Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-11-24
The ssGirl of the Period,
SKETCH OF HER AS SHE APPEARs III a
STREET CAR.

We have sketched, in the following,
the "Young Woman Of the Period" as she
appears in the street car. She stands upon
the curb, with little springy, up-and-
down motion, as if she had spiral springs
in the soles of her CATERS. As the car
approaches, she sticks the point of her
closed parasol in the direction of the driv-
er with small jerk. The car stops She
gives one or two more little springy mo-
lions 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 springs still bobbing her up
and down ; and, as all the seats are full,
she stands holding her hands in front OF
her, and gazing off into illimitable space,
as if the one idea which never entered her
mind, and which never could enter it un.
der 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
formed the subject of anxious thought
during many years of his life. To get a
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
conscious 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
towards the seat, sinks into it, and pre-
tends that the fact of the existence of any
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 supple
mental frippery, remnants and founces,
and looks far beyond the confines of the
car into emptiness. She knows she is ex-
pected by the other women in the car to
remain unconscious of their presence
while they study her clothes. They i'm
mediately 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 critical opinion formed, with a
resolution to have bonnet of the same
kind, or d" body" cut upon the
same pattern. When the young lady
thinks this examination is concluded, she
becomes conscious again, and begins to
look around and see how all the other
women are dressed. She examines each
one in detail, and in few moments she
is in possession of all the usual facts.
Presently 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 atti-
tude 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 distant
that the young man becomes more en-
barrased than ever, and makes renewed
struggles to maintain a graceful position.
When she wishes to get out, she rises,
smooths down her frippery again, indul-
ges in two or three springs, and dances
along the platform. The conductor again
considers it imperatively necessary to
press the small of her back. She dances
down the step, dances to the pavement,
and then dances along the street, fully
aware of the fact that the women in the
car have all turned around to look at her,
and serenelysconfdent in the assurance
that she has on good clothes, which fit her
splendidly. As she disappears, the con-
ductor turns to the man who is smoking a
cigar on the platform, and remarks that
she is ga crusher "