130 CASTOROLOGIA. 



plied to any woollen fabric, and though we are familiar to-day with 

 only the sombre black and an occasional variety of shade in the case 

 of natural wool, in olden times a great deal of taste was displayed 

 in the matter of color. 



To ' ' dress ' ' the hat it was placed on a revolving block, while 

 the finisher applied brushes, irons, sandpaper and velvet polishers, 

 till the surface was so smooth, that an old fashioned "beaver" 

 would shine as brightly as a modern silk hat, while it had the ex- 

 quisite beauty of the long velvety pile or fur. The trimming and 

 binding were minor operations, though they helped to give the 

 hat much of its style, and when the trimmer had done his work, the 

 hat had received the finishing touch. 



Simple as these various processes may seem, the making of a 

 beaver hat was almost a lost art in the trade, when the fashion for 

 beaver hats for ladies revived a score of years ago, and in conse- 

 quence the manufacturers had to search the workhouses and alms- 

 houses for old hatters, and called once again to the bench the feeble 

 hands which so long had been unemployed, yet whose training in 

 the severe apprenticeship of olden days, had made the special work of 

 each a matter of second nature, so that genuine "old beavers" could 

 again be produced ; but when the demand ceased, the trade again 

 fell into decay, and if the call for old hatters should ever again arise 

 where shall they be found ? 



The old habitant in our back country cherishes his " chapeau 

 de castor," which, carefully wrapped up the six Godless days, he 

 unfolds on the seventh, and covering his grey hairs he totters 

 to the village shrine, there to commune for a short hour with the 

 old companions of his j^outh. One by one they drop out of the 

 ranks and claim their small portion of the village churchyard. 

 Their few worldly possessions are soon divided among a numerous 

 progeny, but none care for the legacy of the once treasured chapeau, 

 and moths and vermin soon reduce it to dust. 



Though not strictly within the scope of this volume, it certainly 



