The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1918-05-17
Little-Hat
Lady
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BY JANE OSBORN
Copyright 1918 by the Mcclure Newspa.
per Syndicate)

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Copyright 1918, by the Mcclure Newspa
per Syndlcate)
Designing hats for Il popular-pric
wholesale millinery establishment wa
not Upton Tre0d's ideal of n stalwurt
llfe-slzed mans occupation, SIN evel
young men with that innate feellni
for line and color that marks them-o
brands them-as artists before the!
have had Il fair chance To determin,
for themselves whether they wish I,
follow an artists career or not, hav,
to eat and have 10 he clothed.
Stlll Upton did not like to have peo
pie know the nature of his artistic
work. In the morning after breakfast
he got out his drawing board and shu
up In his snug little chntz room. hC
would call into being first the image
OF heads Of fair women, and then, as Il
by magic, he would summon hats e
crown them. Hastily and with quick
stroke Of his pencil he would sketch
the pretty heads and then, with mi
nuteness that made reproduction by q
milliner possible, he would portray the
hat. Having made some four or five
sketches he would roll them up secure.
ly in his portfolio and after having
had luncheon in the hotel dining room,
he would sally forth to the millinery
establishment there to deliver his
wares. They were not always accept
ed. Tn fact, he was expected only 10
deliver two designs a day and he made
sometimes as many rs six. After his
visit to the milliner's he had good
part Of the afternoon free-not en-
tirely free, either, for If he elected 10
go TO one of the fashionable indoor
ice Kinks he always had before him
the task of studying the wOmen's hats,
not so much to get ideas" for designs
but 10 learn-what TO him was the
hardest lesson-what women thought
was becoming. Upton had ideas of his
own about beauty in wOmen's apparel,
and often when he made design that
he thought was his masterpiece 1t was
only to have the manager of the milli-
merry establishment push the design
aside, declaring that If he put out hats
like that his business would be ruined.
So Upton would carry back the reject
ed drawings and crush them into his
waste basket and start afresh the next
morning with an effort to surpass his
own notions about hats.
Upton always worked In secrecy.
You see he was not proud Of his call
ing. If the substantial, slow-movlng
chambermaid happened still to be set
ting his room to rights when he re-
turned from breakfast, he was lOath
TO get out his drawing things, but lin
gered over his morning paper or
walked idly about his room. One day
after she had left the room and he had
begun in earnest, there was a knock at
his door and, without waiting for Up
ton TO call out come" the chamber
maid stuck her head in the door. She
held a waste basket in her hand. "You
don't make a mistake, sir, do you, and
throw away picters you want?" she
asked. "Some of these here pretty
girls heads, 1 mean, seems most too
good to throw away"
"Oh, those" Upton said as the
woman held up crushed and crump-
led girls head wearing what the day
before he had judged one of his best
designs only to have it condemned as
impossible by the practical millinery
manager, "those are rubbish. just do
them--to amuse myself, as it were"
And the chambermaid withdrew, drag
ging her mop and carpet sweeper after
her.
The hat in question was inspired by |
q mussel shell. Upton had seen hats |
that were inspired by roses and sweet
peas and even by canary birds. That
sort of thing was trite. He happened |
to have a few shells thai ne had gath
cred on the sea shore the summer be-
fore and treasured for no very good |
reason, and it occurred to him one day
that in the graceful curves of the mus
sci shell and in its deep, penetrating
black with brown, green and blue shad-
ingS, he might devise hat that would
be worth designing. The head he drew
for this design was the head of a sea
nymph. He always made the faces
first to suit the hats-if the hat show
ed Japanese influence the girl was
slightly slant-eyed, If she wore a SOM
brerO she was Of Spanish features.
The hat was Of black silk above with
of brown and blue and the
lining beneath the brim was of the
gray Of the inside of
nussel shell. Upton really reveled in I
his hat--only to have it rejected the
lext day at headquarters, while an in
;lpld little hat of dark blue straw with {
/ cherry dangling at one side was pro-
bounced a "wlnner." I
Upton had not learned his lesson. |
n another daring mood he designed
hat that he said was inspired by a |
German air raid at night, though the '
millinery manager did not even at q
empt to see the similarity. He did {
dmit however, that the design was c
riginal and might do for a theatrical ! b