(_For the Mirror_.)
The immense large bonnets which decorate the ladies of the present day
are truly "_over the borders_," and seem to keep pace with the "_march
of intellect_." A garden seems to bloom on their exterior, and roses and
lilies vie with each other above and below, for underneath the living
roses flourish on the cheeks of the fair. Perhaps in a few years small
bonnets will usurp the day, for
"Extremes produce extremes, extremes avoid,
Extremes without extremes are not enjoyed."
Some years ago, when straw bonnets were all the rage, the following
_pithy_ lines were composed by M. P. Andrewes, Esq.:--
"Some ladies' heads appear like stubble fields;
Who now of threaten'd famine dare complain,
When every female forehead teems with grain?
See how the _wheat-sheaves_ nod amid the plumes!
Our barns are now transferr'd to drawing-rooms,
And husbands who indulge in active lives,
To fill their _granaries_ may _thrash their wives_."