The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-24
THE HAT IN MEXICO.
silk Hats Now Worn by Officials In- E stead of Sombreros.

" stead of Sombreros. 7.
 Among all we'll bred people great at- tention is paid to the hat of the mascu- line visitor. That emblem of grandee- i, ship, as Richard Ford called 1t, is take at once and carefully placed on a chair quite as if it were a person. It must be treated with respect. A table is also a proper place for it, but chair is bet ter Especially is the top hat distin- guished in etiquette: 1t, implies that the wearer is a real senor, a true eaballero, and it is honored with careful treat on chair safe from casual knocks or jars. Tn common parlance, the top hat is tuna chistera," facetious word, and, speaking seriously, it is '.unsombrero de copa," or "de copa alta" It is an em- blem of social rank, and lawyers often | wear it from morning till night. The sombrero de pa1a, or straw hat, may be of many degrees of f1neness. Sometimes it has a gold or silver cord, and is worn by well-to-do rancheros or great haciendados on proper occasions. l Women on horseback in the country, and formerly in the city, wore hand some sombreros. The sombrero of felt, with it's ornaments, may cost anywhere l from ten dollars to a thousand dollars ] It is the gala hat for horseback on days | of fiestas, and in the country regions is affected by the prosperous. Remember that the hat, in any form, is something to respect. It is taken off as a sign of regard and dererence, or of mere cour- | tesy.
 l The sombrero calanes is the Andalu- sian hat of low crown and broad brim, | the hat of the bull-fighter on the street, l where he receives the homage of the ad- miring populace, especially of the small
 boy. It has it's epochs of coming into quite general use, and is far more pfc-
 turesque than the statd and prim der- by. The latter hat is much affected by the city youth of Mexico, but 1t is for
 eign, alien and an exotic. It is ridicu- lous worn on horseback under the ar dent sun of Mexico or Andalusia. | In old times, Mexicans, as well as | Spaniards of social rank, wore he
 cooked hat, immortalized in Alacon's
 story of the "Sombrero de Tres Picos. D
 The three-cornered hat, properly speak,
 ing, affected by people in times agone,
 was called the "sombrero de tres can diles."
 Boys of the lower classes wear cheap
 straw sombreros to school and the mar
 vel is that they ever distinguish them,
 as they are as much alike as peas in a pod.
 | But to return to our mutton, so to say,
 the hat as a symbol of grandeeship It
 is nowadays the tall hat, the "topper," "
 the silk hat, stovepipe, or what you will. "Gobernadores' wear it, senators and deputies and lawyers, of course, though
 in Mexican cities the younger lawyers
 affect jaunty straw hats in warm
 weather, and often derbys.
 The grandees of Spain of the first
 class have the privilege of remaining
 covered in the presence of their sover-
 eign, and the other day the young King
 Alfonso, receiving party of noblemen
 of high degree who approached him un- covered, said, after a moment, Cover yourselves, senores," which is the an-
 cient etiquette. Thus the hat plays in
 Spanish tradition and actual life cer- emonial part differing from usage in Anglo-Saxon countries.-Modern Mexi- co.