Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-12
LIBERTIES OF GIRLS.
MARION HARLAxps WISE WORDS TO
YOUNG woMBN.
The Sex Mystery Of Broadway car-fhe
Injurious Influences Of an Exciu'
sively Yeung Company.
nor the MISUNDERSTANDING 1851

She stands before us with wide, young
eyes full of protest and pleading, .
nutinous pout on her lips. brave in hel
ignorance of Mrs Grindy's ability &c
make sin of that which is no sin, and
confident in her own powers of self-pro'
lection.
The world offers 10 sight and affections
no fairer or sweeter creature than frank,
refined. vhole-souled, unspoiled Amen
can girl. To curb her by conventional
ties. 10 hedge her in by restrictions,
seems like wrong done to her limo
cencc. Angels if not men, must be
able 10 read the legend bound, blessed
phylactery. about her brows: "Honi
soit qiti mai ~ pense."
"So dear 10 Heaven -"
Everybody knows the rest of 1t, riddled
into rags by overmuch quotation ; all
crispness and beauty taken out OF 1t by
fippant iteration md parody, until the
hveries of the angel lackeys are ont at
elbows.
Yet somebody repeated it, only demi-
soto UOco. in tbronged street-car the
other night and the two people nearest
him laughed--One IN echo Of his ironical
tone, the other compsssionately.
In the aisle, e1uidistant from the two
ends of the car. had stood figure which,
by reason of the crowd sitting about and
standing with it, We could trace only as
far down rs hips and elbows. A crop OF
dark. close curls appeared below the
brim of the derby hat at the back of
the head. In front the hat sat firmly
and low above pair OF deep, grave,
fearless eyes. The complexion was bru-
nette. the chin beardless, so far as the
shifting shadows cast by the car
lamps let us Judge OF 1t, the features
were regular and IN expression
intelligent. Shoulders and trunk
were covered by brown ulster buttoned
Up 10 the throat and loosely belted at the
waist. A straight line OF white linen APP
peared above the collar and met in front
over dark cravat; the sleeves termi-
mated in pair of gloyed hands clasped
upon the knob of IA umbrella-or was 1t
@ cane? Bets were prlvily exchanged at
the back OF the car as 10 the sex of the
quiet passenger, who seemed utterly I'M
conscious Of or Indifferent TO the atten-
ton attracted by him-or her. 1t was
absurdly impossible to determine from
garb or visage or carriage whether 1t
were a tall woman of thirty, well pre-
served, or a medium-sized. GtG8c youth
OF one-and-twenty.
For eight or nine blocks curiosity sim
mered repressedly. Nobody stared open
". except two men with pals on their
arms, bnt everybody saw and watched.
Those closest to the object OF interest
had but q trihing advantage over those
who we're remote, so wedged in were the
lower extremities of all by the uptown
stream of home-seekers. There was n
palpable thrill Of excitement when the
brown dogskin glove encasing a long,
strong hand grasped the Doll-strap.
All made way eagerly rs the Mys-
terry worked path between the
knees and feet TO the door;
dozen pairs Of eyes turned to the WIN
dOws on the left-hand side OF the car to
see her gain the sidewalk. For, as the
pedestrian lodged the muddy whirl of
an express-wagon wheels, and ducked
under the nose Of a cab horse, there was
q futter OF undeniable skirts, short and
not even divided. Against the slant
lines OF rain over the cleaning wet pave
ments between US and the blazing shop
windows strobe the gentlemanly figure
OF one of Ewes daughters. the flower and
fruit Of advanced American civilization.
Then one OF tho whilom spectators
upon the now-solved enigma softly drew
a long sibilant breath and muttered the
lines have not quoted.
Sir Roger do Coverlov "produced
great deal Of mirth at his own table by
telling q story OF one of his tenants,
who. meeting an equestrian lady on the
highway, was asked by her whether that
was Coverley Hall. The honest man,
seeing only the male part of the Querist,
replied: "Yes, sir but upon the Sc
cond question, whether Sir Roger de
Coverley was a married man., having
dropped his eye upon the petticoat, he
his note into Ono, madam"
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.
History repeats itself. Riding-habit
and hat are an old story now, and what
the Spectator would have described as
&" the amphibious garb of our street-car
may cease to puzzle fellow
passengers before long. For all TINT and
this, SEX remains an immovable fact, the
privileges, immunities, and penalties at
tached to its contingencies TO be enjoyed
and endured. Our girl does not do away
with them by masking them, however
cleverly il may be done. Mutiny does not
government. The Divine Master
made her woman the mlldest code OF
human law and the severest autocracy of
society agree in awarding her a certain
casting about her daily life |
and actions lines which may be deliver
ance or conStraint, as she chooses to con- |
strue them. In the green judgment of
her salad days she rails upon them as
tvrannical. As q bread-winner of thirty |
she is vet so foolish sometimes as to re-
sive the recollection OF them in others
minds by affecting the attire and man
nerisms of the sex which she processes |
10 regard as inferior to her own.
The genus chaperone did not take !
kindly TO American soil and climate. Its |
growth has been tardy, and in some sec
lions the exotic was winter-killed from !
season TO season. For long time there |
was peryerse disposition to confound |
it with the duenna. a Spanish importa-
ton of coarser fibre and more acrid !
juices. Our acclimated chaperone is a
gentler variety than the original English
stock, and so amenable to cOaxing and |
Sunshine as 10 be no longer terrible
except 10 evil-doers.
That our girl certainly is not. If left
lnguarded and unschooled she might
never become evil, even in thought. She
would SOW broadcast in the
ields roamed and ruled over by her some
thing 30 nearly akin to n young mans
Wild oats as to bring her in later years
harvest of bitter humiliation and vain
Viewed from the most
charitable standpoint OF plain. "hard
sense" the influence OF exclusively
young company is injurious TO manners
and the minor moralities of everyday life.
To say Of a social assembly "only I'M
people are invited is to vulgs-
riEe it instantly in the opinion OF those
who are conversant with the usages of
really refined society 10 condemn il in
the ewes Of parents who hold that their