Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-09
THE EASTER BONNET.

The crocus Iu shes ils blossom up through the snow and brings the welcome message that spring is coming. The Easter bonnet has liD1idly peeped out, and tells us that Easter is near. We cannot see the pro- cesses of nature by which the crocus is evolved, nor can we see the processes of taste by which the bonnet is evolved. There is thlsdifference between nature and hu. man nature, namely; The crocus is the same in shape and color every spring while the bonnet is always different. Each Easter has it's own peculiar bonnet. Is this di- versity an improvement on nature or not? Certain it is that nature has criterion, while fashion has none. There is one point, however, in which nature and fashion touch: All orocuses look alike and all Easter bonnets will look alike.
 The Easter bonnet this year will be small in size, but not insignificant by any means. It now fills the largest space in the thoughts of more than one-half the people of all civilized countries. It is more ina portant than the international establish ment of the 'bimetallic standard. The money question is only considered in it's relation to the purchase of the bonnet. That portion of humanity which is called
 
 bonnet earnestly hopes that the style will not change next year, and that the same bonnet will do for two seasons. Alas for the fallacy of such hopesi The bonnet next season will be a5 different from this as this is from that of last year. It is sad to think of, but nevertheless true--there is DO standard of taste. Neither beauty, nor utility, nor economy, is taken as the stand ard. The new bon net cannot be said to be beautiful, for it is so small that it is only a partial act of creation-it is without form and void; it is not useful, for it keeps off neither the sun nor the rain; it is not economical, for it's price will pay for a frst-clase daily paper for more than year.
 The Easter bonnet has one disastrous ef- fect-it is destructive of individual liberty. Every woman must have one at whatever cost, and she must wear it whether it's shape is becoming or not. Hence we shall see ladies of full, fat face with one of these little tufts of fuss and feathers perched on top of her head, when all the canons of art and good taste require her to wear Gains- borough. This yielding to the imperious edct of tyrannical fashion ill becomes our free republican institutions and smacks of a monarchical government, if not of a des- potism. Southern ladies especially, whose fathers and husbands fought for states' rights, should refuse to yield to custom which strangely sayors of a central ized government. As each State is inde- pendent in it's sovereignty, so every woman should be independent of her sisters, and wear the bonnet that is most becoming.
 Another bad effect of the new Easter bon net is that it creates an aristoeracy. This is also at variance with the spirit of our in- stitutions. Every woman wearing the fashionable bonnet will be classed with certain smart set. She will be set apart from the common herd. Just here we catch hint of the reason why fashion changes-the smart set adopt the change to keep out the slow set. In the effort to keep in the smart set there is no estimating the struggles undergone. Fashion has it's mar tyrs and it's saints, as well as the stake.