The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-01-30
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bH, VICTOR MEEkINS
WOMEN AMONG US WHO
WROUGHT GOOD FOR ALL
hY VICTOR MEEkINS

them mentioned In puDllc prints,
but | have been thinking about
them a long time. The Hat Styl-
ers were a group of young women
who came into the Coastland in
the spring and again in the fall
for short time, and like the
migratory birds of today, departed
when the season was over, some
never to return. Like migratory
birds however, there was one now
and then who remained and in
just about every instance remem-
bered, they have proved of ines
Unable benefit to the community
where she made her home.
Off hand l can think of COM
munities in five counties which
were the better because some hat
styler remained and married. In
Wanchese, in Engelhard, in CO.
lumbia and over in Currituck
County l personally know of some
valuable womenfolks, unfortunate
ly all of them now aging widows,
who deserve medals for their
community usefulness aside from
their contribution to home MAX
ing.
A half-century ago it was the
vogue to make every woman's hat
to order. The foundation for the
hat came from Baltimore whole
salers, and every country mer-
chant of consequence stocked up on
spring and winter hats. In Balti-
more the wholesalers ran schools
which trained young women from
the nearby territory to come to the
city and take courses in hat styl-
ing. Northern Virginia and Mary
land furnished most of these stu
dents. When a North Carolina
country merchant sent out the
call, the Baltimore school sent
down a milliner for as long as
needed.
1t was shocking to behold in
those days the things that wom-
ems fancy commanded for their
hats. There were stuffed birds in
all colors, swords and belt buck
les, and a variety of grotesque
ornaments which included all the
letters of the arabic languages,
the Hebrew and perhaps the orig
inal Greek. There were swastikas,
crosses of St. Andrew, the cres-
cent moon, the full moon, the
stars. But by, and large, women's
hats ran to birds; birds all the way
up from the size of a humming
bird to carrier pigeon, dyed in all
shades of color
Some people today may wonder
what happened, to end all this
bird business for women's hats.
A business which no doubt
brought many a dollar to farm
boys across the land who trapped
and slew the birds for market.
Why, Pll tell you. There was a
Dutch immigrant boy named Ed
ward w. Box who rose to the
powerful position of editor of the
Ladies Home Journal. He waged
an unremitting campaign against
tie cruel slaughter of our feath-
eled friends, and aroused so much
public sentiment that women were
frightened out of using the stuffed
birds, and turned to other things
of celluloid and brass.
Mr.. Box is credited with having
saved the birds, but he did the
Coastland great dis-service
thereby, for when women could
no longer indicate the Widespread
or the angle of the bird on their
hats, the demand for the hat-styl-
ers ended and they came among
us no longer. But the few years
when the hat-styler was in vogue
were years of value to our little
neighborhoods which was favored
with their spring and autumn so
journing.
These young women being handy
with a needle of course, it was
readily assumed they were handy
at home-making. They proved to
be such. They were desired by the
counting men of the community,
particularly widowers with small
children who were better judges
of the worth of a woman than
were the gangling SWANS who
goggled at these new girls. l
know of one exceptional milliner
who married widower with sew
eral children, and proved herself
perfect mother for them. Beside
raising a child of her own, she
served her community and county
well in religious and educational
affairs.
In all my rambles about this
Coastland there hasn't come to my
attention a single case of hat
styler whose marriage didn't turn
out to the advantage of the COM
munity. 1t has also been fortu-
nate for us that so many teachers
have remained as married women
and reared families, otherwise we
would have been faced with de-
ficiency in blood supply, isolated
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