HABITS OF AMERICAN "LADIES."

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2561, 8 December 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

HABITS OF AMERICAN "LADIES."

Under, the sun there is nothing more revolting in the eyes of well-bred people than vulgar habits in women. Woman is supposed to be the guiding star of that naughty animal, man. She is supposed, by her refined and delicate ways, to lead him into pleasant paths; to bend his coarser nature to the reflected sweetness of her own ; to set him such an example that he would be in very dread were he to bruise or even wound her susceptibilities, which, by virtue of her woman • hood, she is supposed to possess. I say

" supposed " to possess, for, unhappily, woman has taken up a position so entirely foreign to the wearer of skirts, plumes, and flowers, that it is actually only by these outward signs that we distinguish her from man. For many years women rendered themselves remarkable by wearing Derby hats, tightfitting coats, and swinging little canes. These gracelass adornments, which were, however, harmless, they seem to have dropped, but their habits, in many respects, have now taken the form of positive impropriety, and are, when not improper, at least disgusting.

When a woman meets a man on the street rolling a quid of tobacco in his cheek, aud squirting out in an arrow-like line a jet of abominable brown juice before speaking to her, she ejaculates, if not aloud, at least sotto voce, " Nasty beast." Well, there is a good deal of the " beast " in man's nature, therefore we overlook that; but how much more disgusting are the antics of the gum-chewer ? The woman who chews gum except in the solitude of her own apartment, should be relegated beyond the pale of decent society. Albeit, society favors the conceit. The gum-chewer is a pitiable looking object as she sits with her mouth open, while the continuous tchap—tehap —tchap—monotonously fills the air, her face working, her jaws opeuing and shutting with that horrid snap, which reminds you of an underbred child at a dinner table. The gum-chewer carries on her antics on the street, in the theatre, in the drawing room ; when in the latter place she at last grows weary' she sticks the filthy morsel on the side of the piano, the back of her chair, or up against the wall.

I called on a friend the o'her day, and after taking off my wrap when I got home, there was a lump of the horror firmly embedded iu the velvet, which I had carried away from off that wall. There and then I got mad and determined to expose the system. One could forgive these women who outrage decency if they knew no better, but gum-chewing is not confined to the ignorant by any means ; the ladies of the upper ten (so-called) circle are quite as open to condemnation as is the factory girl who only acts according to her light and education. I have seen at a " high toned" reception a brace of young women, clothed in flowing robes of white silk, sit on a sofa, chewing gum for the space of an hour, and when claimed for the dance they spat the " tutti frutti " into their gloved hands, stuck the same to the back of the sofa, and waltzed off with their partners. This was in Chicago, but they are a little far behind out West, and the mothers of these ladies was so extra, ultra awfully on her p's and q's that 1 could only lift my eyes in astonishment at the shortcomings of the daughters. Another disgusting and underbred habit among women, is the picking of teeth on the sidewalk. This is not so observable in San Fransisco because the number of women who eat out is eomSaratively small, but in Chicago and Tew York, where hundreds of people eat at restaurants, you may calculate upon three women out of four coming out with an ungloved hand, employing a toothpick diligently. If the tooth on which the pick is employed happens to be at the back of the head, the picture made by she who picks is very grotesque. The mouth is opened to its fullest extent, the the pick held between the thumb and finger, digs away back, while a screw up pained expression overspreads the countenance. If the front teeth alone are being operated on the effect is not so horrifying, but in either case the modus operandi is hardly in keeping with the get-up of the dames who thus overstep the boundary of etiquette. A man might honestly be pardoned for breach of promise, should he find his affianced guilty of either of the above named offences—gum-chewing or tooth-picking in society—which matter indeed might be legislated upon. Spitting is not exactly according to Chesterfield, and yet it is no novelty to see a dame in a velvet robe pause, make a prolonged ach-ch-ch-ch, and expectorate with a decision worthy of a male biped, in the very centre of the pavement. Disgusting aud odious as these habits are, there is yet another that, in a measure, caps the climax. Drinking is the habit alluded to—a habit which is gaining ground fearfully among women under the twenties, leaving aside the older delinquents. Girls nowadays take their "Vermont cock-tail," "whisky sour" or "gin fizz "with manly gusto, and call for more. If one girl meets a chum on the street, she at once says :

" Is there any place round here where we can get a drink? I'll treat." Then they seek, and if no convenient and unknown place ia handy, the chum remembers that it is possible to get "all the drink we want at a soda establishment." Soda with a"aslick" in it can be repeated, and a " long " is generally the one demanded. -In New York there are the " family entrances "at the side of the saloon, where women go unblushingly and call for their/' whisky straight" drink it and treat back precisely after the fashion of their brothers and cousins and uncles. In Sau Francisco there are the soda counters and upper rooms of insignificant restaurants, which answer the purpose of the " family entrance" elsewhere. Where girls lodge together the "growler" is worked to a merry tune, and in their own rooms the soothing cigarette accompanies the "growler."

If such habits as these are unchecked, where are the women going to make a finale ? Is it to be wondered at that men in this country have so little regard for women ? Can any one marvel that men pay them such scant respect ? I think not. If woman, by these odious practices, loses her refinement and her power to please, she at once relinquishes the reins and gives the man his head. Men are bad enough, but if we were more refined, more like the women of a bygone day, more in direct contrast with the coarser sex, we should have fewer men preying on women as they do. It is woman's province to make men better; at least that seems to have been the original intention in making the lady, but she does not carry out her mission in these galloping days, in which, indee 1, her sole idea is to emulate the vices of man. There is no reason' why the gum should not change to tobacco ; no reason at all against women relegating the men the drawing-room while they sip their wine after dinner. The world is topsyturvy, and I regret to say woman is powerfully helping the rotary motion. How beautiful woman is in her natural sphere; how enthralling to man; how easily she can turn him round her little finger by remaining womanly, gentle, graceful, sweet (not sweet, however, with tho odor of cigarette); how much is in her hands, to lead, to guide, to soften, to ennoble. But how can she be man's ministering angel if she makes herself the most prominent " fellow " of the two ? —Silver Pen, in SaD Francisco News Letter.