The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-06-07
IN HAT Innings.
Cove Notes Thus Sent Forth By
Reading Factory Girls
By This Means Husbands Have Been Se-
cured-Funny Phases of the Corre-
spondenco Which Sometimes
Follows.

AS in all other manufacturing towns,
the factory girls OF Reading have lots OF
fun inserting little notes in packages or
articles they manufacture and send out
to all parts of the world. The best fun of
this kind, writes Reading (Pe.) CORE
spondent of the New York Sun, is en-
loved by the girls who work in factories
turning out articles used exclusively by
men. Hence hat factory girls receive
possibly the largest mail.
81 have known at least a dozen girls
who have become The wives of men
who found their little notes in the hats
they bought" said the forewo1nan of a
hat factory. Several girls have their
sisters at work at home making copies
of the following note:
"'I hope you will be well pleased with
this hat. l have tried to line and trim it
satisfactorily. If you have few min
utes' time to spare and care to do it
please write and tell me how you like
your hat Of course, you must be a
single man, as I am a single girl. Low
ers are scarce in this town.
1.-The girls slip the notes under the
lining of the hats, allowing just an
end to stick out under the sweat band.
A note so placed would not be seen un-
less the sweat band were turned down.
Of course hundreds of hats are 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 a collection. Generally they are
read out aloud in the shop. Very
many replies from the west say that
girls are very scarce out there. Some
men want to correspond with a view to
raatrimony; others just for pastime.
One man recently wrote that he wanted
q hat trimmed by the same girl
"a few days ago a letter was re
ceived from southwestern Colorado for
a girl who died here eight months ago.
She had put in her trimmed hats lot
of notes. The writer had nearly worn
out his hat before he discovered the
note He offered to send the girl
money to come out to him if she'd
marry him. Poor Mary, she had died
of pneumonia. The picture of the man
in the letter looked as if he would
make any girl good husband. Mary's
sister had opened the letter. She
answered it. They are now correspond
ing.
''If a girl exchanges a few letters
with an unknown correspondent, and
the mans answers suit, she generally
sends letter to the towns chief Of
police or mayor and asks cOnfdential1y
! all about the character of her corEe-
spOndent. In nearly every instance
the officials send courteous replies and
tell the girl all she wants to know. Pho
tographs are exchanged and little gifts
are received, generally curiosities from
PARKWAY states. One of our girls receives
letters from a man up at Puget Sound,
and from another in southern Cali
fornia, and from another in Havana,
and from another now in Yucatan.
The girls have gone into the stamp
collection business, and our factory
album is quite a curiosity in its way
| OF course the girls can't answer all the
letters they receive. The cowboys
write very odd letters. One ranchman
said he owns one thousand acres and
| five thousand head of cattle, and wants
| Q wife. The letters generally have full
descriptions of the men. They all ask
for photographs of the girls. Some of
the girls send pictures of actresses,
as handsome as they can get them,
but very often the girls depend upon
their own faces, because many of them
arc really pretty and winning.
Zone factory girl made a practice of
sending photographs of a deceased
maiden aunt, with side curls and
fancy headdress, telling her correspond
ent she has a kind heart and is very re-
spectacle. One correspondent returned
the picture, saying he was not making
a collection of freaks.
"Some girls who have been married
! a few years receive answers to their
| notes.
81 know two young Indiana men who
came east for brides and secured them.
In all other instances the girls went
west or south and became happy wives,
so far as l know. Last year two girls
who made vests for a wholesale house,
and slipped notes into the bottoms OF
the watch pockets, secured husbands.
Another girl of my acquaintance, who
works in a stocking factory, slipped a
note into the toe Of a No. II sock, and
about sixteen months later heard from
the buyer, who was an iron ore miner
up in Michigan. They are still CORE
spending, 1 think. Girls who pack
note paper occasionally write their
name and address with lead pencil on
one of the sheets. Sometimes they get
replies if the note paper falls into the
hands of romantic young men. But
frequently married men answer these
notes."