Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-27

an Easter hat. Perish the thought! The
Chanteclers would Starve in the midst
OF their improvised plate-glass-w window
barnyards were such the case. And the
WIDOW and the orphan would, many of
them. have to go hatless to church. But
this is the medium or in-between price
There are thousands Of women who get
an Easter hat only by the direst Of econ
a plain straw, which yet conforms to the
prevailing shape and contour as truly as
the most expensive SHOW" hat Of the mil
<linery studio, and take it home, where
trimming in use last season is steamed
and pressed and made to do" for an
other spring. Nor must the precise
minded forget the large class that, buy
ing this same price chapeau, feels able to
expend a few dollars more and has it
trimmed free with foliage or some mex
pensive material at the shop.
Last spring. when Paris hadn't been
flooded. the average hat might have been
a dollar lower. For that is said to be the
real reason for this springs advance in
turer and wholesale milliner basing every
calculation on what is thought correct at
the French capital. The disturbed condi-
tons there having given spring industries
seth ck and caused necessary advance
in price of materials, the American ere
ator' sees no good reason why he should
not give his homemade but lust as
good" hats a slight financial lift, arguing,
probably, that it isn't his fault there was
no flood here. In logical sequence, the
local hat merchants were compelled to
both pay and demand a greater sum. And
SO to that uprising of the far-on Seine
the Washington woman is indebted for
the unusual depletion of her purse.
~
In size the Easter hats are larger than
for several millinery seasons past. Not
u;r "a odv - he 20 ad
Widow" whose proportions and daring
and dash would require the adjeetives of
circus press agent to fittingly describe,
have they been quite so enormous. Con-
sequenuy the hat boxes into which they
are carefully packed for shipment across
the country or the town must be CORE
spondingly larger than the same recep-
tacles for the turbans and insignificant
to1ues Of last spring Getting an aver
urements furnished by representative mil
linery folk. 1t was found that the typical
box is two feet by two feet by one foot,
making. of course, four cubic feet in each.
Naturally the hats themselves are much
smaller. for where would be the beauty
of plumes or smartness of stiff wings If
pressed against the sides of a paste
board box? Their very fragility demands
ample space, yet, even So, the tendency of
said wings and agrettes and loops of
wide velvet bows to project far beyond
the broad round brims popular this spring
enables one to figure on three cubic feet
for them. including the trimming, but
without the box, as perfectly reasonable.
In order to bring these $1,000 hats to
Washington by train it would require 40
freight cars. the inside measurements of
each one being thirty-six feet long, eight
and one-half feet wide and seven and one
half feet high. Multiplying these dimen-
sions one by the other gives the cubical
contents of one car as 9 C15 cubic feet IF
hats could be loaded as wheat is 573 Of
them could be shipped in a car and only
131 cars would be required. But the hat
boxes, each measuring four cubic feet,
have to be racked in the cars, and this
a loss Of 30 cubic feet of
space in each one. SO that only 5O4 boxes
Of hats can find room within it. And
there is arrangement which will save
this amount of waste.
In estimating the length of train one