The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-07-20
WASHERS" PASTIME,.
Attest FOR THE SELF POSSESSION
OF 1IMlD FEMINlNlTY.


A City Club Theory Concerning q Ger
tain Facial Phenomenon-An Impolite
Experiment for Ladies and Their Es-
corts to Look Out For.
The question whether every woman is
obliged to act in certain and peculiar way
II she is looked at exercises many men i'll
town. Who originated the idea of putting
the problem to a test is too uncertain to make
it worth while to name any one Of those who
claim the authorship. The most likely story
about it is that the idea originated in the
brain of a well known politician, and was
first preached in the New Amsterdam club.
The new discovery is quite as much a matter
of contcmporaneous human interest as the
red haired girl and white horse miracle, but
affects the fair sex alone 1t is embodied in
the question: :Why do women moisten their
lips when they are looked atF' Tho subject
is usually brought forward in the shape of
positive declaration, some men going SO far
us to declare that they and their friends have
been experimenting for over year upon the
unconscious ladies of the city, and that the
test never fails
''All you have to do," says one of these, "is
u
look ut her intently without rudeness, and us
sure as you do so, out will come her tongue
aud she will n,oisten both her lips She
must he some one you are not acquainted
with, and when she catches you looking at
lie, it he'd tetter he with slight expression
Of interest or curiosity. Gazing with ad-
miration upon her is not a sure way, because
if it is done at all badly she resents it and
will simply look away; but if you seem to be
curious about her, as if you were studying
something about her hair or eyes or hat, or
Us it you were trying to see who she was
like. she will he positively certain to perform
this queer operation"
Apparently thousands, in ever widening
circles, who have heard positive statements
OF this sort are devoted to investigating the
phenomenon They pursue tho subject in
the streets, office elevators, hotel parlors,
churches, and wherever ladies are to be
found. Those who have yielded to the in1lu-
ence Of the queer study declare it to be very
fascinating. They are mainly young men.
They say it is like form of hunting or fly
fishing man singles out a lady of attract
i've face and figure dressed to the supreme
notch of fashion and evidently enjoying
complete satisfaction with herself as she
arranges her drapery anL seats herself in
horse car
Ii any one were to tell her that the man
across the car had made up his mind to bend
her to his WILL and oblige her to perform an
undignifed act while she sat there, she would
hail the bare suggestion rs preposterous And
yet, ten to one, she would project her tongue,
and roll her lips inward to moisten them on
its surface as soon as she looked over to the
stranger to petrify him with an indignant
g!ance-at least SO these impolite experiment.
ers assert
But she would know nothing about it, and
would get out her pocketbook, find what
change she needed for the conductor, and
once again settle herself as ladies and birds
are accustomed to do, all oblivious of the fact
that the gaze OF the man opposite is concen-
trated upon her face with look of quick,
curious interest. It will not be many minutes
before She does perceive this by reason of
that subtle influence that IS said to enable us
to awaken men and women from deep
sleep by fixing our eyes upon them Then
she will look up and meet the mans gaze. It
will startle her, and, if the rule be true, she
will indulge in the peculiar performance &C.
credited to her sex.
This action of the lips and tongue is not
mysterious. 1t is merely one of a score Of
ESs
more self conscious ones among us, testify to
momentary embarrassment and make an in
voluntary mechanical movement in reassert-
ing our self possession. An equally familiar
and more noticeable unconscious trick of the
same kind is that which European peasant
men and women have and bring to this
country with them-a movement of the back
of the hand across the mouth. Another
action of the sort is the biting of the under
lip.
The reports that somo have made Of their
experiences divide the ladies into classes.
Some men positively assert that no matter
who she may be, any woman will wet her lipS
If she is taken off her guard by stranger.
Others say that If man looks at lady in
certain way, it does not matter whether she
Is friend, a relative, or even wife, she will
follow this queer rule. Still others say that
high bred, proud women cannot be relied OIL
Once in a while ono of these naughty ladies
will be taken by surprise and make the
movement, they say, and then again a man
may spend half q day in the Fourth avenue
cars above Thirty fourth street, and never
succeed in producing the action once. Ono
deep student makes a closer division, and
says that it is only tho married women
among the fashionable of the sex who resist
the impulse but that all single ladies, young
and old, no matter how proud or self pos
sessed, succumb to the novel influence
Its only fair to say that some men declare
as positively against the new craze as any do
for it. They say that there is nothing in it,
that no woman ever under any circumstances
performs the alleged operation. There are
not enough Of these skeptics to make any
headway Against the pastime. They are met
with the criticism that they are clumsy or
bcld or stupid or uninteresting to women,
and in other ways are made to regret that
they have tried to oppose the new craze
There is another class Of men, still fewer i'll
numbers, who grow angry, and insist that
the whole idea is gotten up as practical
joke These are tho fellows who know SO
little of art and illusion as to get into trouble
whenever they try to experiment by staring
SO hard and so Extensively at the ladies that
there is a constant danger of their being
called to account by the other gentlemen
who happen to be present.
There is great fun in watching clever
young fellow at it. He selects his victim
without seeming to look at her. He takes
seat opposite her, opens newspaper, and
preten,ls to read it Suddenly, perhaps, he
dro,ss it, and with an expression Of surprised
end lively interest fastens his gaze on the
roots of the lady's hair above her brow or on
her eyes or her neck pin. She has been look
ing in another direction, but seeing the move
ment of the paper, turns and meets the full,
unexpected gaze Of the man. Then the in
slant hes arrived. If the experimenters
speak truly, she is certain to fell prey to
his design. She is most likely to project the
dainty tip of her coral tongue and curl itup
and down over both lips. But if she fails to
do this and simply pulls in her upper lip and
curves her under lip outward and upward
over the other one, the tornsentor Of her sex
will know that he has succeeded, for differ
ent women have several different ways Of
behaving at such junctures. Some pucker
the under lip over the upper one, but ut ell
goes" as the club men pus it.-New York
Sun
An Example of Free Agency.
E.'s mamma having been very i'll in tho
spring, presume some one had told hlm that
God had sent the illness. for, in the summer,
after partaking little too freely Of water
melon, he calne and stood by my side and,
looking very uncomfortable, said: God
didn't send this stomachache, did hei That's
my own business, COS ate too much water
melon. ."-Babyhood
Called Out o? Town.
Citizen ito little boy)-1s your father in,
Bobbyl
Little Boy-No, sir; pas out Of town
Citizen-Gone on business!
:AA1o AN