David Charles Hart
Tales From The Millinery Shop is an anthology that relates the experiences of women who work in a shop for the design and creation of women’s hats. The era is 1897 - 1924. The shop is in Schuylerville, New York. Schuylerville is eleven miles east from the famous Saratoga Horse Racetrack. Furthermore, Schuylerville is 194 miles straightaway north from New York City. Miscegenation laws rule the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The recognition of love between men and women of different races and ethnicity is abhorrent. Moreover, glaring lavishness, unconcealed vice, and blatant promiscuity by professional 'courtesans' with men who are engaged in the 'sporting life' is the norm for New Yorkers in this Gilded Age era.The over-sized posh hats the women wear are adorned with birds and their feathers. Opulent in their design and creativity, this aves-style of hat is in great demand by women everywhere ... especially the rich and well-to-do. The women who work in millinery shops constantly strive to satisfy this overwhelming demand.Herein are the stories of a few of those women. These are their tales of romance and mystery, of success and misfortune, from the easily understood aspects of daily life, to the unexplainable occurrences of strange incidents. These are their stories ... in their own words.
