The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-13
THE LATEST BONNET
Milliners Have Dis.
covered a Value for
Tea Chests.
TEA MERCHANTS ARE BESEIGED.
The Mating Makes a Pref.
ty and Attractive
Head Dress.
TEA MERCHANTS ARE BESEIGED

Had the sturdy old pseudo Mohawk
that threw shiploads of British tss
overheard into Boston harbor on cer.
tain memorable occasion, been wise IN
their generation they would have saved
the chests. Today these have com.
mercial value and the demand for thu
humble receptacles of the seductive
dried herb of Cathay exceeds the sup.
ply in Worcester Thereby hangs this
tale.
1t seems that some ingenious milliner
discovered that the matted covering Of
tea chests was the material of all ma.
tsrial for the making of suubonnAts
Shaker bonnets and golf bonnets. And
so it came to pass that there We're mys.
FERROUS calls upon tea dealers who
were asked if they would kindly allow
their old tea chest coverings TO be car.
ried away. &
At first the dealers did not know what
to make of it, but they We're glad to
give up the chests, because it saved
them the bother and expense of carting
them off themselves.
But the calls for the chests became So
frequent. and the women appeared to
be SO eager to get them, that curiosity
uses that We're to be made Of them.
One observant clerk noticed that al,
most without exception the callers Were
milliners or milliners' apprentices, and
yesterday afternoon when one woman
whom he knew pretty well came in and
applied for the privilege of clearing his
store of the empty chests he opened IN
Now, look here, he said. "What in
the name of the great Darius do you
women want of these old tea boxes?
had so many calls today that to accom-
modate one woman, who seemed dis
appointed when / told her that all the
cmpties had been eonfscated, l opened
up fresh chest and poured the CON
tents into soap box to satisfy her."
Gather Close" said the woman ad-
dressed, land l will tell you, although
at present it is guarded like state Sc
cret We are making sun, golf and
Shaker bonnets out of them"
BY the immortal Sindbad, but that
beats me-" said the tea merchant
Hats out of tea boxesi The next
thing we will hear is the making of cpl
curean eatables out of old rags and
rubber boots"
The woman explained.
I'VE take this coarse mating, you
see" she said, "and we cut out large
circular piece from the center. Then
in the center of this we cut small
opening, where it rests upon the head.
With cheese cloth and the manipulation
of thousand and one tricks that you
would not understand, though l were
to explain them to you in detail, we
construct the cutest little bonnet that
you ever saw in your life"
The merchant threw up his hands and
gazed at the woman with mingled looks
| of amaZemont and wonder
Their he recovered his breath and
said: We'll, they used to say that
Banagher beat the monarch of the
neither world, but this certainly beats
Banagher"
The Spy man, having got wind Of the
story, chased it down to its radical con-
clusion. A bright young milliner or
Pleasant street told him all about it
Some ingenious maker of bonhets dis
covered that tea chest mating was just
the thing for summer bonnets, and the
style caught en- and spread like the
flames Of forest afire.
Without any exaggeration," she
said, Il may say that there are thou.
sands of these bonnets on the street ey.
cry pleasant day in the city of Wor.
cester, though these for the most par
are worn by the young girls.
For ages this mating has beer
thrown away as of no value, but now
you see, the law of economy, tina,
teaches that nothing goes to waste, gets
new confirmation, and by next year
have no doubt but that the gathering Of
this material to supply the millinery
trade will become a regularly estab.
lisaed industry
The reporter learned by going the
rounds that there is scarcely a tea mer.
chant In the city who has not been ap.
md nc1s., - l..
tea chests. Realizing that the MILL.
ners are reaping harvest out Of these
new tangled bonnets, they have, ii
many cases, decided to benefit little
| themselves, and to this end have set 9
price upon the mating. At present
this is set at 5 cents each, but there Ii
no telling, if the demand keeps on. but
| that the stock reports will regularly re-
port the rise and fall of the market In
this particular line.
! Hats out of tearchests! What next?