Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-10-10
FEMALE MASTERS.


Saving her petticoats, retained appar-
emily out of respect for the law that pro-
hfbits interchange of costume by the sexes,
the female masher is little man. She Is
stiff and starch, well set up, and all over
buttons. Her hat is made at mans shop,
30 is her trim little jacket, so are her in
Vulnerable waistcoats, so apparently are
her boots. She is essentially tailor-made
from head to foot When the weather Is
gusty, she covers all over with tailor
made tight-fitting coat, to which a certain
swagger is imFarted by the use OF the now
preposterous and most hideous swaYing
crinolette. II manners oft proclaim the
man. costume certainly advertlses the
woman 80 the female masher does not as
sumo m asculine attire withoutimitating par
rot-like the affecsation OF her evident model.
On the pier and promenade OF to-day the
man is not in it. 1t Is the woman who
laughs loudly, talks at the top of her voice.
takes the pavement, and elbows the crowd
to the right and to the left. The female
masher is neither polite in her manners nor
select in her conversation. On a very
slight acquaintance she will communicate
suspicious stories to perfect stranger, and
there is no slang or popular vulgarity with
which she is not acquainted. In dog
cart at the station she takes the reins /; in
the yacht she handles the tiller. She
whistles as she walks along the pier, and
bitches up her clothes as if she were
sailor. At dance in the assembly rooms
at night she evidently finds the opposite
sex so insipid that she seizes upon the first
girl she comes across, and whirls her around
the room. The ordinary, well.behaved
and courteous man finds the "female
masher" the most difficult person to
contend with, for when she is rude-as she
very frequently is-there is necessarily no
reply. She can insult aud iniure without
any chance of setting down" from any
one, unless he be old enough to be her
father Such rebuff one of these impu-
dent minxes received in my hearing the
other day at seaside railway station. A
female masher of pronounced type, after
staggering about a railway station, walk
ing like dragon, and hourishing stick
instead of parasol, was anxious to enter
train from which an elderly gentleman
was handing his gray haired wife with her
innumerable impediments. The process
was too tedious for Miss Washer, who OBJ
served far too audibly to her companion,
"Well, suppose when these people have
got out we shall be allowed to get in.
There was malicious sneer in the deliv-
cry of this sarcasm which would have
frightened a younger man. But the old
gentleman was equal to the occasion.
MY dear young lady" said be, ga little
patience will do you no harm. In fact, if
you practice patience it is possible that
some day you may get husband, though
] should venture to consider that it was no
desirable event =" Then taking off his
hat, he retired with his wife and her par.
GELS. But Miss Washer was far too pachy-
dermatous even so much as to notice Or
appreciate the rebuff. She entered the
carriage in which happened to be sitting,
and proceeded as follows: She Srst took
up the newspapers which happened to be
there and flung them into another seat,
occupying, why cannot conceive, the seat
opposite to me. 81 cont know what
these papers are, or whose they are,
although as l was the only other occupant
of the carriage, it would not have been
difficult to solve that problem. The con.
versatile she INDUCED in with her friend
was the reverse of edifying, being coarse
mixture of slang and somewhat vulgar rep
artee. am not naturally over-scrupulous
or ver.modest, but was obliged to stare
out of the window in order to pretend not
to appreciate the brazen conduct that, had
it been recognized and laughed at, would
have been rewarded with sneer or
scowl, for Miss Washer, although she takes
enough liberties herself, never allows one.
During the remainder of the journey my
edifying companion employed herself by
whistling popular airs and by ruching up
her dress in order to pull up her stockings
an occupation harmless in itself, but
scarcely in accordance with the decorum
of public conveyance. Now, I was Gu
rious to ascertain the habitat of this young
lady. Who could she be? To what class
of society could she belong? She was ev-
identity lady born, if not a lady bred.
She was no frequenter of the music halls,
where such manners are applauded as some-
thing vastly witty. Judge of my surprise
when she stopped at a railway station close
to the abode of popular nobleman, and
was driven off in the private omnibus at
tached to the mansion. If, then, such
young ladies set 30 upenviable an example,
it is small wonder that the masherdom OF
society in its most pronounced form
should be initiated by other girls and
women equally arrogant and equally vain.
Miss Washer, of Folkestone and East
bourne, is reproduced in a still more mas.
culine fashion st Margate and Yarmouth.
London Truth.