Quest of the Hat

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21414, 11 February 1933, Page 6 (Supplement)

Quest of the Hat

I! BY EVELYN BEERE

f AN EMOTIONAL VENTURE

Inspiration came to me in the dead of right.' A new hat! Nothing can lift a ~ ■woman from a slate of apathy quicker than a -JQew hat. I thumped my pillow £•> triumphantly and immediately fell into a Bleep. I dreamed of hats, saw myself 2! radiantly\ha£t-ed fQlloiyed .by; the- admiring m gaze of aflVvthe mbrping had np hope of II- damping my ardo-ir. The tide .had turned. »- I faced my reflection with level eyes and lifted j the toothbrush with verve. The toast was " the hat." It was an adventure. I would go to jtown by myself and discover a hat (ecstatic pause picturing of myself rejuvenated by a new hat) ! It was true that for soma,years I had been ill-fated in the choice of head-gear. Nothing seemed to Buifc me, and in a fling of defiance I had babbled of comfort and economy with -> the result that my hats had become a jjjS byword. Suddenly my, wholo being craved an attractive hak The time was not '< gone for extravagant ".demands.\ To-day, I fi felt fatalistic. Somewhere a ■ hat was |? callings To town! J A Garden ol Hats % Something that will express my personality. A with a temperament. A $ little perhaps . . . provocajf tive /• • . and the colour must, must be amethyst. I wandefed lonely as a cloud in u a garden of hats, my ejjea darting this 3 way i and that with recognition withheld, S3 expecting any moment the ' delicious Bhock of seeing it. Never were hats more life happily contrived. Their simplicity 3) brought tears to my eyes. I stood enchanted, oblivious for the moment that I •' was attended on either side by. exquisite creatures who deigned to sell tnese lovely .«.* creationiij;. *• ... t'l " Anytirojj- I can show madam? " I Was humble before their perfection. Beneath/: the cbld courtesy of their lindifferenctf I thickened, became cloddish. From j . my serviceable walking shoes, to the byword on my head, I felt outside the picture. In that paradise of hats I was £ cold, disenchanted. I just jj* couldn't help it " Run" whispered Kj instinct, but I stayed. Both fists clenched, p I struggled with my nonchalance tod ~ admitted that I was in quest of a hat. *?, Pleased with my courage, I seated myself luxuriously and surrounded by mirrors, I received and rejected hats for over an hour. It tfas an endurance test. Under the cold eye of the saleswoman, I tried on dozens. All were perfection off. Her cold, hard clever hands adjusted them to my submissive head. But there was a limit,.. JEtettier to .be- a, byword than a laughing*-*t»ck?- J -clutched the Y&mnants of my pride and " swept out," denying r' myself a tear for the dear dead Says when everything suited me. (How it all r came back to me). :!j Tea and Inspiration ?>. Misery linked arms with me, as I [walked the streets. She is an old, a close , friend. Heavy heeled we trudged along. I had outlived my time. Ah for a head sunning over with curls," or one sleek and narrow as an apple pip. Anyhow it was tihfair! I had a sharp picture of Tom buying a hat. Sauntering into the chop during thfe lunch'honr and casually demanding a Borzoi, or a Stetson or .whatever, it isy size -seven and' out he .would go, wearing same, having left his ol<ismeJfco beCcleaned. account the salesman mad if he brought him £ size four and perched it on his ear. Men i- . . V but Ho, I must not grow bitter. .Courage. . . and a cup of tea. But what a marvellous restorer is tea! r Scarcely had I gulped one cupful than hope opened her petals and bloomed like a flower within me. Another cup to fortify and I sailed forth aglow with that lucky feeling. A little shop with a comehither' look beckoned me. I ventured and recognised immediately the little milliner '.y of tradition. Sympathy enveloped me as I stood in the doorway. An elusive perj fume. . . rose coloured lights! And not * one hat but three suited me. All., were * amethyst.:it wasitoo-mueh,'T' blushed and * glowfed. rfcsffelte. 'The little milliner was- I gazed vacuously £ at myself'in the mirrors. Why reject any of them? I bought all three. Then home, £ homji! My mind a happy jumble of m thoughts on the virtue of tea, the value "3 of inspiration, and my heart like a singing bird. New hats can be intoxicating, it seems. ' P And as I said to Tom that evening " It just shows how important it is to follow 't, one's star." k >/