Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-05-07
HER SPRING HAT.
Area OF Fashionable Awning Limited
Only by Money and Nerve Of the
Woman walking under II.
(From the Hartford Courant.)

(From the Hartford Courant)
The new style of womon's hats af
fords ample room for comment. Some
of them cover about nine square feet
Of space; or, to be exact, we have seen
one authentic model that has super
ficies of thirty-two inches by thirty
six inches. As to height, they vary
between seventeen and twenty inches.
In the East to have an umbrella
carried over ones head is a sign of
noble blood distinctions; and the more
noble the blood of the person thus
sheltered the bigger the spread of the
umbrella. But these new spring hats,
in addition to crowding their spread Of
distinction to the verge of full con
ccalinent, attain a depth of something
like a foot and "a half and this is
measure of social cmnlncce for which
the East has no parallel.
OF course, in this free land, any wo
man who has the price and the nerve
can buy n hat of this kind and wear
it, It's use means nothing at all social
~. We have not yet dropped the habit
of judging women by their manner of
speech rather than by their hats. We
have to maintain this habit, for other
wise the prevalence of these big hats
would produce confusion. In continen
tai Europe it is not so. The poor girl
who came out over there with one of
these hats of the high mode would be
laughed out of the Strccts--that is to
say, If she were a respectable girl.
But here. and properly enough, it is
wholly a matter of having the money
to spare and nerve.
Most women are pictures placed in
this world to make up COR common
place man. Each woman--that is to
say, almost each one--has some Ger
tain way of wearing the hair, and
some certain style Of dress, which
make a distinct picture of her. There
are a few women who are fortunate
enough, by variations in costume, to
be equally picture in each. As the
rule, however. every woman is Coou
for one perfect picture and no more.
Where the artistic sense prevails this
one most pleasing style is worked out
| carly and retained, subject of course
! to such changes as increasing years
or suffering may require. But the
| like this persistence of individuality
in woman's dress. They like the
| spring style and the winter STYLE and
naturally they like to make any de-
| parture from these changing styles
appear strange and queer. So poor wo-
| man has been brought into subsection
| to styles that are made for her, and
| that come and 20 with the seasons.
| We are not complaining-all this adds
to the variety If not the spice of life
| but the individual picture which each
! woman might make of herself if she
would. is thereby lost, and with it a
great deal of beauty.
| Most men know now about the roll
| ed hair style. The thin and pallid face
appears with it, and also the round
| and rudy face. The pvculiarities of
each are accentuated and make more
conspicuous by the uniform dressing
| of the hair. The woman with little
| hair wads IT out with stufTing of some
| kind. and the woman with abundant
hair passes in the crowd as also hav-
ing had to stuff her rolls. One can see
by glance at the chorus girls on the
stage how one uniform style is bound
/
that is to say. one may see it if he is
not sitting behind a dowagcr-like per.
son with a large head winged out
with the required rolls. The short and
dumpy chorus girl looks under her
roiIs ike a squat idol Of India, and
tEe tai girl looks as if she had put
on a black or brown or yellow dough-
nut as an ornament. The natural lines
OF each are emphasized in the wrong
I direction.
These big hats are probably an oyo.
! luton from the hair rolls idea. They
cause Of that-we have no doubt
are called Merry Widow; but that
docs not seem to make them more at
tractive. the lustige Witwe not being
ordinarily reckoncd in her own habit
as Sunday school person. The hat
however. and not the name, is the
'hlns; and to mere man it seems too
! piS thlng. In spite of that--or be-
cause or that-we have no doubt that
all Kinds OF women will flock under il.
| ne snort ones will look shorter. the
Tall ones taller, and the thick ones
thicker Presumably among the thou
sands OF the gracious sistcrhood tboro
Will be some hundreds to whom, IL u,il,
give new beauty, but these will 20 i'm
Tor small hats as soon as that extrcmA
becomes the vogue.
is there any use in talking about all
this? Not one bit. One of the fine
things about woman is that she goes
ahead on her own lines, in this matter
or dress. just as soon as she can find
out what the current fashion has nres.
scrlbed FOR her. She is even willing in
saerihce her own individual stvle in
oroer TO look--as far as nature al
lows-like the others,
TnTTN mr~Hr