The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-11-07
THE "GIRL OF THE PERIOD"
a Sketch of Her as She Appears I'm
a Street Car.

we nave SKetched, In the folloWlnS,
the Young Woman Of the Period as
she appears in the street car. She
stands upon the curb, with a little
springy, up.anddown motion, as il she
had spiral springs in the sole Of her
CATERS. As the car approaches she
sticks the point OF her closed parasol in
the direction of the driver with a small
jerk. The car stops She gives one or
two more little springy motions before
she leaves the pavement, and then
dances to the car. AS she ascends the
step the conductor seems to consider it
absolutely necessary to her safety to
place one of his hands in the small OF
her back, while he rings the bell with
the other. She enters the car, with the
spiral springy still bobbing her up and
down; and, as all the seats are full, she
stands holding her hands in frontof her,
and gazing off into illimitable space as
if the one idea which never entered her
mind, and which never could enter
it under any possible circumstances is,
that some man will rise and offer her
his seat But young man in the corner
does rise, and Immediately the fellow
next to him moves quickly into the
corner, as if the performance Of that
maneuver had formed the subject Of
anxious thought during many years Of
his life. To get corner seat, indeed,
would seem to be the chief end of man,
if we remark the avidity with which
human beings in street cars seek that
object. When the young man rises,
the young lady suddenly becomes con-
scious that there is something nearer to
her than the horizon, and she gives two
or three more little bounces, and says:
Keep your seat" The young man is
embarrassed, and says he is going to
get out soon; whereupon the fair being
dances toward the seat, sinks into it,
and pretends that the fact of the existence
OF the young man who once occupied that
seat, and who is going to get out, has
entirely faded out Of her consciousness.
She smooths down her dress and its
supplemental frippery, pennats and
fiounces, and again looks far beyond the
confines of the car into emptiness. She
knows she is expected by the other wo-
men in the car to remain unconscious
of their presence while they study her
clothes. They Immediately begin.
They stare at her dress, her sacque, her
hat, her back hair, her jewelry, her
gloves. her bows and ribbons, and her
miscellaneous millinery, until the entire
costume is photographed in their
memories, and the price estimated, and
a critical opinion formed, with resolo-
ton to have a bonnet of the same kind,
or "body" cut upon the same pattern.
When the young lady thinks this ex-
animation is concluded, she becomes
conscious again, and begins to look
around and see how all the other wo-
men are dressed She examines each
one in detail, andi in few moments she
is in possession of all the usual facts.
Presently a young man with whom she
is acquainted gets into the car, and he
stands clutching the strap and trying IN
vain to keep himself in graceful at
titude while he converses with her. All
the women begin to wonder whether
she cares particularly for him-and, as
she knows their thoughts, she is so dis
tant that the young man becomes more
embarrassed than ever, and makes re-
newed struggles to maintain a graceful
position. When she wishes to get out
she rises, smooths down her frlppery
again, INDUCES in two or three springs,
and dances along 10 the platform. The
conductor again considers it imperative
" necessary to press the small OF her
back. She dances down the steps,
dances to the pavement, and then
dances along the street, fully aware OF
the fact that the woman in the car
have all turned round to look at her,
and serenely confident in the assurance
that she has on good clothes, which fit
her splendidly AS she disappears
the conductor turns to the man who is
smoking cigar on the platform, and re-
marks that she is "a crusner!