THE STORY OF A HAT
    —­Politeness
    —­The Common People

A thought for the Thoughtless Who Have But Little Politeness and
Respect for the Common People.

THE LESSON—­That every one who truly fills his high or lowly place
In the world is deserving of respect and honor.

This story contains a splendid lesson for all of us.  There is much in it to start the boys and girls to thinking of the worthiness of doing the humble things in life, and of the respect due those whose place may be more lowly than theirs.  True worth is the measure of our value in the world, whether our work be great or little.

The Talk.

“This morning I am going to tell you ’The Story of a Hat,’—­and this is the hat. [Draw only the hat, A, completing Fig. 100.  This is the same drawing as that of the lower right-hand corner of Fig. 101, before the face is added.] I don’t wonder that you smile.  It’s a seedy-looking old hat, isn’t it?  It looks as if it ought to be burned up or else dumped in the ash barrel; but, before we do that, let us hear the story.

[Illustration:  Fig. 100]

“Once upon a time Mr. Brown, a college president, was passing a clothing store when he saw, displayed in the window, a hat like this. [Draw only the hat as in B.] Mr. Brown went into the store and tried on the hat.  It fitted him, and when he came out he looked like this in his new four-dollar hat. [Add the head of Mr. Brown, completing B.] Everybody respected the college president and was polite to him.  After a while Mr. Brown’s wife told him that his hat was getting just a little bit shabby—­perhaps just a little bit out of style, too.  And so the college president gave the hat away to a poor but respectable preacher, Mr. Green, and this is the way Mr. Green looked in the hat. [Draw C complete.] Mr. Green was not a ‘D.D.,’ by any means, but he was a good man who was made to suit and fit a certain class of people who could not have understood the big words of a ‘D.  D.’  Well, Mr. Green wore the hat for a while, and then he gave it to the janitor of his church, a man named Mr. Blue.  The janitor wore it for a while, until it looked about like this:  [Draw D, complete.] You will notice that it was somewhat indented by this time, but it was all right for Mr. Blue and he was glad to get it.  There was a man in the town by the name of Mr. White, who had a job cleaning the streets.  He was a friend of Mr. Blue, and the janitor gave him the hat.  This is the way Mr. White looked in it:  [Draw the face under the hat, A; this completes Fig. 101.] Mr. White had a little cart and a big shovel and an old broom, and he worked all day sweeping up and carting off the old paper, the stubs of cigars and everything else which, if allowed to accumulate, would soon make the streets look disgraceful and the town unhealthful.

[Illustration:  Fig. 101]