Strange True Stories of Louisiana
Page 19
XV.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAT.
"Oh!" cried Celeste, "but what will Tonton say when she sees you?"
"Do not let her know a thing about it, girls," said Madame du Clozel, "or,rather than yield the scepter of beauty and elegance for but one evening,she will stay in the white chapel. What! at sixteen you don't know whatthe white chapel is? It is our bed."
Before the ball, came Sunday. Madame du Clozel had told us that thepopulation of the little city--all Catholics--was very pious, that thelittle church could hardly contain the crowd of worshipers; and Celestehad said that there was a grand display of dress there. We thought ofhaving new dresses made, but the dressmaker declared it impossible; and sowe were obliged to wear our camayeus a second time, adding only a lacescarf and a hat. A hat! But how could one get in that little town in thewilderness, amid a maze of lakes and bayous, hundreds of miles from NewOrleans, so rare and novel a thing as a hat? Ah, they call necessity themother of invention, but I declare, from experience, that vanity hasperformed more miracles of invention, and made greater discoveries thanGalileo or Columbus.
The women of St. Martinville, Tonton at their head, had revolted againstfate and declared they would have hats if they had to get them at themoon. Behold, now, by what a simple accident the hat was discovered.Tonton de Blanc had one of the prettiest complexions in the world, alllily and rose, and what care she took of it! She never went into the yardor the garden without a sunbonnet and a thick veil. Yet for all that herjealous critics said she was good and sensible, and would forgeteverything, even her toilet, to succor any one in trouble. One day Tontonheard a great noise in the street before her door. She was told that achild had just been crushed by a vehicle. Without stopping to ask whetherthe child was white or black or if it still lived, Tonton glanced aroundfor her sun-bonnet, but, not finding it at hand, darted bareheaded intothe street. At the door she met her young brother, and, as the sun washot, she took his hat and put it on her own head. The Rubicon wascrossed--Tonton had discovered the hat!
All she had heard was a false alarm. The crushed child was at play againbefore its mother's door. It had been startled by a galoping team, hadscreamed, and instantly there had been a great hubbub and crowd. But tenminutes later the little widow, the hat in her hand, entered the domicileof its maker and astonished the woman by ordering a hat for her own use,promising five dollars if the work was done to her satisfaction. Thepalmetto was to be split into the finest possible strips and platted intothe form furnished by Madame Tonton. It was done; and on Sunday the hat,trimmed with roses and ribbons, made its appearance in the church of St.Martin, on the prettiest head in the world. The next Sunday you could seeas many hats as the hatmaker had had time to make, and before the end ofthe month all the women in St. Martinville were wearing palmetto hats.To-day the modistes were furnishing them at the fabulous price oftwenty-five dollars,--trimmed, you understand,--and palmetto hats werereally getting to be a branch of the commerce of the little city; butours, thanks to Alix's flowers and ribbons, cost but ten dollars.
The church was crowded. The service, performed by an old priest nearly ahundred years of age, was listened to with interest; but what astonishedme was to see the crowd stop at the church door, the women kissing; tohear laughter, chat, and criticism at the door of this sacred place as ifit were the public square. I understood the discontent that knit myfather's brows and the alacrity with which he descended the church steps.Tonton saw and came to us--so fresh, so young, she was indeed the queen ofbeauty and fashion. Out of nothing Tonton could work wonders. Her dressto-day was of camayeu the pattern of which was bunches ofstrawberries--the very same stuff as our dresses; but how had she made itto look so different? And her hat! It was a new marvel of her invention.She had taken a man's felt hat and entirely covered it with the feathersof the cardinal bird, without other ornament than a bunch of white ribbonon the front and two long cords of white silk falling clear to the waist.That was the first hat of the kind I ever saw, but it was not the last.With one turn of her little hand she could make the whole femalepopulation of St. Martinville go as she pleased. Before we left St.Martinville we had the chance to admire more than fifty hats covered withthe feathers of peacocks, geese, and even guinea-fowl, and--must weconfess it?--when we got home we enlisted all our hunter friends to bringus numerous innocent cardinals, and tried to make us hats; but they didnot look the least like the pretty widow's.
Sunday was also the day given to visiting. Being already dressed, it wasso easy to go see one's friends.... Among the new visitors was Saint Marcd'Arby--engaged to little Constance de Blanc, aged thirteen. He came toinvite us to a picnic on the coming Wednesday.
"Ah," I cried, with regret, "the very day papa has chosen for us to leavefor the town of Opelousas!" ...
Since arriving in St. Martinville we had hardly seen papa. He left earlyeach morning and returned late in the evening, telling of lands he hadbought during the day. His wish was to go to Opelousas to registerthem.... To-day the whole town of Opelousas belongs to his heirs; butthose heirs, with Creole heedlessness and afraid to spend a dollar, letstrangers enjoy the possession of the beautiful lands acquired by theirancestor for so different an end. Shame on all of them!
It was decided for papa to leave us with the baroness during his visit toOpelousas.
"And be ready to depart homeward," said he, "on the following Monday."