Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-04-24
HATS AND
Theory of Relation between Houses
and Headgear Expounded by
an Architect.

Hats and Houses was the subject
of a novel Commute Illustrated talk
lately given by Edgar Allen Poe New
comb, the architect, in the rooms of
the Young Women's Christian associa-
ton, says the Honolulu Advertiser.
Mr.. Newcomb's address was intended
to show the relationship of the head
gear of various peoples in both an
cient and modern times to their habi-
tations and public buildings. In 40
large colored illustrations, designed
personally by Mr.. Newcomb, the SINH
larity was made. striking. The designs
were arranged in pairs, one to show
the hat and of wearing, and
the other the style of architecture
based upon it.
The speaker began by saying that
his talk was upon Hats and Houses,
or Headgear and Habitation," but
which should come first in order was
difficult to determine, as difficult as it
is to determine whether primitive man
wore clothes before he chose his cave.
He said that every nation under the
sun has its own style of architecture,
as well as certain kind of %headgear
peculiar to its people. Helmets,
turbans, miters, bonnets. hats and
wigs seemed to bear a certain like
ness to domes. spires, turrets, pagodas,
gables and fr%ontons, but just why this
should be he was unable to say.
In some of the examples shown Mr..
Newcomb called attention to the fact
that the headdress bore the form of
the whole building, as in the Hawaiian,
Laplander and Egyptian styles; in
some it resembled only the browning
point of the building, as in the Grecian,
Roman, Russian and Turkish styles,
and in others the form was only car
ried through the detail of the build
ing, as in the Rocco style. Speaking
of the ancient styles of architecture,
he called attention TO the grass house
of the Hawaiian islands. which seemed
to have been the prevailing style long
before civilization placed her frigid
finger on the natives and turned their
attention to clothes. What the natives
first took to he wa unable to say, but
he knew that the Hawaiian hat as worn
to-day was one of the characteristic
things now made and worn here. He
showed an illustration of the lei-be-
decked hat and also Il companion pic
ture of an old-time grass hut, the
similarity of appearance being re-
%markable. Next was shown a picture
of an Egyptian wearing the peculiar
headgear which is seen in the architec-
tural features of their temples--a fiat
top with the sides diverging. The tall
pagoda-shaped hats of the Chinese
showed remarkable likenessto pagoda
temples of the celestial empire.
A Greek shepherd of ancient times
was shown wearing a hat shaped much
like the triangular roof on the public
buildings and temples, the glory of the
ancient Grecian architecture. Around
helmet worn by a Roman soldier, fit
ting closely to his head, was of the
shape of the great domes upon the
old Roman buildings. A picture of a
Turkish turban resembled the domes
upon theirmosques.
The crusader wore a tent-shaped
hat, surmounted by a cross with have
lock attachments; the tents which the
crusaders used in their journeys to
the Holy Land resembled the hat. In
medieval times ladies wore a long
conical hat, and in those days tall,
graceful spires were the chief archi-
t%ectural feature of the churches.
Kings of old France wore huge curly
wigs, which were shams and often COW
cred bald heads: the architecture of
their times was also a sham, consist
ing of characterization which covered
a plain background. The ornamental
ton had much the appearance of the
curled wigs. This is especially notice
able in the Rocco style. In Spain,
caps, with wrinkles in the brims, are
worn by women, and the hop5es in
which they live and the churches in
which they worship have tiled roofs
looking much like the wrinkles in the
hats. The Indians of North America
wore feathered headgear; their wig
vans and tepees greatly r%esembled
these odd hair concentrations. The
Puritan conical hat found it's resem-
blance in the steeples which were in
variably erected over the rude
churches of early New England.
The plain and severe sunbonnet of
the g%randmothers of 60 and 70 years
ago found its reflection in the plain,
austere and INTELLECTUALLY ugly
houses of the frontier. Even in Ire
land, Pats saucer-like hat looked like
the hovel in which he lived. The Lap
landers wore caps of fur which envel-
oped the faces like muffs; the ice
houses in which they lived were the
same shape, the entrance being a
round hole through which they
crawled to the interior. In the tall
silk tiles affected nowadays by the
swagger set Mr.. Newcomb saw a re.
semblance in the great skyscrapers
found in all the largo cities.