The Topeka state journal., 1905-07-01


her friends spoke their approval.
you're foolish if you don't buy that
hat" said the tall, blonde one, decid-
edly. Il never saw. you look SO well.
It's very becoming"
'Do you really think so ?" Jane ap-
pealed. Don't you think 1t looks
awfully old. and dignified, and sort o.
Inappropriate for me?"
mo, indeed" returned the short,
dark one. ITS very good indeed, on
you--in fact the reason I like it is
that it isn't kiddish and your hats are
usually altogether too young for you.
That's the best hat ever saw on you."
'sWell, of course, I've got to come to
it sometime" sighed Jane, 'sor I'll be
going around here all old and gray
and rheumatic with grandchildren
hanging to me, in school girls hat,
with daisy wreath around the crown.
But I don't see how I'm ever to get
used to it. 1t doesn't look bit like
me and I'd always feel SO foolishly
dressed up in it."
you'll get used to it and then it
will look just like you," said the tall
blonde one, reaSsuringly-
''And maybe if you buy little hat
like that, and wear veil, youH keep
it on straight" added the short, dark
one.
''But if I didn't" said Jane. How
much more terrible a proper. lady like
hat would look set at a rakish angle
than one of my old knockabouts.
Jane didn't buy the hat, at least not
that hat, after all. She couldn't bring
herself to it then, she said, so she put
her old Topping wide-rimmed hat with
the black taffeta bow in front back on
and wore it the rest of the season. But
she was getting up her courage, grad
ually, and preparing for a radical
change. So this spring-that was last
winter you know-when the polo tur-
bans came ins she bought, not a polo,
bat turban something On the same or
der, but larger. In doing this she did
not, she explained definitely to the
tall blonde one and the short dark one,
commit herself irrevocably to lady-like e
hats, but she had looked everyplace
and couldn't find a single hat of her
old tried and true kind, and in despair
pared to the polos and the little
Tommy Atkinses, which everyone else
was wearing, it looked quite decent and
wearable. The tall blonde one and the
short, dark one, were delighted, and all
her other friends agreed that it was
the most becoming and suitable hat
she had yet worn. Jane said nothing
in reply to their compliments, but
mutely turned up her nose. She knew
very well what praise of that sort
means: mot that one looks well,''
she said to herself, ''but that one has
always looked horrid and now looks a
little better
So she wore the turban without en-
out looking at it or trying to accustom
herself to its Strangeness. And all the
time she was telling herself that it was
but makeshift. Later she would be
able to find hat that suited her-one
of the old kinds-and she would buy it
and discard her lady-like acquisition.
With this in mind, she went about re-
ligiously and regularly visiting the
shops and looking at all the new hats,
but still hopelessly. Sometimes she
thought she had found the very hat
she wanted. when she saw it in the
case, but when she tried it on 1t never
pleased her. There was always some
thing wrong.
What's the matter with the hats
this spring" she said one day pettishly
to her favorite saleswoman, from
whom she had bought her hats for
years. you used always to know
what wanted and find it for me right
off. Why can't find one of my old
kind of hats?"
why, don't know said the sales
woman diplomatically. "I think that
turban you have on is very becoming.
I like it better than any hat I've sold
you in long time"
"Oh, this!'' replied Jane scornfully
'I merely took this because all my
friends wanted me to buy little prop
er street hat.- but I don't intend to
suppose L shall have to wear this sort
of hat some day, that I won't look
right in anything else, but don't mean
to do it till have to-
Don't you like it?" asked the sales
woman looking at her wonderingfy.
''I'd like it all right on some people, %
Jane returned. 80, l dare say it looks
well enough, if I could think SO. but
don't feel comfortable in it. Now,
there" she said. indicating a young
girl who had Just entered the shop.
there's my kind of a hat. Why can t
I find one like that?''
'I showed you one like that last
week" said the saleswoman.
Don't you remember? That hat
was bought here"
'well, if I tried on a hat like that
I must have been asleep" retorted
Jane. st don't remember 1t at all,
and I'm sure "a like it, for it's Just my
sort-the kind used always to wear.
and to find the first thing. 1 was never
known to go about looking like this
until this season"
.'Well, we have one of those hats
left if you would like to try it again.
suggested the saleswornan.
Let me see it, said Jane.
She stood for long time in front
of the triple mirror after the sales
woman had placed the hat on her
the glass. Then she took off the hat
and looked it all over carefully 1t
was certainly her kind Of a hat. It
was a dark blue straw, just the color
OF her SulI, SlInple, Win WlQe TOlung
brin, little narrower behind than in
front and filled in with blue corn flow
ers. She put it on again, and looking,
frowned and shook her head in per-
plexity. Then she turned to look at
the girl who had just come into the
shop. She was a young girl-possibly
nineteen and pretty because she was
young, with complexion fresh
but not faultless. youthful round
cheeks, bright eyes and fluffy brown
hair arranged with that deft, accurate
feeling for the latest and most becom-
ing in coiffure, which seems to belong
inalienably to school girls. And STAR
ing at her first in anxious question
then in dawning intelligence, Jane un-