The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-16
ESSAY ON @sTovEPIPEs.'
Form of Head Covering with Nei-
Their Excuse Nor Explanation.

Their Excuse Nor Explanation.
The tall. cylindrical hat is perhaps
the most hideous. the most uncomfort-
able, the most inconvenient, the most
perishable. and the most tenacious of
all articles of headgear known TO his
tory.
Our male ancestors wore odd and I'M
handsome things; shoes whose proIong-
ed tips were attached to the knees,
ruffs about four feet in diameter, tights
of incredible tightness, and so forth.
but these foolish fashions never lasted
long Men wearied Of them. or were
laughed or preached out of them. But
the tall hat sits as tight and eternaIly
the corset on woman, and far less ex-
cusably, it seems to be a permanent
institution.
True, we are more emancipated than
our Sires. who played golf and even
cricket, in orthodox tall hats Advanc-
ed thinkers wear Devastating hats,
round cloth caps, socialist or bible
reader flat shaped soft black felt
| things, and the TyrOIean or Monte
Carlo hat, which lady described as
more brigand than socialist. In the
country tall hats are little worn now.
except by elderly physicians and So
licitors
Thus, there are seeming tokens OF
the decline of the tall hat, but il holds
its own firmly in London and Paris.
An eminent statesman wears his most
ly in his hand, to cool his intellectual
brow; still, he wears it. Few persons
who do not positively pose as "ene-
mics of society" or friends of the
people" Germs curiously interchange
able) have the courage to wear any
other headgear in town, even at
Lords Yet no mortal has a good
word for the tall hat, except doctors
who carry stethoscopes in theirs
Even in church the tall hat is nui-
sance, and gets bruised and dusty. In
a drawing-rOom it is a source of en-
barrassment, or refuge of shyness.
1t is hard to keep on the head in a
wind, and when it is blown off it flies
before the gale like a ship at sea. It's
one aesthetic merit. if it has one
glossiness-is out Of place and fugitive.
All hats are not so alike that they
are often changed at clubs. So evan
escent are the glories of the topper
that self-reSpecting person ought to
have a new one every day. The
wr6tched cylinder heats the brows and
produces badness. In brief, the tall
hat has thousand faults and not a
single redeeming virtue. 1t is a badge
OF class, but not a picturesque badge,
like the sword.
Our modern hats are fearful1y and
wonderfully made of fine twill muslin
or calico, stiffened with shellac. The
black shiny outside cannot be made
in England. and is procured from
France. The processes of making up
require very skilled workmanship.
They are difficult, and we may wish.
with DR.. Johnson, that they were i'm
possible. But what would hatters do
If hats went out2 The popular belief
in their lunacy is not accounted for.
and the Folk Lore society might ex-
anime the antiquity and origin of the
superstition. Hats are among our ar
ticles of export, and II is odd that ma
tons which do not even make them
should wear them. However, we ought
not to grumbIe at a singular and to us
a. profitable alteration. If the orig
inal halter who invented the tall hat
was insane as tradition indicates and
reason suggests his deIiriurn has been
catching. Few can throw the first
stone at the halter, and, indeed, we
presume that he seldom wears his own
hats.