The article review(文章导读):
AMERICAN STORIES - Papa's Straw Hat
By Fread Gibson
Broadcast: Saturday, January 29, 2005
Our story this week is called "Papa's Straw Hat". It was written by Fread Gibson. Here is Shep O'Neal to
Text(正文):
AMERICAN STORIES - Papa's Straw Hat
By Fread Gibson
Broadcast: Saturday, January 29, 2005
Our story this week is called "Papa's Straw Hat". It was written by Fread Gibson. Here is Shep O'Neal to tell the story.
Papa was a ranger. He worked with horses. He was proud of the way he dressed. He always wore clean cloth even when he worked. That is very difficult for a ranger who works outside on a horse farm. He often said to me, "Son, you may not be able to buy the best cloth, but always keep those you have clean. That is the important thing." Papa did what he said. His cloths were never dirty like those of most of other rangers I knew.
Papa never worked outside without a hat. He always wore the same kind of hat. It was a cowboy hat, a large black hat of heavy wool. He never pushed the hat to one side of his head. He wore it straight. And he did not push the top of his hat down like most cowboys do. He wore his hat full and high. I think he wanted to look taller that he really was.
Papa had two hats. One was his Sunday hat, the other was his everyday hat. When his Sunday hat got old, he wore it every day and then bought a new Sunday hat. He wore his Sunday hat only to church or on holidays or when he visited the city. Most of the time he kept his Sunday hat in a special box. He hid it, so we could not find it. Papa loved his hats and he cared for them in a special way. He never through them down on a chair, someone might sit on them. He even had a special place for his everyday hat. As soon as he came into the house from work, he put his hat on a nail behind of the kitchen door.
Mama was very careful of papa`s hat. She was proud of the way he looked when he worked or when he wore his Sunday hat and his best cloth. She was not permitted to touch his Sunday hat. Then something happened. Maybe it was the heat of the long summer. Maybe mama read about hats in a magazine or book. But in some way, she got the idea that papa should not wear a heavy wool cowboy hat in the hot weather. She began to believe that papa would lose his hair if he did. Mama began to worry more about papa`s hair than about his hats.
Perhaps it was uncle George who made mama worry about papa`s hair. Uncle George had no hair. His head was as smooth as an egg. Papa had thick black hair that shown like silk. It would be terrible if papa lost his hair because he wore a heavy wool cowboy hat. So mama began to worry. She began to watch papa carefully as he worked in the hot fields under his tall heavy hat. She saw how wet his hair was when he came into the house. Mama began to talk about his hats.
"Papa," she said one day, "why don`t you throw that old wool hat away and get a nice cool straw hat?"
"What?" papa said, "me, wear a straw hat? I would never let my horses see me in a straw hat."
"Horse?" mama answered, "What have horses to do with a straw hat? Animals don`t care what kind of hat you wear."
"Might do." papa said, "My horses recognize me because I always wear the same hat. And they like the cowboy hats best of all." "Anyway," he said, "I`ll not be seen deadly a straw hat." |
