Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1884-08-26
THE BOSTON GIRL.



Know plenty of young men Who con-
trive 10 have a great deal of cheap fun
at the expense of the average Boston
girl. The newspapers, pictorial week
lies and even the magazines foster them
in it, Some of the girls, 10 be sure, are
curious creatures, but many whom the
New Yorker in Boston has met are re-
markably nice and frst-rate people to
know. To be sure, they are wholly diff
ferent from the young ladies he is ac-
;ustomed to meet at home They have
more substance, but less sparkle. A New
Yorker feels constrained to be careful
what he says and how he says it. After
an hours chat he goes away feeling very
tired. and his heart doesn't bound with
delight at an invitation to call again
He doesn't feel half so sorry to go as he
does after a little witch in his own city
has been entertaining him. He feels
strong desire to go home and read up.
For the street the Boston girl dresses
plainly but extensively, and with an ut
ter disregard of what in New York is
called style. She neither seems to
know nor to care how to put on her
clothes to the best effect. A female rela-
tive of the New Yorker tells him that
they are very thorough; that beneath
viii never see cheap or soiled linen
underskirt, but clean and costly as her
purse will allow This female relative
asserts, moreover, that with many New
York. maidens who make considerable
outward display, the reverse is the case.
Many an expensive silk raiment hides
from all but the critical of her own sex
ashockingly untidy petticoat. As this
is altogether out of my bailiwick, l drop
it with mere statement of the facts.
The Boston girl won't firt in the
street She COMFORTS herself as though
conscious that every one was looking at
her She is not so hardened and indif
ferent to the opinion of strangers by
constant contact with all phases of met
ropolitan life as a New York girl is.
This applies not only to young ladies
who have nothing in the world to do but
to dress, amuse themselves and find
husband, but to the girls who must work
for living in the shops and offices.
The rollicking army on Fourteenth street
any evening after o'clock would shock
and disgust them. They march along
home by twos and threes, looking
neither to the right nor left, with what
Howells has called the sad pa
thence of uncourted women" They
are the perfection of all that
is demure and discreet. The young
men, on the other hand, pay no atten-
ton to them. They push on to their
homes with all haste, and hurry off to
spend the evenings among others of
their sex in one of the many gymna-
Sums, schools, reading rooms, billiard
parlors and like resorts which Boston
seems to have provided in abundance
for growing youth. AT large seaside
skating rink last evening, where thou
sands of young people ratified around on
rollers for an evenings fascinating en-
joyment. | noticed scores of young
women sitting around on the benches,
skating only now and then with
chance male companion or gliding along
the smooth floor in lonely grandeur
Fully as many young men, too, skated
by themselves or sat staring at the girls.
why don't some of those fellows
summon up courage and assist the
ladiesf' | asked my companion. ~
oh" he answered with an astonished
look, that wouldn't do in Boston A
young man would be put from the build
ing if he spoke to a lady without an in
PRODUCTION"
1t was actually forbidden in the printed
rules. Fancy the condition of affairs
in the big rink at Coney island. The
particular set of New York maidens who
90 to places of that kind without an esr
eort are quite sharp enough to skate with
a susceptible young man without per-
hitting him to cause them any annoy
ing or inconvenient recognition after
ward. After all, New York girls are a
little hardened and blinded by custom
They are always in for a lively time, but
the Boston girl can swamp them with
book larnin'-" Even the shop girls and
the walters in ice7cream saloons keep
books with the leaves turned down, and
store their minds with knowledge which
they hope to make useful during lull
in trade.