Evening Star Newspaper, July 13, 1895, Page 15

WORK ON RAILROADS Why Women Are Not Adapted for This Particular Calling. A CHAT WITH A LEADING OFFICIAL Several Positions, However, Which Are Considered Suitable. NERVES A BARRIER with one of the head officials at a local railroad station re- centiy, a Star writer inquired as to the Possibility of the future finding women running trains, and also his private opinion of the case. Among other things he said: “There ts no telling : what the new woman will do in the next ten years, but I hardly think they will go in fer train running. We see women in the worst and best phases here, and I sometimes think they would be capable of manufacturing dyna- mite, as they say nerve is necessary ip compounding that explosive. “But where you find one woman with an overabundance of nerve, you will find a hundred deficient. They lack the necessary quality of being sure of themseives. Now, watch that woman on the corner seat, near the dooy She is going to Cincinnati, and the man that announces the departure of trains has just called out that the train is ready and also all the cities the train will reach. A man would consider the an- Bouncement sufficient, but there she goes toward the poor feliow that has just yelled is lungs cut, and I'll wager a good cigar she will ask him if the train for Cincinnati is ready. (The official won his bet.) “Talk about women running trains, they do not knew how to ride in them,” con- tinued the depot master, with a hearty Jangh over the result of his prediction. "Three times out of four if there is any one missing a train it is a woman, and a person that ha3 so little respect for being on time would be out of place ‘around a railroad. She wijl start late from her home, take her time in catching a street car; xfter reaching the depot she will take her time buying a ticket, and then take her time missing the train she has set her heart on for the last week. Then when it ig too late she flutters about the depot and almost has hysterics in her fruitless en- deavor to make up the lost time. .Make Good Spotters. “There are positions in the railroad ser- vice that I believe women could fill, such as clerks in the’ ticket office and ‘spotters,’ and especially in the latter I think they would do their sex great credit. They are undoubtediy naturally gifted with shrewd- ness, and in the line of detectives would keep many conductors inclined to crooked- ness in the straight and narrow path. I would like to see the railroad companies try the ladies as ticket sellers. It takes lots of patience to wait on passengers without losing one’s temper, but I believe they could do it; besides, it would make a great dif- ference to the rough characters that rush up to the agents about one minute before train time, and because they are not waited on instanter swear like Trojans. “The chief grievance of women when it comes down to working with men is that they are not given the same pay as their brothers. In this I think they are mistaken, as there are a number of reasons why they should not receive the same compensation, even when they are apparently filling the game post, discharging the same duty and turning out the same labor product.. No worker is ever paid simply for the par- ticular work he or she is doing at a par- ticular time, where the engagement {3 con- tinuous. No one week’s work stands alone. The possibilities of work always have to be considered as well as the actual labor. “Take your own business of newspaper writing, for instance—a woman, though ap- parently doing the same work as a man, is worth less, because she cannot be sent any- where and everywhere, cause in a big elty she cannot go and come alone at all hours of the night through all quarters, and because in all manner of emergencies she is less available. What is true of news- paper work is true, in a measure, of all work. The railroads do not bar on women because of their sex, but for a variety of Teasons. Thetr Value as Employes. “A woman has mcre {il days than a man, @s the records of friendly societies show. Sho is not as good a life risk as a man, @s the insurance companies know. She is physically less able to do work which she must do every day in the week, at definite hours, without dodging or sparing herself. This is a brutal fact, often forgotten by the new woman, but none the less true. “You know very well that in the railroad busiress we have to train everybody, and @s they grow proficient and reliable they @re advanced. When a woman marries she generally drops her work, and this makes the labor of training her less valuable to an employer. There are women just as strong @s men, able to work just as long, just as continuously and just as hard. They are few. The average strength is lower. Wages @re not paid for the exception, but for the gyerage. When a woman is hired, there- fore, an employer has to remember that, @s compared with man, she will be ill oftener, hat she will be less able to work continuously, that she will be less ‘valuable in an emergency, and that, after training her, the chance of losing her will be greater. Inevitably, he sets the wages lower. But the instant a woman is paid by the job, as in singing or acting or novel writing, a woman is just as well paid as a man, often better. “In the matter of car cleaning we place the women and men side by side on the pay roll, and to tell the truth the women do their work better. House cleaning comes naturally to them and ear cleaning is In the same class. They do it quicker and better, and when it comes down to honesty their percentage Is far above the male sex. Time and time again have articles been left in cars by careless passengers, such a3 pocketbooks, umbrellas and even diamond rings, and in every case where the Women have entered the cars first to clean up the valuables have been turned over to me with 2 carelessness that spoke volumes as to their natural honesty. The men have consciences, but they are more elastic. Fer Detective Work. “The gentle sex make gocd telegraphers, but again are they handicapped, as they cannot be placed on the same footing with men. A new man in the telegraph busines begins work for a raflroad at night and after proving his reliability is given the first day vacancy. This takes in, of course, the loneliest places on the road. They would do if given the better day posi- ticns at the start, but this would be dis- eriminating against good and tried men. “In the rank of spotters the women, to my mind, gre better than the men. The werk is not of a kind that is particularly plecsing to a great many men, but a weman will take to it like a duck to water. could fill the front page of The Star good stories of the y difficulti rs have gotien into through lady but they would all show the Je of men and I don’t propose In such positlons they have to , confiding and withal the po: the greatest amount of shrew: | N CONVERSATION ried conductor to be 2 lonely one female det l-man will never do es ave one running bhe- here and Baltinfore, but the way ndles everybody has completely baf- ne spotters, both male and female. - a lady conductor would be able to deal with spotters is easi tale of woe poured into her ears by a le would assuredly be successful and result In the woman's dismissal. A Woman of Nerve. “Thad an experience with a woman some years back down in Long Island, when I ——— . THE EVENING STAR,. SATURDAY, JULY 13, was 2 conductor, that is worth telling, and which practically demonstrated to me that there are women and there are others. The woman in question wished to go from Quogue to Riverhead to do some shopping and asked for a ticket by way of Manor. The ticket was supplied to her and she paid for it. Then she boarded the train and ar- rived rapidly at Manor, where I had been assigned to work a few weeks while the regular depotmaster took his annual leave. ‘When the lady alighted from the train and made inquiries I told her that the train she wanted to take had been discontinued for the season. “A man would have taken it out In a good swearirg bout, but this lady was different. She tooked me over like a sample of dress goods, and said: -“*You mean it hasn’t been running, young man. It is going to run, because I've got a ticket that calls for my transportation from Manor to Riverhead, and I'm going by that route.’ “Then she sat down on the bench in the coolest manner possible and let me walk up and down the platform in the greatest per- plexity. I then went into the telegraph office and telegraphed the situation to the superintendent of the road. I knew that woman was looking for a law suit, and there were a dozen chances of her winning it. The superintendent was of my way of thinking, and finally ordered out a special train. I went out to the young lady and told her if she insisted upon going by that route we would have to give her a special train. She took the information as a natur- al consequence, saying: “TI am not insisting. I’m just waiting here for that train what's a going to take me to Riverhead.’ é “And the train was made up, and the lady, in her lonely majesty, was transported to Riverhead as per her ‘ticket; but the ticket agent at Quogue sold no more tick- ets to Riverhead by way of Manor. That woman, I'll venture to say, could fill almost any position on the rallroad. She possessed lots of nerve. ——+—_. A PLUCKY WOMAN. She Acted Promptly and Thereby Saved Her Life. . From the Youths’ Companion. One of the pluckiest things which a man who has traveled all over the world says that he everssaw was the act of a woman whom he never spoke to or even saw near enough to know whether she was old or young. It was out in a California canon on a hot summer's afternoon, and he was driv- ing slowly up a steep mountain road. On one side was a wall of rock and on the other the precipice fell off into a valley perhaps half a mile wide. Across this val- ley was ahother road just like the one he was traveling—steep, winding and precipt- tous, and so narrow that no teams could pass except in carefully prepared spots. On this other road, going slowly up, just as he was, he saw another wagon, the horses driven by a woman, who Its alone. As the two wagons crawled slowly up sud- denly the man heard a sharp, quick sound that somehow startled him. He turned and saw, to his horror, tearing down the steep ascent at full gallop, a pair of, powerful horses attached to a heavy wagon, such es the Mexicans use to draw wood in, Down they came, straight in the path up which the woman was driving. A moment more and sudden destruction would be upon her. ‘The gentleman opened his lips to cry out. Half a mile of valley separated him from the woman. He could only sit, frozen with horror, awaiting the end. The woman had stopped her team and sat as if petrified. It was impossible to turn around or even to turn out. Suddenly, td his unutterable amazement, the watcher saw the woman deliberately rise in her seat, raise her arm and fire. There was a flash, a puff of smoke, a re- port, and simultaneously the outer of the two frenzied horses stumbled, feil and pitehed headlong, dragging his companion and the wagon over into the gorge below. All this had passed in a flash. The watcher, stupefied and gasping, sat gazing at the valley, into the depths of which the mad vision had disappeared. Then he looked at the mountain opposite. The nar- row,road was perfectly free, the air was as stilf as before, thé silence unbroken and the team with the solitary man was quietly winding up the road a; 5 It was a cool and rarely brave act. An instant’s indecision, the trembling of a hand, would have been fatal; but both brain and hand were under absolute con- trol. In nine cases out of ten it is not the danger which kills us, but we who—cow- ardly commanders of ourselves—lay down our arms and succumb without a struggle. —____+e-— Fussy Waist of Chiffon. ‘The dome-shaped parasol is the favorite of the hour, but this writer will never tell you which ts the favorite material, for all materials have the zall. A smartly dressed young lady carried one the other day which was lined with white silk and rufiled to the ferule with black and white striped lawn! The why of it appeared as we stood close together waiting for acar. The white silk of the original was soiled, so the own- er had covered it with fresh lawn ruffles which just matched the pretty striped duck sult she wore. Admirable economy and extremely fetching in effect, too. Some of the pretended sunshades are masses of puffed chiffon or lace rufties. They are so “fussy that they actually tire the eyes. And that reminds me of a fussy waisi of iffon I saw recently. It had chiffon shir- red on a yellow silk foundation, and actu ly the girl looked like a big yellow cante- loupe, or rather three of them, for you coulgdn’t tell the difference between the waist and the sleeves, but then, you know, canteloupes are delicious, and so was the delightful creature who wore a yellow silk skirt with Dresden stripes and the canteloupe bodice. ee The Changed Rubies. From the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. ‘There seems no end to the curious stories bout jewels lost and stolen. One of the latest is that of Mrs. A., who recently took a pair of large ruby solitaires to be reset at where they had been purchased. The morning after the maid brought her the card of the firm, saying a gentleman wished to see her, and on going down to the drawing room she found one of the clerks, who told her that the stones, which were apparently of great value, were in Mty false and worthless. Very much itated over tfe intelligence, Mrs. A. as- ted that the jewels had never left her possession since their purchase, and claim- ¢d that fraud must have heen perpetrated before she received them. This, of course, the firm denied, but the feeling on the sub- ject became very bitter on both sides, and detectives were employed by both to ferret out the mystery. When a former butler of Mrs. A, was proved to be a discharged clerk of the -known jewelers, the in- ference was obvious, although no proof against the man has been found and the Jewels have never been recovered. . —__+ e+ _. Why Hunt for It. ‘ From the Toronto Rural. Tommy's mother—“‘Did you hear about poor Mrs. Jones? She ran a needle into her hand. The Goctors had to open every finger trying to find it.” Tommy—What made ‘em do that, mam- ma? Why didn’t they get the lady another needle?” THE SUNDAY DINNER The Housekeeper Should Be Given a Day of Rest. REVIVE THE OLD PORITAN CUSTOM Abolish Hot Dishes and Be Com- fortable and Happy. A SUMMER DIET Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. WAS DOWN IN THE market Saturday,and standing by one of the fruit stalls, over- heard two women discussing their grievances, “I’m tired out,” said one. “My nerves are worn to a thread this summer. We've had such an awfal lot of sewing, for my three youngest girls are all big enough to be out In society row, and the two boys are home from college. We have to econ- omize in every way to put them all through school, end that makes my work and the girl's doubly heavy.” “Well, I just told my boys that if they got any sch6oling they had to work for it, and that I wasn’t going to wear myself to a frazzle or go around locking like & frump to save money for them to spend.” And the other woman, whose weasened, selfish face was rovged to actual hideous- ness, shook her imitation diamond soli- taires and poked her shirt waist inside the belt of her imitation moire silk skirt, and I wondered if she was not an exemplifica- tion of a “frump” where one would go to find one. “Well—I—suppose that {s a comfortable way to feel about it,” returned the other mother doubtfully, as she turned a box of berries over to see if they were good clear to the bottom. “May be it sgves you from a tired back and wire-edge nerves, but it seems as though it must be pretty hard on the boys. You haven't got-any girls?” “No, thank goodness. Boys are bad enough, and you can turn them out of the house when they get too obstreperous, but with a lot of girls prinking and pestering around, I think I wonld go crazy.” And the woman of the weasened face filled her mouth with a handful of blackberries in her agitation. . “My girls are a_great comfort to me,” said the mother; “I do so love to have the married ones comé home and bring their children, as they do every Sunday. Here, you may bring six boxes of these berries instead of four. Donald is, very fond of them, ard they are better for him than candy. I'll take four quarts of those black cherries, they will make such a nice boiled dumpling, and let me see, yes, I'll have a dozen lemons. Now, that gives me black- berries for breakfast, cherry roll for din- ner, with lemonade; oh, I haven’t anything for’ tea yet. Those pineapples look nize; I'l take two; one would hardly make a ‘taste for our family, That's all the fruit I want, I think.” “Do you live on fruit?” asked the weas- ered woman curiously, as her friend paid for her purchases. Easy on Sunday. “Oh, no! and the “tired-out’ woman gave a laugh that was mellow and cheery, showing that her heart wasn’t tired, any- how. “It is only on Sunday that we are so extravagant about fruit, though we use a great deal of it all the time, believing that it is the healthiest kind of diet. You see, we like to have the children all at home on Sunday, and that makes fifteen of us, with the last grandchild. You just ought to see what a fine boy Mary has, not three months old, and almost sitting alone! His grandpa 1s devoted to him. They live so near they can come home to breakfast if they like. One Sunday we all eat at our house, and the next with one of the girls, and the next with the other. “Tt would make an awful lot of work to cook. for fifteen three times a day, so we make it as easy as we can, by getting everything ready on Saturday, and then we have mostly cold dinners on Sunday, and never bother with hot bread for break- fast, esther. When fruit is in season, and at all other times when we can afford it, we make our meals largely on fruit. About the onty hot thing we have for dinner is a dumpling, baked or boiled, and sometimes a hot meat dish, but not often. You have no idea how it simplifies the work on Sun- day. I wish we could put it into practice all the other days in the week. Living more simply, I mean, and getting the din- ners and supper—we're old-fashioned folks, and keep old-fashioned ways—ready while about the breakfast work. It mightn't be as aristocratic, but it would be just as healthy and satisfying.” “My goodness alive!’ exclaimed the weasened woman, as the two made a sally on the vegetables. “My folks wouldn't put up with no such shiftless ways of cooking as that. We've got to have our hot roasts and vegetables, hot tea and coffee, and pie and pudding, or everybody is cross as a bear. You couldn’t get any of my family to eat cold victuals, and I know it. Sun- day is the very hardest day in the whole week at our house, because everybody ex- pects a bigger dinner and more elaborately served. Nearly always company comes, and you couldn't put them down to cold victuals, could you?” The Old Puritan Style. Again the cheery laugh, as the other woman, with practiced fingers, laid aside beets and cabbage, peas, tomatoes and cu- gumbers, such as she thought quite fresh. “Oh, we don’t call it eating ‘cold victuals,” and as our friends seem fonder of partak- ing of our hospitality on that day than on any other we have concluded that they must like our Sunday dinners and teas, or they would select a week day to visit us and dine.” The weasened woman sniffed in disdain, and the cheery woman added musk and watermelons to her overflowing basket, gave her residence, and the two went away. Profiting by the little intetchange of ideas, which anybody might have over- heard, but which I alone seemed to be interested in, I changed my marketing list very materially, resolved that I would try the ‘‘cold victual” plan; but let me tell you, I had a time of it with Jude. Sife scoffed at the idea quite as ferociously as the weasened woman, whom I know has chronic pepsia from overeating of rich foo: ‘Deed, Miss Sara, quality kain’t live on col’ grub, an’ 'tain’t no ways ’tended they It's mighty pore white, that But I insisted on having my way for once, and it was voted a success from Rose tothe young ladies from Rich- mond who are visiting Dorothy and who probably never ate a meal without hot bread before in their lives. Though the day was intolerably warm, we all got up from the dinner table quite refreshed and with no symptom of overheating from swallow- ing-a quantity of steaming food and hot drinks. Jude got through her work in half the usual time and had a long evening off. And now, why not revert back to the strict old Puritan manner of preparing for Sunday? Why is it necessary for the house- keepers and mothers—those who have no servants to assist them and those who have —to stew and broil and cook all day Sunday ta feed the idle guests and family, all of whom may enjoy the day of rest, except- ing that part of if, perhaps, that is spent in resting an overrich meal, eaten out of the alar order? Why must the family play the tyrant toward the mother in that way? she not a right to her one day in seven he same as the others? Everybody knows that every individual member of the family gets up» Monday morning cross as two sticks, usually with a bad taste in the mouth, headache and indigestion, because the breakfast was late on Sunday, the din- ner was three hours earlier and tea. two hours later than usual, and the whole bill of fare for the day considerably richer thar? for any of the other six days of the week. Practieal and Sensible. If you know anything at all, you know thot this upsetting of the regular routine of eating is bad for the whole system, and is probably accountable for the prefix “blue” that bas been tacked on to Monday. I think the cheery woman's idea is an ex- cellent one, and though it is a good deal Ike changing the leopard’s spots, Jude has got to get out of the old rut, and back in- to the new-old one that was prevalent in my _ childhood, and is still practiced among high -church people, that of making Sun- day an absolute day of rest for all concern- ed in the household duties. It is practical and it is sensible. In the stern old Puritan days all the food for the Sabbath was prepared on Sat- urday. There was no fire built in the house on the Sabbath except to keep the inmates warm. Not a single unnecessary duty was performed from sundown Saturday night to sundown Sunday night..They lived well, too. In the first years of trial the larder was slimly filled, but when the days of pri- vation were over their tables were supplied with all the luxuries that the new world afforded, and they were many. It must be conceded that the men and women who were reared under those conditions were sufficiently well nurtured, mentally as well as physically, to make a good big patch in history, to which thelr posterity “point with pride” whenever occasion offers. In a city with a market in every section, as Washington has, it is easy enough to arrange for a “cold victual” dinner for Sun- day, and it ought not to be a hardship for the members of the family to eat one day in seven the viands which they put away with such avidity on al’ fresco occasions and “vote the most delicious meal in a year.” At this season of the year hot meats are not very palatable, no matter how daintily cooked, and the odor of steaming vege- tables and hot drinks, when the mercury is away up in the nineties, and still climb- ing, is almost unbearable. It is much more appetizing to sit down to a table garnish ed with pretty ice-cold salads, daintily sliced chicken, or beef that is juicy and tender, though cold, cottage cheese, deviled crabs, lobster, if you like, pressed chicken, veal loaf, cold meat pie—so English, you know—with pickles, olives, deviled eggs, and for dessert anything almost in the pie and pudding line, but giving the preference always to fruit in its season, and if thought better cooked thar? au natural, made into tarts, pies and shortcakes, to be eaten with cream. For drinks, iced tea and coffee, lemonade, iced milk, root beer—which is in no sense of the word alcoholic—or fruit beverages, such as most good housewives know so well how to prepare. Appetizing, but Cold. All the meat dishes can be prepared while ‘the Saturday’s work is being done up. They can then be put in the ice box. The salads, materials for which are pur- chased Saturday evening, can be got ready while waiting. for the lazy family to rise Sunday morning, and the cheese, eggs and other appetizers prepared at the same time. Of course the dessert, if ple or pudding, is made on Saturday; if short cake, on Sun- day morning. If lemon tarts or pie, or fruit pie, that will soak up the juice and get soft, the shells may be baked on Satur- day, along with the other baking, and the “filling” added Sunday morning. Of course the question of hot bread is a serious one in families “raised” on it, but they will enjoy it all the more if they have to get along without it for Sunday. Picnic biscuits make an excellent substi- ‘tute, beaten biscuits are great; then there is the whole rang> of “cracked” cereal breads, which are decidedly healthier than white bread, and a “pone” of sweet, yel- low corn bread, with a glass of rich, cold milk or a “schooner” of buttermilk, 1s simply delicious on a hot day. Oddly erough, this is a favorite luncheen compi- nation with a great many statesmen, and when Mrs. Carlisle is called upon to fur- nish provisions for an entertainment for ‘the physical man she generally subszribes “corn bread and milk and buttermilk. Aside from the cor venience of ‘cold .din- ners on Sunday, when the house mother wants a rest as well as anybody else, or the servant wants to have her afternoon off, there is the health aspect of it, which of course, the last view of it that any- dy will take. One may eat very heart ly ofa cold dinner and not suffer from in- digestion in the least, when the same quantity of food taken hot from the stove, with the mercury at 9 in the shade, will send the temperature of the body bounding up at a fearful pace, and one will come from the table with the blood at the boil- ing point, with “fullness” in the head, and a sense of constriction about the heart, ard a general uncomfortable feeling. This serious phase of indigestion does not indicate that you have actually eaten too much, but that it was not the proper kind of food to eat, or not in the proper condi- tion to eat. The same viands that you can eat with impunity in the colder climate or winter season will be quite sure to treat you badiy during the warm weather. In fact, we need an absolute change of food and ths way of preparing it in the summer from that pursued in the winter. Mea’ sweets, richer salads and desserts, soup and highly spiced foods belong to cold climates. Fruits, coarsely ground cereals, Vegetables, green salads and acid drinks should constitute the menu for healthy suthmer diet, with milk and eggs, and a little fresh meat and a good deal of sea food. Of course there will be a lot of you who will think with Jude that ‘“qualit eat anything that has not cost a heap of money and hours of heated labor in prepa- ration, but in that case I will have to say to you as I did to her, “you do not know it all.” SENORA SARA. ae SS An Organdy Gown. If you are hankering for. an organdy gown, make it like this. The style answers quite as well for taffeta and summer silk, but is remarkably pretty for thin stuffs. The skirt is a nine-gored affair, which an- swers very well for a gown that will not wash, but beware of the gored creations for a wash gown, they hang like the mis- chief was tugging at each seam, after they are laundered. This skirt ts lined with plain pink lawn. The full front of the bodice is pink silk mull, and the cape is pink silk mull with a border of fine swiss Insertion set on, and a second cape of fine swiss embroidery forming a kind of collar. The sleeves have large puffs caught up with a shirred strip of the mull, and the lower part has ‘a covering of the mull wrinkled on. The hat is black lace with pink and black plumes and pink ribboa, and the parasol is white silk wita pink lin. ing. Now, can’t you see how “somebody” could look as pretty as a peach in all this pinkness? Se VALUE OF “GooD MORN <G.”? A Mistress Who Never Had Any Trou- ble With Her Servants. From the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Your servants are always so civil,” re- marked one woman to another. “Have you any especial training methods that engraft such courtesy into their manners?” “Not especially,” was the answer, “but maybe you can find a keynote to their good temper in the fact that I always select as a commencement to each day a cheery ‘good morning.’ “Somehow it seems to cil up the wheels of domestic machinery, and the work of the day glides along in a smooth manner that is entirely lacking if by chance I omit ibis before-breakfast courtesy. From cook in the kitchen to the boy who carries my market basket, the ‘good morning’ tonic is magical in effect. “In southern households I know the first greeting of the day comes from the Gomes- tics, but when one must cope with the ig- norance as well as indifference of foreign- ers about one’s household, it is better to take the Initiative in acts of politeness and let them learn by example.” 1895—-TWENTY PAGES. SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS As Found in the Exclusiveness of a Quiet Neighborhood. Odd, isn’t it, the grades in social life and how they are established? Some one has truthfully said that there is no loneliness 80 oppressively dreary as the loneliness of @ great city, and this is exemplified a dozen ‘times a day in the nation’s capital. On a side street a house that has been for a long time vacant suddenly shows symptoms of life. The “for rent” sign is,taken from the window and the grass in the yard Is cut and the fence painted. Immediately the neighbors begin to talk. A plain little woman appears on the scene to boss the job of cleaning, and they decide that she isn’t “qual- ity,” but belongs to the vast army of “rooming” house- Keepers. They resent” her intrusion on the block which has hith- erto been exclusive, even if it has been poor, with not a car- riage to the credit of a single resident. The first w nm load of household traps ar- rives, and through closed blinds and drawn curtains nu- merous opera glasses are leveled on the lares and penates. of the prospective ne‘ghbor. They do not inspire confidence. The fur- niture Is old. “Bought at auction, like as noz,” one mutters, as the heavy claw- footed mahogany chest of drawers 1s dragged off. “Must have been in a swell hotel,” follows the unfolding of a gaudy flower-wreathed velvet carpet, relic of better days and a bigger house, on the tiny frent yard plat. “Old as the hills,” is the epithet applied to the square grand piano, which might have been used for the playing of Patti's first accompaniment. And so it goes till the newcomer is settled. She puts up the regulation cream blinds and long lace curtains and an additional “Spanish”. curtain across the lower sash, which seems to be made of very fine old swiss, darned until the fretwork of thread looks like a yeritable pattern. They, the women of the block, resent this, too. It lcoks like an effort to be exclusive, even if the old house is minus inside shutters. Then the woman and her daughter settle down to their lonely life. The daughter is frail and delicate, with a high-bred face, and, like the mother, has the bearing of a lady, but though no opportunity Is lost to sweep the interior on bright sunny morn- ings with opera, glasses, when open windows give excel- lent opportunity, not a woman of all the curious dozen on the block would set foot inside the door for a farm. ‘They have watched closely, but in their opinion (the same ex- changed over the back yard fence, or in the morning when sweeping the sidewalk)— in their opinion no woman of “quality” has called, no man worth mentioning has left his card. And so the “couacil” of the block decides to let the newcomers severe- ly alone. There is no borrowing of “flats” whea there is a big ironing on hand, no ex- change of “cuttings,” though the new neighbor has some rare varieties of ger- anium in her small front yard. Those nearest her never talk back and forth from the bay windows, and the rustic seats in the “two by four” front yards are un- recognizingly placed back to back with the fence between. And so the long bright summer goes. Suddenly, one day after the season opens a handsome coupe draws up at the door -and two stylish women are ushered out by the obsequious footman. Another follows, and lots of women come in visiting attire, and then call at another house or two in the neighborhood. ‘The denizens of the block suddenly awake to the knowledge that the woman whom they have snubbed is “at home” during the “season” to half the real aristocracy of the city, and they speedily “set about cultivating her. She receives them with cool indifference, for she has long since guessed that her ap- parent poverty was the bar and is quite grateful that she has been left to herself. She can no longer claim her exclusive loneliness, however, for she is now the idol of the neighbor- e hood. Odd that a few callers and a carriage with a crest on it, a guest with a family tree roeted on the conqueror, should so affect a whole block. Suppose the woman and her daughter, In- stead of being reduced gentlewomen de- sirous of a quiet inexpensive summer s0- journ, had been veritable newcomers to the city as well as to the block. The meth- ods pursued by the women of the locality would have driven them all but mad, with loneliness and longing for friends. Sree ee CORSETS AND PETTICOATS. Some of the Latest Ideas in These Articles of Dress. A word about summer corsets. The wo- man who fondly imagines that she can wear a black corset with a thin waist, with cne thin corset cover, made of rows of in- sertion and lace, to cover it from view, rever takes a good look at herself after ghe done her clothes, or she would dis- cover her mistake. Some very pretty | toilets have been ridiculously marred by that blunder. The lacelike summer corsets are not a bit of account for a person of stout build, and if you want to look like anything at all in summer attire, and not seem to be “boiling over” in your clothes, you would better get a fine French coutil corset, even if it does cost a little more, for the satisfaction is so much greater. A woman should not be uncomfortable in her corset, and she will not be if she selects them with care and has them properly fitted. A very light string should be used for the lacing; silk, if you can afford it, for unless the lacings are quite flat they leave their imprint on the back of the thin bodice by a tracery against the crossed strings, of all the dust and grime on car and carriage seats, chair backs, etc. If you must have a thin corset, the pongee silk corset isn’t so very bad, but you will have to wear a double corset cover with it, as it will show dirty white through a thin frock. Petticoats are much handsomer than the dress skirts, because the latter are not trimmed at all and the former are trim- med to death. Such masses of embroidery and lace and ribbon bows, silk and linen and cambric as are piled upon each other in the name of “petticoats” never were worn before. Some of the newest petti- coats are flouaced to above the knees with stiff embroidery. Others have linen ruffles, edged with the cobwebbiest kind of lace, and a great many are made with a very full narrow ruffie of embroidery at the foot, and over that falls a wide, extremely Tull ruftie of embroidery, stiff with needle- work, and with two or three rows of in- sertion let into the skirt. To make these skirts yet stiffer, white featherbone is stitched, three or four rows, into the-hem under the narrow ruffie. It launders well. It is somewhat remarkabie that a woman of dainty tastes can be so careless about her petticoats as some are, The best fitting dress skirt will be ruined in its set if you wear a badly-fitting petti- coat. Thé petticoat should be only mod- erately full, two yards and a half is ample width for a medium-sized woman, and three yards and a half of embroidery, a big allowance for a ruffle, no matter how wide. ‘The skirt should be well gored at the top, end be exactly the same length all around. Exactly, remember, and if you get it a suspicion Jonger on the sides or in the back, if you happen to wear it on the stage or on any elevation above the crowd of peo- le around, they will get a good view of it From under the front of your dress skirt. An otherwise irreproachable costume was simply ruined recently, when a pretty young, singer, in a charming new gown, mounted the high stage, and displayed about three inches of soiled lace-trimmed petticoat, while she soared to the vicinity of high fa somebody's plea for some- Bedy’s love. A man couldn’t possibly love }a woman with so little gumption as to wear a badly fitting petticoat in this day and age. TO RESTORE CRAY HAIR TO ITS NATURAL color, (a8 In youth, canes to: grew abuscant strong, there Preparation than Hall's Halt Renewer. 15 Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U.S, Gov't Report Ro al P| Baking Powder ABSOLUTELY PURE THE WHEELWOMAN. She May Ride Modestly and Accept- x ably if She Will. From the New York Times. ‘ R Women succumbed -Jate, but they have gone under fast and far now that they have acknowledged the sway of the wheel. The woman who does not ride is getting Tarer every day; the woman who has not thought of riding is really a remarkable person. Women’s bicycling received its real im- petus when the smart set took it up. Once the seal of fashion was set upon the sport, the pace of its success was designated. The limit ef that success is still unsettled. Conservatism in general has entered its protest in print and by word of mouth, and continues to do so, but individual conserv- atism has daily yielded to the infectious influences all about, and the ranks of the new riders every week are recruited from the most modest and feminine, thé least aggressive and most womanly of women. There is no earthly reason why they should not be. If the exercise can be brought into disrepute it will be by its monopoly by the other sort-of women. It is thoze of the sex who adorn and dignify every act they perform who are needed in this and every other pastime, exercise or occupation. ‘That women can ride the wheel accepta- bly in_every sense of the word is demon- strated every hour of every day. The iilus- tration shows a woman in the act of mounting, and her pose is as graceful and pleasing as if she were entering a carriage, much more so than the spring to a horse's back for a canter. In the matter of costume, the leaven of taste and modesty is as valuable among wheelwomen as among women who do not wheel. So long as it is the custom of so- clety that women shall wear skirts she should keep to them cn the wheel. Numer- ous skirt costumes have been designed that are safe and convenient, and the plca that either quality is increased by bloomers is not tereble. If in future decades dress for vomen shall be revolutionized and the skirts of today be done away with, as have the farthingales and coifs of former gener- A Gracefal Mount. ations, there will then be no public senti- ment or conventionalism to be outraged and displeased, and the bloomer question may take on a different phase. The present, and it is to be oped the future, woman for many a long day should keep to ker skirts. Nor should the matter of age affect woman's riding. If she is inclined to the exercise, and has the strength for it, the Bible limitation of three-score and ten nee? not prevent her taking to it. The older woman, however, who mounts :he wheel needs to be especially carcful in ‘her dress. What is piquant and effective at twenty is not equally so at forty and fifty. A few ears ago it was the fashion in the Cat- skills—it may be so yet—for women to wear soft felt hats on their mountain tramps and rides. These were becoming and ar- tistically grateful surmounting the fresh, pretty face of a young girl or woman in hor early twenties, but when the pliant headgear, in a brilliant red perhaps, with many a rakish droop and dent, was set |} above a lined, elderly face the combination was a genuine blow to the spectator. In these lavish days every period of life has its ample range of suitable, corforta- ble and becoming wear; there is no reason not to choose sensibly. ‘Similarly, one may Gress to one’s years on the wheel. ———_-2-+—___ About White Pique Sometimes white pique looks pretty and sometimes it doesn’t, and one of the times when it is prettier than usual {s when made Into a jacket Ike this one. The re- vers are buttoned back with big pear! ball buttons, and at the waist line it is button- ed with large flat mother-of-pearl. It is bound with a bias of the same, and if your laundress has sprouted wings you may be able 19 get it done up properly, for there is nothing about it that will not launder. The bodice to wear with it is of the sheer- est mull, tucked finely, and each tuck edged with narrow lace. ‘The hat is the very lat- est agony in an English walking hat, be- ing straw with a garniture of flowers, vel- vet and buckles. ee HIS VIEW OF THE THING. The Little Girl Escaped, but He Was Battered and Bruised. From the Chicago Tribune. The wheelman who was scorching through Washington Park rounded one of the curves just as a little girl about four years old started to run across the road in front of him. He set his teeth, turned his bicycle sharply to the left and flew out of the sad- dle in one direction, while the machine went tumbling in another, the little girl escaping by a hair's breadth, “You careless brute!” exclaimed a sharp- voiced matron, who came running up. “You monkey on two wheels! What do you mean by racing about the park in this daredevil kind of a way? Haven't you got any consideration for other folks? Don’t you know you're always Mable to run over somebody. Do you want to scare people to death? Some people haven't got the sense they were born with. If I had my way about it, I'd stop this business mighty quick. You might have killed my child.” “Yes, ma’am,” replied the young man, who had gathered himself up and was making an inventory of his damages. “But I didn’t. She got off without a scratch, while I’ve got a skinned elbow, a bruised knee, a sprained ankle and a lame shoul- der. ‘There's .a piece of skin as big as a half-dollar gone from‘the palm of my hand, my hair is full of dirt, I've ruined a suit of clothes and it will cost me $15 to have ihe machine mended. If I'm not kicking, ma’am, I don’t think you ought to kick.” He picked up his broken bicycle, put it ABOUT SHIRT WAISTS. Ié in Said That Their Continued Popu- larity is Threatened. Can it be that that very excellent, economical and really admirable article of dress, the shirt waist, is doomed? Its abounding popularity seems to be on the increase, but the astounding news imparted by a recognized authority in such mat- ters says this useful garment has got to go because it is getting too common!* That manufacturers of “ready-mads skirts and shirt waists are now selling the ‘blocked out’ garments by the bale! Not even tak- ing the pains to make them up.” At this rate they will soon be selling in the shops by the yard, like the printed elephants and poodle dogs, Chinese dolls and bandana handkerchiefs. Of course no self-respecting woman would like to see her prospective lawn or silic waist draping the show window with print- ed instructions along the selvedge “to cut ‘out along the dotted lines.” In this “ready- made age” one can put up with a good many things In the “hand-me-~down” line, but when it comes to buying bodices like votes, in blocks of five, the best-natured woman wiM rise in wrath and stamp out the whole business. By the way, the American idea of the French blouse is rather funny. The French woman wears a blouse waist for comfort. It is unlined, ynboned, and has but two seams, iHose being under the arm. It has a draw string at the belt, and when it is tightened, it bags all around, and is Jooser than a man’s shirt. The American idea of a blouse is a tightly boned lining, with some handsome material draped over it, hangirg loose and bag-like in front, but outlining the figure at the sides and the back. It really gives no more freedom than a tailor-made gown, and it isn’t al- ways pretty, either. One thing sure, the American blouse will never be sold in “bales,” because it is too complicated in its details, and a separate chart would have to accompany each one. One of the newest things in waists {1 Rob Roy plaid taffeta silk. It has box- Pieated fronts, bias yoke backs, with three box pleats below the yoke, full elbow sleeves, with a fold of bias velvet and a butterfly bow to finish, and a velvet stocic collar, That sounds a very warm gar- ment, but isn’t at all, if the lining is very thin. The velvet collar may make it warmer, but, of course, you can substitute a silk one if you Like. Speaking of plaids, here is a novel illus- tration of combining plaid with cream serge to make a seaside frock, and you must admit that it looks mighty pretty. There is a band of the plaid on the foot of the unlined skirt, and the front and back of the real French blouse waist is of the plaid, with the lower part of the sleeves, belt and long knotted sash of the same. The parasol to match is of cream taffeta silk, with a border of the plaid, and the hat is an odd mixture = egci like the plaid, with bows of cream EVER CHANGING, NEVER NEW. The Coming Woman Will Be the Same as She Who Has Gone. From the Butte Inter-Mountain. = The new or coming woman will not differ much from the old one, notwithstanding all which has been said or predicted con- cerning her.’ She will wail and coo, take soothing sirup when she ts cutting teeth, and be the same source of misery and hap- piness to doting parents when she is a baby that she is now. As she grows apace she will go to school, play with the boys, tear her clothes, soll her hands and face, surreptitiously appropriate sweetmeats and play mischief generally, as she does today. When she reaches young womanhood she -Will dress as fashicn dictates, bang her hair or cut it off or coil it on top of her head, pile nearly all her dress on her shoulders, put needle-pointed No. 2 shoes on No. 3 feet, paint and powder to show the world her Creator didn’t give her the right complexion, want a new bonnet or -two for every season of the year, fall in love, swing on front yard-gates, talk sweet nothings to her best fellow, get married, have babies, apply for divorces, and in ali other respects do about as young ladies do nowadays. ‘The new woman as painted Is a myth, Time changes fashions and customs, and education and inventions open new fields for the employmegt of women, enlarge thelr sphere of action and usefulness, offer them a wider field in which to display their power and worth, and to assert their God- given rights that man in his ignorance has withheld from them. But human nature today is the same human nature which moved Adam and Eve to costume them- selves in the best goods at hand and to multiply and replenish the.earth. The very same loving, devoted, self-sacrificing wo- men, the same blushing brides, the same kind, doting young mothers and the same fond, forgiving old ones will bless the world in the future’ as they bless it today. The world must be born over again to produce anew woman. The old one is good enough, God bless them. Se Philosophy About Women. From the Philadelphia Press. The secret of Dumas’ influence over wo- men is said to lie in the observance of the foriaula which he wrote In “The Women’s Friend.” Here it is. Try it, if you like: “The love for women must be judicially dosed with esteem and hate, and if the man adis to it indulgence when judicious and kindness always he attains the limit of his art. . +e — — The ‘sweet girl graduate trying in vain over his shoulder and limped slowly away | to find something she does net know al- in the duection of the shop. ready.—Life.