The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-17

WRITTEN o THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
In the days when st. Louis was a village
and the capital of Upper Louisiana. there
were probably no such things as spring
openings but It is not at all probable hat
there were no such things a spring hats"
For woman's love for . new bonnet II
much older than Louisiana Purchase his
tory and. in fact. most other history.
Queer %thing-this love Of a pretty bon
net. It is as feminine, almost, as woman
herself. Few men care anything about II,
ana still fewer know anything about It.
To the average man, woman's hat Is some
thire to be looked at. wondered at. admired
in a passive way. and then given up as en-
inexplicable puzzle. Probably one man IN
100 really sees that Is in a milliners enow
window, and probably the same proportion
Of masculinity reads the milliners newspa-
per advertisements. -
Put that hundredth man Is an Interesting
member OF the body social and commercial.
He is 6. rara avis. and. being such. Is worth
There are several Of his kind in st. Louis,
and each gains a comfortable livelihood
because of his familiarity with the "ingre-
dents of hat fascinating conrecuon' .
modern woman's modern hat.
They are mostly employed by the largo
wholesale millinery houses. Most OF the
ennloyes of these big firms are women
the reason for which is quite plain. women
are horn milliners. and they begin to Trim
hats as soon as they are old enough 10
exneriment with the costumes OF their dolls.
They continue their experiments through
tho neriod OF short dresses. and by the
time they are young ladies'" they are not
only thoroughly posted on tho salient points
| of hatmaking, but they have greater or less
familiarity with the finer points OF the ART.
therefore 1t is natural that women. with
all their wealth of taste. experience ana
personal interest in the work. should DO
welcomed by employing miiiiners anu give"
the preference over men.
Still there are men who. once Initiated
into the mysteries and details OF the art OF
manufacturing headwear for the discrimi-
| mating and criticising woman. become ex-
centionally proficient in their work. and
develop considerable taste. together with q
knack for originating fetching designs
And. also, when 1t comes to selecting a
stock and to distributing the finished prod
net among the retailers, man takes prece-
dence over woman. Few of the buyers OF
millinery for the large local concerns are
women. and still fewer travelling statesmen
are women.
In speaking of the part man plays in the
millinery business. William G.. Sloan. one OF
| the largest employers of milliners, said:
For the most part, the employees VINO
evolve pretty hats out of assortments OF
flowers. ribbons, wells and other articles
are women. We have among our trimmers
five or six men, who are considered clever
designers. One of our men, In particular,
has attained a remarkable degree OF pro-
fciency. considering that he Is a man. ana
| nossessed of a knack for making up pretty
| designs. He has spent many years In the
! millinery business.
~ have no doubt that men could be
trained to become good mhlliners. but such
| an occupation has never found much favor
become, possibly. a doctor. a lawyer. a
business man, a tailor. or any one of a
hundred kinds Of professional and business
men. But the idea of becoming q milliner
never enters his head. Suppose. however.
that he decides to learn the art? He knows
! practically nothing about 1t. to start with.
He is given flowers and leaves to assert:
ribbons to cut and bunch artistically; per-
haps a stuffed bird to place. Tie chances
| are that he will resign right liners.
Another thing that would discourage
many is the scale of wages paid. The time
| required to attain proficiency IL long. AMI
| at the end the salary-which IL considered
rood by women--ofers little indacement to
men.
"At the head of our trimming depart
meut we have a woman VIVA is thoroughly
yersed in all that pertains tn trimming a
hat. She supervises the work In general.
Women generally work with more deftness
than men, but. on the other hand. the at
ter often prove themselves valuable In in
: venting new designs. They note sweSy hat