The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-09-28
MARTHA'S
OLD LEGHORN
HAT
'SSNsNeNeNsfs)SsNsbsDleNSS
Ga by ID j. Walsh.)

WV ihlTTOT WAS exactly OppOSite
the opening door and as Martha
Lane entered her room she was
faced by her own reflection. She
paused, and the opinion she had been
forming all that afternoon was in
stantly confirmed.
1t had been an agonizing afternoon.
All the other women at Mrs. Sheftield's
had come out in charming new attire.
Cynthia Haven had been positively ra-
diant, although Mrs. Thompson had
worn the more expensive apparel, Gym
thia had convinced all corners that a
woman's charm is coherent with the
shoes she puts on her feet, the dress
she clothes herself in, the hat that
covers her head. That hat! Oh!
Martha moved forward to the mir
ror and sat down before it. The clos
er view did just what she knew II
would-brought her hat into greater
prominence. She sat looking at it
with despair In her eyes.
1t was leghorn hat, one of those
durable, flexible weaves that will last
forever and permit endless shapings.
This hat had gone through every pos
sible variation of it's style. 1t had be-
gun by being floppy with wreath,
but that was long ago, the year Mar
tina was sixteen. She had worn il so
for two summers. Then the wreath
had failed in service and so something
was done with ribbon-blue ribbon !;
she was still young enough for floppy
hats with blue sashes. Two summers
more passed. And now she had bent
the brim and fastened ii with knots
of pale roses. Gordon had thought she
had a new hat and she had laughed.
Really? Didn't he recognize it?"
mo, only the fact that she looked
very nice" In her thoughts she had
blessed the old hat, not Gordons lack
of observation. People were begin
ming to ask when she was going 10 be
married and what she was doing with
her hope chest and she shook her head
gayly. All in Gordon's good time.
She was, of course, ready any time
he spoke, but not impatient. She had
changed the old hat again by covering
the crown with green leaves when
Gordon went away. He had got q
job out West. And still they were
not engaged. She haG half hoped that
he would say something definite be-
fore they parted, but he said nothing,
save the old friendly things. And Mar
tina kept her pride right on top till
he was gone, then nothing mattered
for long time. Still she did not
know then as she knew now that he
had simply walked out of her life and
shut the door behind him. And a
woman. however yearning. does not
open the door a man has shut in this
way.
She went on wearing the leghorn
hat summer after summer, but now
she did not care. What did she care
about what she wore or who saw her
now that Gordon was gone? The old
hat did very very we'll tricked out
with black velvet with a new twist
TO the brim. Il was growing limp and
been very successful. But the fact re-
manned she must wear it because she
could not afford another one.
Times had gone wrong with them
Her mother, a gentle ailinS woman,
had been caught in the glamor of a
lost most of what her father had left
to them. Martha's music pupils left
her almost in a body to go into the
classes of young Professor Weston.
She kept her church position, but that
was not much. 1t was all she could
do to keep up the expenses of the tiny
house and pay her mothers doctor
bills. There was absolutely nothing
for new clothes.
Yet this afternoon she had felt with
sudden pOignance the truth of that
axiom: Nothing succeeds like sue
cess" Surely nobody could have looked
more unsuccessful than herself, wear
ing that old hat with its fresh dis
guise of colOrte and ribbon. She had
been III at ease and had played badly.
Her fingers had tripped over the ia
miliar passages of the Peer Gynt suite,
"ItIlI SHC hCu SiNCh an pam
ment to Mrs. ThOmpSOn'S Greig essay.
Yes, she had failed miserably. The
hat had given her away. Ii had done
more than that, it had revealed to her
as nothing else could the fact that she
was too old for fioppy brims and blue
ribbon. She was twenty-four and her
cares had matured her, in time would
age her. The girlish freshness of Six
teen, the charm that had almost won
Gordon Elbridge had vanished. She
was thin and tired and close to de-
spair.
And the hat-she would never wear
it again after today. She would go
straight way TO Miss Parker, the mil
liner, and buy wise little black
cloche for S29S. She could afford that.
And il would be suitable for one who
looked as old as she did.
where are you going. dear? asked
pale, Intellectual Mrs. Lane as Martha
passed through the room.
"rll be back in twenty minutes,