While at the outbreak of the Civil War there may have lingered a vital spark in the hat industry, that event gave it, apparently, a death thrust. The relative position of Baltimore to both sides was disastrous to its business interests; being close upon the dividing line of hostilities, the sympathies of a large part of its citizens were enlisted in the cause of the South, while, singularly enough, the larger proportion of the wealth and business interests of the city was centered in persons allied by family ties to those of the North, who earnestly upheld the cause of the Union. Cut off from all intercourse with the South--its legitimate field for business--the share of Western trade that was enjoyed by Baltimore was lost by the strategy of war, for with the partial destruction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad the channel of her Western trade was diverted, and it drifted in other directions. While dissension and strife were being stirred in Baltimore and her industries lying dormant, business at the North was being stimulated by State and Government calls for articles necessary to equip an army for service. Hats were a needful part of an army's equipment, and Northern hat manufacturers were called upon for the supply; their factories soon assumed the life and activity of prosperity, creating a demand for additional skilled labor with good pay; this induced the unemployed Baltimore hatter to migrate and seek other places for his support. Thus did Baltimore part with an industry of importance closely identified with its prosperous early days, which, after passing through many vicissitudes, dwindled gradually until it became apparently extinct. FASHIONS. No. 12. The high crown hat, vulgarly termed "stove-pipe," may be taken as the general indicator of fashions existing during the period of the present century. Following the "cocked" hat (the counterpart of the French chapeau), which style prevailed at the time of the American Revolution, was the "steeple top," which had a conical crown. This shape for a high hat was soon abandoned and the bell crown substituted, and so acceptable has this particular style proved that, since the opening of this century, it has held supremacy as the fashionable head-covering for man, despite frequent attempts to destroy its popularity by the introduction of other shapes, or the advocating of a change as practical. High hats were first napped with beaver fur, which material, being expensive, necessarily made costly hats. Otter fur was afterwards used, then muskrat, which greatly lessened their cost.