Fig 57.Fig 58.Fig 59.Fig 60.Fig 61.Fig 62.Fig 63.
Fig 57.Fig 58.Fig 59.Fig 60.Fig 61.Fig 62.Fig 63.
Fig 57.Fig 58.
Fig 59.Fig 60.Fig 61.
Fig 62.Fig 63.
The Puritans discarded all ornament of any kindfrom their dress and wore the steeple hat, high and narrow in the crown, with a broad brim (Fig. 83). The Cavalier of the same era wore a low, broad-crowned hat with a feather stuck on one side. The principal changes that have taken place in hats from time to time have been in the height of the crown and in the width of the brim. As this latter became wider it led to the device of looping it up, and thus originated the cocked hat that was worn during the eighteenth century.
To all Americans this hat brings patriotic recollections of revolutionary days—for Washington and his generals all wore cocked hats. On page27, Fig. 85, we have the hat of the “Minute Man.” Also one worn, Fig. 79, during the good old Knickerbocker days. Fig. 84 shows the style of hat worn by Kossuth when on a visit to this country in 1851. Previous to this time the only hat made for gentlemen was the high silk hat and cloth caps for boys, but a few weeks after Kossuth’s appearance in the country thousands of hats similar to his were sold, the demand for them being universal. Since then soft and stiff felt hats have been brought to perfection in quality and style in this country far superior to any made abroad. This was shown in our Centennial Exhibition, in 1876, by Dunlap & Co. receiving the first prize for their productions over all competition of foreign and domestic manufactures. Figs. 86, 87, 88 are three different styles of high hats worn about fifty years ago. In the latter part of the eighteenth century the gaudy ornaments of lace, jewels, feathers, &c., gradually began to disappear from hats, giving place to the sober black band and simple buckle, and when that, too, had its day and passed away, the hatsof men were left without any ornament, but in much better taste and more in keeping with their use than were those of old.