The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-26

Said a friend the other day: WHY
in the world don't you write about
buying a spring hat and the terror
hat-buying~is TO a woman if she has
not much money to put into headgear?
The other day 1 saw a woman on
Sixth street with another woman and
they were gazing in millinery windows
and talking about hats. Even at
funeral I never saw such a distressed
look on face: it was abject misery;
she was saying:
No. that place is too high, [ know.
Oh, dear, l wish one could go without
hats" l felt SO sorry for her. she need
ed hat and was trying to find a
cheap one. The tragedies that are in
volved in looking fer Cheap thingsi
There's a subject for the woman's
page"
My friend is right. There's tragedy
enough in hunting for cheap things.
and especially in the hat line Nobody
Knows who isn't a woman how many
pangs they suffer, how much agony is
involved, IN mere clothes. That is be-
cause their lives are made up of small
thlngS- Of course, this is meant for
the women who have to economic;
not for those who can walk in and
- 0-AeA@7N W AAeAA tlAE1 Auitl EQteSS Oh
the cost. One Of the small tragedies
Of Woman's life is to be able to have
one new hat year, Or one new gown,
and have that one thing turn out bad
ly. No words will explain this, EXCEPT
TO the woman who has so suffered and
she VIII understand. This probably will
sound very silly to man, but no man
viii read it for when he sees some
thing in the headlines about hats he
viii turn over the page. So. girls, let's
talk it out. Men viii say that we pay
too much attention to what we wear
but what is poor girl to do? As far
as hats are concerned. they make or
mar ones appearance and should be
chosen with great care. The trouble is
that some women buy spring hat too
early, and then if they have to wear il
during the entire season, by July the
hat is shabby. There is not much
economy in cheap hats, and yet if one
cannot afford to buy good hats. there
you are. It is better, however. to buy
good hat and pay good price for it,
once in two or three years, than to
have a cheap one new every year
Some Of you may not agree with me,
but try and see.
I have a friend IN New York who
dresses we'll and manages her ward
robe in the most businesslike way.
She knows each year just how much
she can spend, and before buying any
thing she studies the question care
fully, goes about TO the shops, prices
things, watches the styles and does
nothing in a hurry. She buys each
year winter hat, spring and summer
hat; a winter cloth suit and spring
cloth suit These she gets at good
places after much consulting with her
dressmaker. Consequently she is al
ways well dressed, and seldom regrets
having bought anything. 1t is never
we'll to purchase clothes or hats in a
hurry, especially the latter. To live to
regret ones only hat is q bitter thingi
If women could wear the sort of
things that men do, much trouble
would be saved and life be robbed of
many problems. But. alas, we are not
able to make a revolution in womens
dress and adopt a habit or uniform,
and perhaps men would be the first to
object IL we did.
A writer in the June Harper'S Bazaar
asks if, as women advance in the scale
of progress, viii they leave the love of
dress behind? Then she says that the
dress of women today is prettier and
daintier than it ever was and she ar
CUES from this that dress reform-Or
what is called dress reforms not
gaining. 1t is just as well to trust
women on the dress question. They
Will settle it in the best way.