The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-15
Season For Straw Lids
 Comes To An End Today

1 According to immemoria1 custom, today marks the close of the straw l hat season, and after the stroke ot
 midnight the '1id'' which has enjoy 1 will become passe. The fifteenth of liSeptenaber has long marked the dead-lin% for the summer headwear. and fro the Atlantic to the Pacific those " 10 would be considered cor rect in Attie will visit the natter to- day, if they have not already done so. and invest in a new 1918 model top- piece Of course, many married men, especially those with large families will have to be content with last years lid, which the housewife has care fully wrapped in tissue paper and placed on the top shelf in the closet. Whats more. the wearer will hypno- tize himself into the belief that it ia a perfectly good hat.
 One ground for hope that we are growing more civilized is to be found in the fact that the man who. from necessity, or choice, clings to his lid of straw for few days or weeks longer. scarcely need fear bodily harm. Not so many syears ago the appearance of a man wearing a straw hat after the fifteenth of September was greeted with hoots and jeers of derision, and he would be fortunate if he escaped assault by some hood lurn bent upon "smashing the lid.F This sort of thing was prevalent in
 many cities, and when the victim complained to the legally constituted authorities he usually got little sym pathy.
 Well. don't you knoV that GUS tom prohibits the wearing of straw hats after the fifteenth Of septem- ber?' This question was about all the satisfaction the outraged man would get. perhaps coupled with some sage observation to the effect that 'sboys will be boys"
 Only men looking for trouble, or those so unfortunate as to be able to provide themselves with other head wear, wore straw hats in public places during the prohibited period in the lsgood old days n1owadays it is comparatively safe, and the hat slnasher who f1ourished undismayed in other times is likely to find that the courtsl do not now look so len iesnt1y upon his efforts to enforce the tyranny of public opinion. which de- ntands that all men shall dress alike and conform to all the sartoria.t edicts.e Tn other times the straw hat season was strictly limited to- tbe three months between Jdne 18th and September 18th. but in most cities the season now opens much earlier. and can be extended later if the weather is favorable
 While theaslavfsh observance of mia September as the close of the straw bonnet season is no longer enforced, most men have found that the uds which they donned so blithel1 last May orA June, and which were origi- na1Iy of the pronounced peroxide blonde type, are now decidedly bru- nette, and they will hail with delight sthe autumnal covering for their domes of thought. oh such the local matters provide wide variety, rang ing from the devil-rnay- rah-rah boy lid. with its splendiferous ribbon. to the a1tttndinous silk affected by so- sciety leaders and 5eoachmen.
 But bear this in mind: You, mas culine reader, are free, white, and maybe twenty-one, and if you want to cling for while longer you are at liberty to do so. The courts will sustain you in that right. But
 A tour of inspection of the main thoronghfAre will enable you 10 dis cover in the shop windows a hobby lid Of the latest model exactly suited to your style of puchritude- Go to itI