as inef.
fectual as any other objections But men
after all, are reasoning animals in some
degree. If they persist in course of ac-
ton which exposes them without defense
to the charge of stupidity and bad taste il
may be assumed as general thing, that
they are conscious of some sufficient mo-
tive, though 1t may not be worth while to
explain or even work it out in their own
minds. That the chimney-pot hat is such
a case can be proved.
Those who call it ugly must be compar-
pairing it with some ideal which thev
vaguely cherish. Doubtless a cylinder of
shiny silk is wanting in abstract beauty;
though it be set off with a brim and
buckle, much is wanting. Nor has it the
merit OF visible utility. Standing upon a
table our hat suggests some convenience
for mechanical purposes-of the kitchen,
especially; but ii does not indicate a head
dress at all. Upon the other hand, what
manner of hat satisfies our longing for the
beautiful? There is, indeed, one variety
of -puggari-pleasing and graceful
in itself; that devised by the Sikhs, we
believe now worn by all native regiments,
with notifications. This would not have
been out of place on the frieze of the Par
thenon, but it stands solitary. Recalling
the forms Of turban all around, some are
uglier than others, some more ridiculous,
some more awkward; but those which can
not properly be called grotesque are pal
try. There is no article of dress which
demands such taste and judgment, as we
see By the fact that one people only among
the countless millions that use it have
found combination satisfactory all
around.
In the museum of the Janissaries at
Stamboul one may behold perhaps a
hundred distinct varieties, compared with
every one of which the chimney-pot is a
masterpiece of airy, simple elegance Con-
slider the Mahratta FORM which is prob
ably commonest of all that bear distinct
shape among those peoples of India whom
enthusiasts recommend as models of taste !
However, nobody has proposed turbans for
our wear; we recite them only in 2 re-
view OF headdresses, detached, as one may
say, and considered on their merits as
things of beauty. Is the Chinese hat pre-
ferable, or the wondrous glazed object that
adorns the head OF the Parsee or the topi
of Sind? This last, indeed, commends
itself to out-and- out abhorrers as the re-
verse, as nearly as may be, of the chimney
pot, for 1t has the same shape, but the
brim runs round the tor Then we NAV
regard the Sombrero of the Mexican, the
tarboosh Of the Arab, the straw hat four
feet in diameter, of the Dyak, the head
handkerchief of the Malays Bugis, Java
nese, and all the unnumbered millions OF
the further East. Which of them would
be an improvement on our fashion
Truly there is one, and one only, among
objects of this class devised by man, grace
full, dignihed, convenient-the astrakhan
cap of the Persian. But the unprecedented
will admit that our case is not very de-
plorable when survey of the universe
shows only one better.
For, like the cavilers, we are regarding
the chimAey-pot by itself, accepting the
rest of modern costume as it stands. Ac-
suredly that costume is open to objection,
but we maintain that if the frock coat and
loose trouser be still kept there is no ac-
cepted form of hat-saving the Persian
alone-hitherto known in the world that
can be set in its place with improvement.
All caps" properly so described are for
hidden by the long coat. Every one can
prove this for himself by trying on pot"
hat when arrayed in the formal costume
of gentleman" We may safely assume
that every one has tried it, The result is
SO disastrous that people regard it as ex-
pressive of type. When we are told
Hes fellow who wears a pot hat and a
frock coat We know sufficiently well what
holds good, though not in the same degree
"a tall hat and short coat are offensive to
taste. A "pot" is an excellent thing, and
every one approves it with the Jacket; but
while the dress of the day remains what il
is, two varieties of headgear are needed.
Nothing low can be worn with the long
coat, 1t is pity; for the shapes of caps
up and down the world are innumerable
and nearly all pleasing. This fact is
proof enough to the judicious that the
human frame is meant" as they say, 10
be surmounted by low, close covering;
but it is not the fashions which should be
that we have under consideration, but the
fashions which are
No cap, therefore, can be substituted for
the chimney-pot, though there are
thousand which would be Improvements
Ito be worn with Jacket on the 'deer-
stalker'-itself quite as uely as its rival
All the graceful, manly forms devised in
ages more artistic than ours stand ont OF
the question, therefore They were
adapted for short coats or for robes. That
is where the error of our costume lies-in
"half-measures," as usual. This upper
garment is too long for youth, too short
for age; and the headgear that matches it
must needs be abnormal. The instinct of
man perceived this necessity so soon as he
was tempted to abandon the jbtst-aa-coyps
which, under various names and distinct
ions, had been the habiliment of the
young time out Of mind, and the robe de-
voted TO age. The broad hat with feathers
survived for while; bat as skirts grew
squarer and squarer that sense of fitness
which never quite deserts male humanity
advised that pinning-up OF the hrim. So
we got the trieorae, and then, by a simpli-
flying process, the cooked hat. But men
felt that this was not important enough to
snstain or to match The hraaAth Of clnth