The age-herald., 1901-01-28
THE MEXICAN AND HIS HAT.
Why He Spends So Much Attention and
 Money on His Headgear.

From the Washington Evening Star
 While on a train in Mexico on my last trip to the country of the Azecs a young American lady, upon whose astonished gaze was flashed for the first time the fearfully and wonderfully made sugar-loaf Mexican hat, which is the first out of the ordinary objects that greets the tourists eyes after he crosses the Rio Grande ased me why Mexican men of all classes spent so much money upon the covering for their heads and appeared to take such evident pride in the great -brimmed, high conica1- crowned shelter from the tropical heat and sum-" said a hat drummer to a reporter
 "When the American soldiers departed for Cuba and Porto Rico they wore the reg ulation army slouch hat, with a deep crease in the center. When they returned, heroes and veterans, they wore the same regula- tion hat, but with the peak of the crown pulled up to sharp point, pyramid-hke, In a gallant desperate attempt to immi- tate the Spanish hat which had caught their fancy and had struck them hard, and their wives, sweethearts and the public gazed awe-stricken and reverentially, but helplessly, at the new style thus created here
 And then the hat makers took it up for the ladies and this accounts for the present raish style of ladies' military gray hats with mannsh crowns
 "The main reason why the Spanard and the Mexican devotes so much attention, time and money to his hat Is because 1t is to some extent made the symbol of his standing in the community, and because it was the grandees of Spain who of all oth- CTS at court possessed the privilege of sit ting or standing in the presence of their sovereign with their hats on while the rest of the court uncovered.
 Naturally the hat became an object of respect and veneration and the grandees vied with one another in the size of their brain covering, the fneness and costlness of its texture and the rich gold and silver commentators profusely worked thereon. The populace, according to their respective means and positions in life, emulated the example of the grandees, and thus, as time advanced, the big hat became the distinc- tive feature of the dress of the Spanard, as the mantilla corresponded on the head of the senorita and the sonora.
 "The time when Mexican placed his hat and his horse before all his worldly possessions, spending as much as S00 to 5000 for a gold-trimmed, embroidered hat and as much more for his heavy saddle and bridle all trimmed with silver, and this passion Is strong today. The higher classes of Mexicans have abandoned the sugar. loaf Mexican hat for city wear for the Flu ropean style, as they have adopted long ago our ideas on clothes though every Mexican gentleman has his native costume with its gaudily-embroidered short jacket and fiaring trousers and hat to match, to be worn when the occasion demands.
 "The other classes cling to the sugar. loaf hat made principally of a straw of fibre peculiar to the country, or of felt ornamented with gold or silver cord, &C., cording to the means of the wearer or perfectly plain and cheap. They look odd to us, these Mexicans in their white, loose shirts, and trousers, standing idly about in their sunlit adobe cities, as the train speeds on to the capital, and picturesque lot they are truly