The times., 1899-05-04
The stray. Hat.

On May L, according 10 custom, the
Washington man put on his straw hat.
1t was a beautiful. balmy day. and the
air was full of the smell of biossoming
lilacs and violets. and new spring grass.
The soft wind brought hint of strawber-
ries coming by the crate from States far
ther south where spring had not only ar
rived. but taken of her wraps and begun
comfortable to the Washington mans
head AS for his wife, her spring bonnet
went on at Easter.
This ceremony of donning the straw hat
was sufficiently picturesque and important
to demand a paragraph or two in the
Washington papers. and in that way it
came to the notice of "a Boston editorial
writer. who was surprised and puzzled.
It should be understood that in Boston
and vicinity May is month of uncertain
ties. very much like Washington March.
Sometimes the children can go out and
gather flowers on May Day, and some
times if they do, they find only FROST
bitten violet and a plucky dandelion or
two. while the bitter east wind penetrates
to the marrow of their bones. A little
farther north. in the hill towns of New
Hampshire and Maine, snowdrifts still
lie In the hollows and ravines. and
under the stone walls, and now and
then during an unusually late spring
it is possible to wax maple sugar
on the remains of snowbank till
nearly June, especially if the sugar farm
happens TO be near deep woods. In these
hill towns melody thinks OF wearing straw
hats on the first OF May; sometimes the
children wear their winter hoods. Sum
mer does not come for good till about
the first of July. though there are be-
witching intervals of warm weather in
| April and May.
Under these circumstances il is not to
be wondered at that Bostonians should be
unable to understand this May Day cere
mony of Washington. If that Boston pa
per had known that on Easter Monday the
small children of Washington were roll
ing eggs in unthinking childish glee ON the
Presidents lawn, and that they wore white
dresses without jackets. and broad-brim
med straw hats, it would probably have had
a spasm, and said things about the care
lessness OF Washington mothers and the
prevalence of Group among the infant pop
ulation OF this city. In Boston, if there
should be any such ceremony on Easter
Monday the tots would have to roll their
eggs over last years grass saturated with
snow water. if. indeed, they were lucky
enough to find ground free from snow.
But the Boston paper did not know Of
this custom, and SO it was surprised at
the temerity of the Washington man in
dofiing his felt hat SO early in the season.
| In what 1t now calls we'll meant zeal. it
dwelt playfully on the reckiessness of the
gentleman in the straw hat. and ex-
pressed the earnest hope that Boston would
not be contaminated by this unwise exam
| pie. but would hang on a little longer
to the derby and the gay fedora" In
| cidentally it may be observed that for some
unexplained reason the Boston man hangs
on" to his hat-perhaps to keep 1t out of
| the clutches of the east wind The Bos-
ton paper explained that the proper time
/ for wearing this species OF headgear was
from June / TO September 10. and that
that law was the law OF the Medes and
| Persians.
But new light has dawned on our Bos-
ton contemporary After the appearance
Of this article an unprecedented attack of
Washington weather came upon Massachu-
| sets, and the psrspiring citizen of the
Back Bay bought a new hat. Says the Bos-
| ton paper:
In boiling circumstances our free and indie
! pendent iellow-eitizens have the right TO say,
Let the past go and bury ITSELF. -
+ This is sign of improvement. And while
the lesson of the straw hat is still fresh
in mind. is it not well to reflect that il
circumstances over which we have no coz
| troll govern so simple a thing as the wear
| ing Of a straw hat. the manifest destiny
which impels our men to fight in the Phil
| ippines may also be subject for the coun-
| try outside of Boston TO settle as it sees
fit?
Statements that the Standard Oil mag