YesBut wear your hat with pride - Part 3

Continued from yesterday

For YesBut’s Image posted on the 17th June 2007, Chewy suggested the caption

“Smile and look at the birdie!”

The photograph suggested the following story to me, (continued from yesterday):

That night William retired to his bedroom, there after writing a farewell note to Emily, he took out his officer’s pistol and shot himself.

Poor Emily, if William’s mind had been damaged by the events on the front line, her’s was deranged by her accidental castration of her one true love. She immediately withdrew from her friends and family. With the money left to her in William’s Will she purchased a small remote farm deep in the Cornish countryside. She was only seen when she made her weekly shopping visit to a small nearby village. She spent here days tending her garden and looking after her chickens.

For forty years she lived as a recluse. Then one day when returning from here weekly visit to the village she met a young woman. She looked distraught, for the first time since William’s death she felt compassion. Taking the young woman by the arm she led here back to her cottage. There over a cup of tea Ann unburdened herself.

She told Emily of the pressure she was under to sleep with her boyfriend. She said she knew that if she gave in to his demands, she would lose her boyfriends respect. She wanted to retain her virginity to her wedding night. Living in isolation Emily was out of touch with the changes that had occurred in the public’s attitude to sex and marriage. She was appalled that young men would be so un-gentlemanly as to even consider deflowering a young lady before they were married. At last, with the aid of Ann, she had found a purpose in life. She founded the League for the Protection of Young Lady’s Chastity (LPYLC).

She wrote letters to the Times newspaper and women’s magazines, campaigning for young women to protect their virtue. Soon she had a small group of middle aged frigid women rallying to her cause. One afternoon sitting in Emily’s cottage, they decided they need some emblem to symbolise their unity. It was Ann who came up with the idea of wearing a hat, something that had gone out of fashion, except for funerals, weddings and the perfunctory weekly attendance at Sunday morning church service. Emily was enthusiastic; she said as a young girl she had made a hat out of feathers.

That evening Emily and Ann collected feathers from the chicken shed. But, the dirty off-white brown hat Emily made wasn’t considered sufficiently emblematic by her followers. They thought it should be pure white. After several unsuccessful attempts to bleach the feathers, Emily conceded defeat. Ann suggested, “if not pure white, why not pink”. The first pink hat produced was an instant success.

Emily lived long enough to see LPYLC flourish and grow, with branches being formed all over the world. She was a happy woman when she died aged 93 in 1987. At her death the popular press predicted the rapid decline of the LPYLC. But in reality the movement grew stronger and stronger. The 2001 UK census showed the average age for women losing their virginity was 27. In 2007, to mark the twentieth anniversary of Emily’s death, the LPYLC issued tee-shirt to its members bearing the slogan "Em’s Hen Fever”. This reflected the close affection the members had for LPYLC’s founder and her chickens which still supplied the feathers for their iconic hats, until the flock was tragically wiped-out in 2005 from a virulent strain of hot flushes.

YesBut wear your hat with pride - Part 2

Continued from yesterday

For YesBut’s Image posted on the 17th June 2007, Chewy suggested the caption

“Smile and look at the birdie!”

The photograph suggested the following story to me, (continued from yesterday):

Each week William and Emily exchanged loving letters. They dreamt of the end of the war when they would be permanently reunited and would be married. At the first battle of the Somme Williams battalion were in the first wave to “go over the top”. It was a slaughter. Around him troops were mowed down, by the end of the first day William was the sole survivor of his unit. He had survived because as he climbed out of the trench he had slipped and twisted his ankle. He was tormented with guilt, why had he survived when all his men had been killed. Left in a state of shock he was granted home leave.

When Emily met William at the railway station, on his return on home leave from the World War 1 frontline she hardly recognised him, he had aged thirty years, and his hair and moustache were almost white. She had difficulty communicating with him, he seemed to be so remote. He was there physically, but he was a soulless body. He brooded around the manor house; all he had on his mind was his return to the front and the opportunity to die. Emily was determined to have her old William back. To take himself out of himself she persuaded him to go out riding with her.

On horse back he became like a mad man, taking reckless risks jumping fences and ditches. While he was caught up in his frenzy he did not notice his horse was in distress, the strain of attempting to jump a high fence was too great, and the horse collapsed with a burst blood vessel. Unfortunately the forward momentum flung William forward; regrettably he did not quite clear the fence. When Emily found him he was hanging from the fence. She jumped off her horse and finding supper human strength dragged him off the fence. If only she had looked before acting, she might have noticed that her beloved William was dangling by his testicles. She would hear his high pitched scream for the rest of her life. Being an innocent young lady she initially did not fully appreciate the implications of the accident.

To be continued tomorrow - Bookmark this page.

YesBut wear your hat with pride - Part 1

For YesBut’s Image posted on the 17th June 2007, Chewy suggested the caption

“Smile and look at the birdie!”

The photograph suggested the following story to me

Emily was considered, by all who knew her, to be a young vivacious beauty - but there again, if they hadn‘t known her they wouldn‘t have been able to pass an opinion - except for Mrs YesBut who has an opinion on everything. She met William at the Fox Hunt Ball held at the Manor House. He was the Squire’s eldest son and would one day inherit the family estate and following family tradition become a Member of Parliament and then a member of the Government. As they gazed at each other across the dance floor for the first time they both instantly knew they were in love.

William asked his friend Hubert who was that young lady. Hubert asked the vicar who informed him that Emily was visiting from London and was staying with her aunt Elizabeth, the widow of the village doctor. After more snooping he discovered her father, the youngest son of the Duke of Aberbridge had been killed in South Africa in the Bore War. Her mother had remarried a Bishop and now lived in the North of England. Emily was living for the Season in London with her father’s brother. The highlight of the Season being introduced at Court to the Royal Family.

William made his way towards Emily; she watched his approach from behind her fan. He bowed and asked if she would do him the honour of dancing with him. Even though she knew no one had asked her to dance, she consulted her dance card, and after an appropriate delay agreed to dance. That night they danced and danced and sipped Champaign. He asked if he could call to see her the next afternoon. She said she would have to ask her Aunt. Her Aunt readily agreed as she knew William was “a good catch”. Emily sent a note with her Aunt’s gardener’s son to the manor house, informing him he could call.

That summer seemed so perfect, the sun seemed to shine everyday. By the time she returned to London for the rest of the Season, they both knew they had found their lifelong partners. But the World was soon to change, 1913 was the end of an era, the dark clouds of war were already accumulating. Emily and William were due to marry in the Spring of 1914 but his younger brother, Roger, was serving in the army in India, and William wanted to wait for his home leave in November so that Roger could be his Best man. That decision was to have tragic consequences. On the 4th August 1914 war was declared against Germany. William immediately joined the army and given his father’s influence was made a Captain in the Eastshire Light Yeomanry. A number of young men from the village joined his unit and they were shipped to France and the front line.

To be continued tomorrow - Bookmark this page