The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-15
THE DEATH KNELL
 OF THE STRAW LID

According to immemoriai custom, today marks the close of the straw hat season, and after the stroke o midnight the 91id'' which has enjoy ed masculine favor for several month will become passe. The fifteenth Of September has long marked the dead line for Summer headwear, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific those who would be considered correct in attire will visit the natter today. if they have not already done so, and invest in a new 1918, six-cylinder, ninety horsepower 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 carefully wrapped in tissue paper and placed on the top shelf in the hall closet. Whats more, the wearer will hypnotize himself into the belief that it is a perfectly good hat and that he looks pretty nifty in it.
 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. cljngs to his lid of straw for a few days or weeks longer, scarcely need fear bodily harm. Not so many years ago the ap- pearance 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 hoodlum bent upon smashing the lid.'' There is one place, however, where smash ing the straw lid" on the fifteenth of September is still the rule, and that is on the New York Stock Exchange. The trouble is that not a member of f11o |, xry;Il s>, hat on that day. But it has happen ed and still does, from time to time, that some busy broker will forget all about the, rule to "can the straw lid'' and his appearance on the floor" is the signal for a football rush on the part of the other members to destroy that hat, and not infrequently the for getful wearer comes in for rather hard usage in the process.
 In the good old days" hat smash ing was a regular custom and only the heavyweight champion of the day had the temerity to appear in straw hat after the fifteenth. Nowadays it is comparatively safe, and the hat smasher who flourished undismayed in other days would find that the courts are not likely to look 1eniently upon his efforts to enforce public opinion. which demands that all men shall dress alike and conform to all sar- torial edicts.
 While the slavish observance of mid-September as the close of the straw bonnet season is no longer en- forced, most men have found that the lids which they donned so blithely last May or June, and which were orf- ginally of the pronounced peroxide blonde type, are now decidedly bru- nette, and most of them hail with de- light the Autumnal covering for their domes of thought. Of such the local matters provide a wide variety, rang ing from the devil-may-care Rah-Rah boy lid, with its splendiforous ribbon to the altitudinous silk affected by society leaders. bankers, statesmen and coachmen.
 But don't forget this: The leading style in mems headwear this season is a soft khaki-colored hat, which matches excellently with the uniform worn by Uncle Sams soldiers. Quite a number of fashionable men through out the country will be seen effect ing this attractive combination this season.