"I know I shall freeze, anyhow. Can I take your muffler?"
I spared my muffler. But, pretty soon, I heard from him again:
"The top of my head is very cold, and I shall have a fearful headache."
We soon reached the hotel and entered the office, where a warm fire welcomed us. The little old man undid the muffler and handed it to me. He then removed his hat, and I discovered that it was of straw, and, also, that he was very bald.
My pity for the man was all gone in a moment. It could not be that he had no other hat, for he was dressed well enough to own twenty hats. I never found out what his reason was for wearing such a hat in the winter.
I fell to moralizing presently; but I will not here write down my reflections. Suffice it to say that every day in the year I meet children, and grown people too, for that matter, who are "wearing straw hats in the winter," and suffering various dreadful things in consequence thereof. The very next time you get into trouble, before you grumble and fret, see if it is not because you are wearing a straw hat in winter.
RUFFLES AND PUFFS.
She stood looking down upon her neat plaid dress with a very dissatisfied face.