Stetson hat

“ After peering against it ineffectually for a while she took off the three-cornered hat and proceeded to undo her work of the day before, removing the pins and letting down the rim.
The wearing of a man's hat was one of those things which she herself would "never have thought of." But just at a time when she had been having experience with the tribulations of a big leghorn on horseback, she saw a woman with a man's hat turned up at the side; and the next day she had procured one like it, which she turned up in the same manner with a breastpin. ”

“ It is, therefore, not unfair to assume that the manipulation of vegetable fibres, such as leaves, rushes, straws and other similar products, was really the earliest textile operation. That once conceded, it is no long step to the use of the “plaitted” article as a head covering.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica, in its articles on “Costume” and “Hats” states that the “modern hat can be traced back to the Petasus worn by the ancient Romans when on a journey”; and similar hats, known as Kausia, were also used by the ancient Greeks on like occasions. ”

“ Some plaits with prominent heads or fancy embellishments require two or more “strainers” or even a thickness of flannel [98] between the iron and the hat to prevent bruising, but plaits such as these are generally “blocked” by being “steamed” (trade term) , that is the shaping on the block is entirely done by the hand of the operator after the material has been softened in the “steampot.” When hats are, as they always were till about 1885, of “one piece” make, the crown having been finished, is taken off the wooden block and placed head downward in the “curler” or “brimmer” of wood. ”

“ The round ladies' hat, however, of the middle and end of the last century, may be seen in its primitive state in those enormous circles of straw, brought from Tuscany, and sold in our milliners' shops, fit to be pinched and cut into the prevailing fashion. The hats, both of men and women—when once they had quitted the becoming costume of the Middle Ages—arose out of one and the same type; a large circle of stuff with a projecting central cap for the skull. Human invention, in the matter of hats, seems for several centuries to have rested in this solitary idea. ”

“ Vesta Custis often saw the odd little man come into church while she was singing, and she fancied that his large, coarse ears were turned to receive the music she was making, and she faintly remembered that once she had held in her hands that wonderful hat with its copper buckle in the band, and stiff, wide brim, flowing in a wave. More than that she knew nothing, except that the wearer was an humble-born, grasping creature—a forester without social propensities, or, indeed, any human attachments. ”

“ The face beneath the hat was round and plump, very dirty, quite keen, frescoed with tobacco-juice and embossed with a short, stumpy beard. As the figure drew nigh the group on the lawn, boot, shoe, pants, coat and face seemed to blend into an animated object, while the bran new hat kept calling out, like a side-show man on a fair ground, "Here we are! Now you have us! An epitome of Hard Times! A parody on financial acumen! A caricature on the fat of the land! What aint rags is dirt, and what aint dirt is bugs! We're the remnant of other days! We're the breaking-up-of-a-hard-winter! ”

“ As much sleight of hand is required in this department, it naturally follows that a good workman is a valuable and appreciated artisan.
The bodies used for this kind of hat have been so various, that a full, or even succinct, description of them would be quite superfluous. Wool and fur bodies, straw and leghorn, cork, whalebone and muslin, &c., even stretchers similar to umbrellas without a body at all have been adopted, and all of them have had their day. At present, however, the trade seems to have settled down to the two kinds—fur and muslin. ”

“ It may be asked, why not, to prevent accidents, render the Hat water-proof? that is, impervious to the action of either atmosphere or rain. The thing is easy enough, I admit; but where there is a choice of only two evils, it is always best to select the least. We all know (or should know) that if a man were to enclose himself, arms, legs, and body, in what is called an oil-skin dress, and that drawn close round the neck, the whole tightly fitted to every part of his person as a Hat is to the head, the most unpleasant consequences would ensue ”

“ Head linings should invariably be white or the natural colour of the material, as dyed stuffs in this position are especially liable to be dangerous, being readily acted upon by the perspiration of the forehead.
An advantage of not having a smooth-faced lining to hats is that the hat need not fit so tightly, for if the surface be somewhat rough, the hat will be supported by friction against the hair and skin. Hats should be perfectly fitted to the shape of the head, but should not be made tighter than is absolutely necessary. ”

“ The chief shapes to mark in this century in male head-dress is the increased height of the tall hats which rise to vie with the female fashions. We still see a round hat [96] with a rolled edge and long fall over one side, besides shorter folds in the crown, both scalloped or foliated at the edge, and this shape may be noted till about 1460. Some of these hats were made without a crown, as in Fig. 28 (see p. 94) ; the roll was decorated, as a rule, with jewelled studs. A top hat, something like our present shape, appears, but more belled at the top and also a padded, rolled brim. ”

“ This is a most slovenly practice, as well as a dangerous one, inasmuch as it tends to keep the head in a continual and forced state of perspiration, rendering a liability to "take cold," every time the hat is removed. Yet even this habit is not so bad as sticking the hat on the back of the head, which, of all others, is the most general, and carries with it the greatest impropriety, because such a position not only destroys the shape, but by lodging on the coat collar, the hind part, from friction, becomes greasy, and the binding is always in a state of raggedness ”

“ It has no distinction, no beauty of color or romance; it appeals neither to the senses, nor the mind, nor the eye, and it must be very uncomfortable. It is meagre and stunted. The hat, above all, struck me; it is a sort of truncated column, and does not adapt itself in the least to the shape of the head; but I am told it is easier to bring about a revolution than to invent a graceful hat. Courage in Paris recoils before the thought of appearing in a round felt; and for lack of one day's daring, men stick all their lives to this ridiculous headpiece. ”

“ If you can have an American hatter remodel it, making it weigh half a pound less, it will be perfection, always provided that he does not, as he assuredly will unless you forbid it, throw away the soft, rough band, which keeps the hat in place, and substitute one of the American smooth bands, designed to slip off without ruffling the hair, and doing it instantly, the moment that a breeze touches the brim of the hat. ”

“ Never before or since in this country did the introduction of a new fashion in hats spread with such rapidity as did the "Kossuth." All hat factories in the country were taxed to their utmost capacity to supply the demand, until every American citizen, old and young, was to be seen wearing a soft hat ornamented with an ostrich plume. It was the "Kossuth" that marked the era of the introduction of the soft or slouch hat, and stimulated the sale of that undress article of headwear, which continued in vogue throughout the United States for a number of years. ”

“ The same may be said of what was once described to me as a ‘human’ hat, unless it is of the very plainest; for some reason which I cannot quite define, but can nevertheless thoroughly appreciate, a ‘smart’ hat looks absolutely ludicrous out here: in fact, any tendency to over-dressing has only one effect, that of making your company, usually a few hard-working men, feel thoroughly uncomfortable. All one wants, after all, is to appear fresh, spotless and dainty, which can be best accomplished by a clean linen frock, a shady simple straw hat, a sensible sunshade and garden gloves. ”

“ In almost any hat for ladies, the crown is stiffened with a weaker solution than the brim, and therefore two strengths are generally provided for this purpose. Two methods are adopted by the workers for stiffening straw hats, “sponging” and “rolling.” The former consists, when the hat is on the wooden block, of sponging the hot gelatine on to the straw with a “dabbing” motion, and when the plait is thoroughly saturated, using a warm, nearly dry sponge to clear all surplus from the surface. ”

“ Men wear enormous straw hats as a badge of mourning, but the usual style of head-dress is to shave the extreme summit of the head, while the rest of the hair grows long and is braided up in a sort of topknot with a little bird-cage hat above it. This hat is then tied under the chin as an American woman would tie hers. ”

“ From a dozen to twenty of these strands—dyed and undyed—are plaited into the flexible braid of which the hat is built up—a task requiring extraordinary patience and skill. Such hats are made only for relatives and close friends; if an unmarried girl gives one to a man the gift has the same significance as the pair of earrings he would give in return. When a native boy appears with a new and gorgeous hat, the origin of which is veiled in doubt, village gossip hums until the truth is known ”

“ Judge Custis finally remarked:
"Milburn, I resolved, many years ago, never to address you again on the subject of your dress. My duty makes me break the resolve: your hat is the worst enemy of your railroad." [Pg 550]
Vesta, however, was the Entailed Hat's greatest victim. It lay upon her spirits like a shroud. ”

“ And, more important, how should she make known to the wearer of the one hat the fact that life held only him for her? Other girls, by the grace of social equality, might by smile and glance and blush indicate preferences. But she—she was only a machine that cared for hats. How could she make it known, when the one hat came, that she was flesh and blood, and had a heart—a heart that could recognize its mate. ”

“ It was twilight when Meshach Milburn closed his story, and silence and pallid eve drew together in the Custis sitting-room, resembling the two people there, thinking on matrimony, the one grave as conscious ser [Pg 70] penthood could make him, the other fluttering like the charmed bird. Vesta spoke first:
"How intense must be your head to create so many objects around it within the world of a hat! You have only brought the story down a little way towards our times." ”

“ The hat having been properly “roughed out” or “sweated,” that is shaped to its exact size without pressure by hand or machine, and still holding a little steam moisture, is placed accurately in the pan, the outside of the hat to the metal; inside the hat is distributed as evenly as may be a thick felt dummy (to prevent the straw from cutting the bag) . If the edge of the crown is very sharp, such as one finds in a man’s boater, a ring of vulcanized rubber or similar material with angles corresponding to the crown edge is placed in position inside the crown before the felt dummy is introduced. ”

“ She was waiting—waiting for a hat. Waiting for the hat that could make her happy for life—the hat of her dreams. What hat? She did not know. The whole affair was clouded in mists. But she knew that the hat would come, the hat that was meant for her, and that she would recognize its coming.
An odd view of the great experience was this, but men had come to mean to Myra Pearson nothing but hats. Henceforth, in the moments when she sat alone by her hat-stand, she listened no longer to the light opera airs that drifted out from the dining-room, to the popping of corks on the Middle West's wine. ”

“ Another product, largely used in the trade, although strictly speaking neither a plait nor a woven hat, is “Sparterie.” This is wattle woven of fine willow-chip splints into various sized sheets for the different requirements of the trade; it is mainly used as a foundation for making hats to be covered with some delicate plait that will not stand any method of wet stiffening. It is extremely light in weight, and can be moulded to almost any shape, it will stand stiffening, and may be made as firm as stiff buckram. ”

“ Besides the high hats of either beaver, brush or silk, caps made of cloth or fur were much used prior to the89 introduction of the soft felt hat, and continued to be so until an incident occurred which created a sudden revolution in the tastes of the American people regarding their head-dress. ”

“ To get rid of which, be it sufficient to state, that the prominent feature in this Hat is elegance of style, strongly visible in all its parts, and each part in unison with the whole; which for tonish and exquisite dash has no competitor. It will be seen, from what is here stated, that, much as this Hat is capable of transfusing its graces to the wearer (and who can doubt it) , some little attention to personal requisites is necessary-which, in stature, should be over five feet seven, and not too lusty; countenance or complexion is of little consequence ”

“ It has one advantage, it can be done by less skilled or [87] careful operatives than the “sponging,” which needs careful attention.
The straw boater for men during its stiffening is often soaked in the “stiffening” bath for an appreciable time in order that the gelatine may thoroughly soak into all the fibres of the plait; but that also, when it emerges, is sponged over to remove excess.
The general plan of stiffening a single piece hat (ladies’ hat) with gelatine is for the operator to place the crown of the hat correctly on the wooden block. ”