I Take My Hat Off To You - Listening Fluency #156 - Slow

I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO YOU

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, is most famous for his leadership during the American Civil war, his decision to free the slaves in 1863, and his eventualassassination. What gets less attention is his hat.

Lincoln was already a giant at 193 cm. During his time, the average height was 172 cm, so he didn’t need any help standing out from the crowd. Despite his stature, he chose to wear a high top hat.

“Keep it under your hat” is an idiom that means, keep it a secret, but it was no secret that Lincoln used his hat as storage. He would often keep his papers inside his hat, and publicly remove them during speeches.

There is also an English expression “to take your hat off”. For example, “I was impressed with her willingness to ‘go the extra mile‘. I take my hat off to her.” To take your hat off is a sign of respect. According to one story, Lincoln once created a bit of a scandal by taking his hat off. While visiting the southern capital of Richmond, Virginia after the war, an elderly black man removed his hat and bowed. Lincoln returned the courtesy by removing his hat and bowing as well. Of course, at this time in US history, to show that level of respect to a black man was turning the social order upside down.

Lincoln bought his hat from J. Y. Davis. We know this because the hat maker’s name is sewn inside the hat. In addition to an original band of fabric that came with the hat, there was an unusual second band of fabric wrapped around it. Lincoln added this to the hat in memory of his son who died of Typhoid.

Lincoln was wearing this same hat, when he entered the Ford theater on the day of his death. As he entered the theater, the orchestra played “Hail to the Chief.” Lincoln removed his hat and sat down. Moments later John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate soldier, approached him from behind and shot him dead. Lincoln’s hat didn’t ‘make the man’, but it is forever a part of his image and legend. His hat now sits on display in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.