The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-04-09
NOTES sent IN HAT Innings
Reading Factory Girls for Whom
They Have Secured Husbands.
JUST AN END EXPOSED.
The Foreman of a Hat Factory Tells
the Queer Method of Getting Hus-
bands. Answers to the Notes
Received From All Quar-
ters of the United States.

As in all other manufacturing towns,
the factory girls of Reading. Pa, have
lots of fun inserting little notes in pack.
ages or articles they manufacture aud
send out to all parts of tho world. Tho
best fun of this kind is enjoyed by tho
girls who work i'll factories turning out
articles used exclusively by men. Hence
hat factory girls receive possibly tho
largest mail.
Il have known Mt least dozen girls
who became tho wives of men who
found their little notes in the hnts they
bought - said tho forewoman Of II hat
factory. Several girls have their sis.
ters at work ut home making copies Of
the following note:
i hope You will be we'll pleased with
this hat. l have tried to line and trim
At satisfactorily. If you have a few min
.ntes time to spare, and care to do it,
please write and tell mo how you like
your hat Of course you must be IL sim
gle man, rs am q single girl Lovers
are scarce in this town.
The girls slip the notes under the
lining of the hats, allowing just an end
to stick out under the sweat band. A
motto so placed would not be seen unless
the sweat band was turned down. OF
course hundreds of hats arc sent out.
and possibly the notes are never seen.
but very many are found and answered.
The girls receive answers from all over
the United States, principally the west.
The letters they receive would make
quite collection. Generally they are
read out aloud in the shop. Very many
replies from tho west say that girls are
very scarce out there. Some men want
to correspond with view to matri-
mony; others just for pastimo. One
man recently wrote that lie wanted a
hat trimmed by the same girl.
If girl exchanges q few letters
with an unknown correspondent, and the
mans answers suit, she generally sends
letter to tho towns chief of police or
mayor and asks oonfdentially all about
the character of her correspondent. In
nearly every instance the officials send
courteous replies and tell all the girl
wants to know. Photographs arc ex-
changed aud little gifts arc received,
generally curiositios from faraway
states One of our girls receives letters
from man up at Puget sound, and
from another i'll southern California.
and from another i'll Havana, aud from
another now i'll Yucatan. The girls have
gono into the stamp collection business
and our factory album is quite curios.
1ty III its way. OF course the girls can t
answer all the letters they receive. Tho
cowboys write very odd letters. One
fanchman says he owns |, 600 acres aud
1000 head Of cattle and wants a wife
rIbe letters generally have full descrip-
tions of the men. They all nsll for
photographs of the girls. Some of the
girls send pictures of actresses, as hand
some as they can get them, but very of.
ten the girls depend upon their own
faces, because many of them are really
pretty and winning. Ono factory girl
made practice OF sending photographs
OF deceased maiden aunt, with side
curls and fancy headdress, telling her
correspondent she had kind heart and
was very respectable. One correspondent
returned the picture saying he was not
making collection Of freaks.
Some girls who have been married
Few years receive answers to their
notes.
know two young Indiana mon
who came east for brides and secured
them. In all other instances the girls
went west or south and became happv
wives, SO far as know. Last year two
girls who made vests for a wholesale
house and had slipped notes into the bot.
toms OF the watch pockets secured hus-
bands Another girl of my acquaint.
hnce, who works III stocking factory.
slipped note into the toe Of No. II
sock, and about s months later heard
Hrom the buyer, who was an iron ore
tminer up in Michigan. They are still
corresponding, think Girls who pack
mote paper occasionally writo their
names and address with lead pencil on
one of the sheets. Sometimes they get
Teplies, if the note paper falls into the
bands Of romantic young men, but fire..
r4uently married men answer these
notes. New York Sun.
The sceus --0ets5 Fs.l.
Mrs. G1avalonI hoe ,,;,.o,, =.