The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1890-11-04
OLD HATS MADE NEW.

How Young Men on Small Salaries Manage
to Get Nobby Headgear.
SHOW many silk hats do you get in
the course of season, anyhow asked
one clerk OF another in the off of q
big insurance conn any the other day as
he picked up his associates shiny
s'stove pipe" and glanced inside.
ssHere's an imported hat from Paris il
the stamp don't lie: two or three weeks
ago you had 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 HIM for moment "Hil you
keep mum If let you into a good thing?"
he asked, and the promise was quickly
given.
SWELL I lost silk hat bet on the last
election 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 a 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 filled with derbys. The hats
in the heaps were tough enough looking,
but there were shelves of silks hats that
were just as shiny and as tony looking
as any you ever saw in Broadway win
dow.
"a number of men stripped to their
undershirts perspired as they worked
away on hats in all stages of develop
ment, for red-hot stove in the center
of the room kept the temperature pretty
high. My friend had evidently been
there before, and was cordially greeted
by one of the men who stepped forward.
"'This gentleman wants to buy me a
silk hat he explained, and in two min
utes he was fitted with dandy looking
bit of head-gear, tho lining stamped
with very English looking trade mark,
with lion and shield and that sort Of
thing, surrounded by the handsomely
engraved name of fl IN and the address
in Piccadilly. 1 don't know whether
there is any such firm III existence, but
what's the odds? The hat was just as
glossy as any you ever saw on Fifth ave-
nue., and l rather envied my friend as
asked the man how ru~h should pay.
"'Three dollars said he.
''Well, was prepa ed to find the price
lower than on Broadway. thought Sc.
or possibly S., would be the figure. But
S3 knocked me silly. Without asking
any quest ons l said Get me have one
at the same 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 'bloods' around
town, after wearing their expensive
headgear for a brief period, which does
them very little harm except to the lin
ing, leaves them with the fashionable
doalors The protector Of the industry
we had just observed has an arrange
ment with these men to purchase all
the hats that are turned in to them at
fifty cents apiece. Ii doesn't cost him
much more than fifty cents more TO put
them in first rate shape again, so you
see he can make nice thing out Of them
at s..
"But here's further wrinkle in the
thing. You don't need to spend as
much as s., even, when You want a
new silk hat These Chatham street
folks are quite accommodating, by the
way, and urge ycu 70 come in and have
your s. hat ironed up whenever it gets
unused, free of cost. / had mine irOned
q couple of times, and one day, after get
ting it thoroughly soaked and demon
allied in rain storm / called in again.
/ had had it then more than six weeks.
Suppose you give me this hat and a
dollar suggested the proprietor, and
we'll give you a brand new one.' I
closed the bargain right off, and walked
out with that elegant hat of London
make that you were speaking of. Oh, l
tell you, there are ways of being nobby
without being extravagant in this town
il fellow can only find them out"-N
Y. Herald.