The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-10-09
Why The Big HATS
. London Times Solves Great
Social Mystery.
WOMEN YET TO BE HEARD
Dress TO women Held 10 he Some
thing More Than a Game--One of
Their Means of Expressing Them
selves-FiHe Clothes Make Most
CT Them Feel Happy.

London. Oct. SIT has remained for the
London Times TO solve one OF the great
social mysteries. Amusement is a mild
term 10 apply to the feelings Of English
men when they found Ia the editorial
columns Of the Thunderer to-day lead
ing article. entitled The problem of the
big hat"
A joke in the columns of Englands
most dignihed journal would scarcely
- have made a greater sensation. Frivolky.
Aghtness, the human touch, are things
tabooed in Printing House Square. And
yet suddenly. without warning, comes
this startling sign Of juvenation-not re
1uvenation, for the Times never was
young.
An Awful Burden.
There Is only one thing to account for
H. That awful burden, the preparation
OF new edition of the British Encyclo-
paedia, has recently been transferred
from the Times to the Cambridge Uni
versity Press. The relief from response
billty has brought too great a reaction.
1t has gone TO the editors head. It has
led him to tackle recklessly and light
heartedly problem which has baffied
the masculine half of humanity since be-
yond the memory Of man. Without fur
tier delay, here is his solution:
1T is commonly said that women are
more unselish than men. And so they
certainly are in the home. They will
sacrifice themselves utterly for particular
man DerffnuIar chfldran
Yet they viii not sacrifice an inch OF
hat brim or feather for the common con-
venience. and they win not tell US the
reason OF this seeming inconsistency.
Men demonstrate. and they smile and
continue 10 wear the hats and the feath-
ers. Therefore it remains for US TO
guess at the reason Of this behavior so
strange 10 us, and We can only guess that
1t is the result of a sense of the relative
Importance Of things different from our
own.
Given Free Play.
when man goes 10 lawn tennis
tournament, he goes to see the play. and
he assumes that women go for the same
reason. Some do. of course. but they
are not representative Of their sex
''They are women who have adopted
the mans point OF view, who are over
powered by the influence Of their fathers
or husbands or brothers. The woman
whose natural instincts have free play
does not consider that any game Is i'm
portant
She is not, as man Is, a game playing
animal But since man always will be
playing games she has arrived at a kind
of compromise with him. She viii go TO
watch his games and profess an interest
in them on condition that she may at
tend 10 her own business all the while.
and her business is to wear a large hat
or whatever else il pleases her TO wear.
1T may seem frivolous business TO
the earnest lawn tennis player. but then
mis- lawn tennis seems frivolous 10 her
II is just a popularity Of his sex to
make fuss about it. she accepts his
peculiarities without fretting about them,
and expects him 10 accept hers.
More Than a Game.
And after all dress TO women IS
something more than a game. It is
one OF their means OF expressing them
selves. Fine clothes makes them feel
happy and as II they were in a glorified
state of existence, freed from the wear
and tear Of its life; in fact as if they
were true birds OF Paradise. with all the
sDlendor Of Paradise in their plumage.
There you have it. There is more of
it, wherein the editor admits that only
Tolstoi and himself have a sufficiently
true insight into woman's nature to be
able 10 solve the riddle.
But the women have yet TO be heard
from in their opinion OF the Times res
olution. We may be sure they will speak
up promptly. It is safe to say the Times
mail bag is already swelling with femi-
nine remarks on its judgment Of femi-
nine character-possibly not eli Of them
in confirmation of its view.