St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-06-07
HATS AND HABITATIONS.

HATS AND HABITATIONS.
Theory of Relation Between Houses
and Headgear Expounded by
an Architect.
Hats and Houses" was the subject
of 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 manner of wearing, and
the other the style of architecture
based upon:it. I
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 frontons. 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 GROWING
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
to clothes. What the natives
first took to he was 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 companion pic
ture of an old-time grass hut. the
similarity of appearance being re-
Next was shown 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
agoda-shaped hats of the Chinese
showed remarkable likenessto pagode
temples of the celestial empire.
A Greek shepherd of ancient times
was shown wearing a hat shaped much
like the triangular -oof on the public
and temples, the glory of the
ancient Grecian architecture. Around
helmet worn by Roman soldier, fit
ting closely to his head, was of the
shape of the great domes upon the
old Roman buildings. A picture of
Turkish turban resembled the domes
upon their mosques.
The crusader wore a tent-shaped
hat, surmounted by cross with have
lock attachments; the tents which the
crusaders used in their journeys to
The Holy Land resembled the hat. In
nediaeval times ladies wore long
.onical hat, and in those days tall,
graceful spires were the chief archi-
tectural 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 sham, consist
ng of ornamentation which covered
l plain background. The ornamental
ion had much the appearance of the
,urled wigs. This is especially notice
lble in the Rocco style. In Spain,
.aps, with wrinkles in the brims, are
worn by women, and the houses in
which they live and the churches in
which they worship have tiled roofs
ooking much like the wrinkles in the
lats. The Indians of North America
wore feathered headgear; their wig
vans and tepees greatly resembled
hese odd hair concentrations. The |
Puritan conical hat found it's resem-
,lance in the steeples which were in
erected over the rude
hurches of early New England.
The plain and severe sunbonnet of,
he grandmothers of 60 and 20 years |
go found its reflection in the plain,
4ustere and INTELLECTUALLY ugly |
Iouses Of the frontier. Even in Ire
and, Pats saucer-like hat looked like |
he hovel in which he lived. The lap
anders wore caps of fur which envel-
ped the faces like muffs; the ice
louses in which they lived were the
anne shape, the entrance being a
ound hole through which they
rawled to the interior. In the tall
ilk tiles affected nowadays by the
wager set Mr.. Newcomb saw re-
emblance in the great skyscrapers
ound in all the large cities. !