The Washington times., 1902-07-27

7 HEN you see a horse hitched
I" to any sort of vehicle stop
and crane its neck at a
bright show window on any
OF Washington's streets you can take it
for granted that some especially fancy
bit of horse millinery has caught its
eye. The displays in that line are
unique this year and gorgeous to a de-
gree; in fact, they rival the array set
forth for the fair sex and the depletion
OF the purses of the sterner portion of
humanity.
AS in the fashions for women. so in
those for equines. Paris leads the pro-
cession. But Washington, not being far
behind Paris in some things. and espe-
claliy in millinery styles. will doubtless
be able. if all indications come true, to
give the French metropolis pointers on
horse hats also. Some of the brightest
minds and the most artistic have been
engaged to turn out the most rakish
headgear for horses. and the results are
something almost beyond belief. There
are inventors in the National Capital
and elsewhere who have the welfare of
brain. Not being content with seeing
that the animals have been provided
with hats and bonnets to keen their
foreheads from being tanned, they are
diligently at work trying to devise
new sort of appliance in the form of
lat that will combine all sorts of com
forts for the equine.
hat nd
bonnets. There are sweet little bon
nets for the gay and skittish colts. tall
hats for race horses, fiat hats for ell
oerly equines, bonnets for the very aged
and pokes for those who like that sort
o: thing. And then there are the per-
sons who have utterly no Judgment in
the matter, and who dress their horses
UP in any old thing that happens to be !
at hand, and which will pass at a pinch
for hat. The variety is great. and
the trimming may also be as elaborate |
as the fancy Of the owner may desire
Some Are Elaborate.
Many of the hats to be seen on horses
On the streets OF Washington daily dur
ing the hot weather are well worth
careful examination. Some are trimmed
with rufTies of ribbon and have little
knots and clusters of flowers placed
ooquettishly at the side. In some cases
the horses having this superfiuity of
rakish adornment become wise, and Il
grin of placid contentment settles upon
their coUntenances and extends from
ear to ear. Other hats are as plain in
scrt generally worn by farmers in all
parts of the country. Many times rib
hons, laces, and flowers are piled on
the straw foundations with reckless ex-
travagance. There is no limit to the
expense OF the things to those who wish
to attire their equines in the latest |
styles, and the millionaire can get his
favorite mare a hat that will rival that
OF his wife if he so desires.
Generally these specimens of equine
headgear are of straw. Trimmings and
further adornments come afterward.
The straw portion of the hat is usually
similar to that form of cheap straw hat
known as the "hayseed hat" and which
can be purchased at any ordinary mems
furnishing store where countrymen are
wont to deal There are, of course,
different styles and shapes of these
horse hats, but in the main they ad-
here pretty closely TO those worn by
members of the human family in the
rural districts of the country. ,
When the demand for horse bonnets ,
became general last year harness manu- !
facturers bought up thousands of coarse Z
straw hats intended for tho use of man, 6
cut more or less neat holes in the brims
for the ears of the horses, bound the r
hats with cheap cloth, attached stream I
ers TO tie under the horses throats. and
sent the improvised sunshades to dealers I
in horse millinery throughout the entire
n
But this year such crude affairs will u