little church could hardly contain the crowd of worshipers; and Celeste
had said that there was a grand display of dress there. We thought of
having new dresses made, but the dressmaker declared it impossible; and so
we were obliged to wear our camayeus a second time, adding only a lace
scarf and a hat. A hat! But how could one get in that little town in the
wilderness, amid a maze of lakes and bayous, hundreds of miles from New
Orleans, so rare and novel a thing as a hat? Ah, they call necessity the
mother of invention, but I declare, from experience, that vanity has
performed more miracles of invention, and made greater discoveries than
Galileo or Columbus.

The women of St. Martinville, Tonton at their head, had revolted against
fate and declared they would have hats if they had to get them at the
moon. Behold, now, by what a simple accident the hat was discovered.
Tonton de Blanc had one of the prettiest complexions in the world, all
lily and rose, and what care she took of it! She never went into the yard
or the garden without a sunbonnet and a thick veil. Yet for all that her
jealous critics said she was good and sensible, and would forget
everything, even her toilet, to succor any one in trouble. One day Tonton
heard a great noise in the street before her door. She was told that a
child had just been crushed by a vehicle. Without stopping to ask whether
the child was white or black or if it still lived, Tonton glanced around
for her sun-bonnet, but, not finding it at hand, darted bareheaded into
the street. At the door she met her young brother, and, as the sun was
hot, she took his hat and put it on her own head. The Rubicon was
crossed--Tonton had discovered the hat!

All she had heard was a false alarm. The crushed child was at play again
before its mother's door. It had been startled by a galoping team, had
screamed, and instantly there had been a great hubbub and crowd. But ten