Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-04-18

one feels as if one had made feast on
Dead Sea apples. A surcease of all liter
ature would be preferable to such a hol-
low sham.
Evolution of the American Girl.
The American girl of the period is
creature calculated to disconcert all
schemes of philosophy, and to intimi'
date the whole guild of scientists. They
can't classify her to save their lives, and
if they could she would not justify the
classification for year at time. Take
the girl of Broadway, for instance, with
her La Tosca cane and tailor-made suit
How does she compare with even the
ideals which Dickens encountered in bis
celebrated visit away back in the 'thir-
ties, and in which the Jefferson Bricks
and General Lafayette Chokes were sup
plemented with pale and sickly Ameri-
can feminir ity which. if it ever existed at
all, lasted but for brief period, and was
superimposed upon American female
models which have supplied the present
entirely charming type of American wo-
MANHOOD type which, in variety OF
attractions, has ransacked every simile
of every mythology, even to fttingly
portray it?
The era of sickly American women
depicted by Dickens in his American
Notes and Martin Chuzzlewit," was very
evanescent indeed. For while exem-
plars of his pictures existed, but for
little while indeed.
1t was not to be expected that such an
artificial efflorescence could last long in a
country like the United States, where
grandmoth ers, raised in stirring times,
gave guaran tee OF vigorous health and
growth to their daughters. Even in the
aristocratic quarters OF the New York OF
to-day the womanhood OF America has
returned to its original vigorous types.
| On Fifth avenue and Broadway the
American girl has assimilated to her orig
inal prototype; and, in litheness of step
and amplitude of muscle, che recalls the
finely nerved and sinewy stock from
which she sprang.
What was the original American girl
Probably no better genesis of fthis exquis-
ite creature of to-day could be cleaned
than is found in the opening stanza of a
song VIII ich was favorite all over the
great State of New York about the time
of the war of 1912. 1t ran:
Buffalo gals, are you coming at night,
Are you coming at night;
Are you coming at night;
| Buffalo gals, are you coming at night,
| To dance by the light Of The moon?
The modern New York belle would be
inexpressibly shocked if such refrain
were poured into her delicate and recall
citrant ear. Nevertheless, this was the
favorite madigral of the splendid young
heroes who prevented the British from
overrunning the Empire State and the
United States between 1912 and 1915.
To the modern society young lady, with
costumes imported from "Paree," with
the stamp of Worth on each aristocratic
founce, the idea OF acknowledging even
distant acquaintance with youth who
could carol in that wise would be equiva-
lent to death sentence. Yet it was the
stalwart youths, staunchly supported by
| their sweethearts, who warbled Just
such strains, almost Pindsric in their
simplicity, that prevented this country
from passing second time under the
yoke of Britain.
| But harsh and dissonant as the strain
We have quoted might sound in the ears
of the fine lady of to-day, the succeeding
stanza would be much more offensive.
Here it is, with the Buffalo "gal" still as
the prominent party:
I danced with a girl with hole in her stock
| ing
/ With a hole in her stocking,
| With hole in her stocking;
l danced with girl with hole in her stock
| ing,
And she was the prettiest girl in the room
There are number of propositions in
this stanzs which would shock indescrib-
ably the girl of to-day, and make her
ashamed of her grandmother. Imprimis,
in our opinion, she ought to censure her
grandma because she had not darned her
stocking. In our opinion, the Buffalo
girl had been so busy assist
ing her mother making dough-
nuts and doing chores that this hand
some creature, who was confessedly the
belle of the ball, hadn't time to darn her
stocking. We will suppose that por-
ton of her pearly heel glinted, with
delightful coruscance, in those mazes of
the dance in which Joy was uneonfined.
She would have darned her stocking if
che had had time-the intermittsd time
was devoted to helping her mother max
ing apple butter and pickles.
Just here is the evolution of the Am
erican girl, with a hop, skip and a jump.
She would disdain to wear stockings
which were not clocked; and, as to
darning them, she would be darned first.
Our esthetic girl of the period would
see Rome howl till old Roma
was pale in the gills before
she would either darn her own stock
ings, or acknowledge consciousness that
they wanted darning. In her perfectly
legitimate evolution the American girl
realizes that she ought to be waited
upon, and that from the four quarters of
the earth ought to come servitors to do
her aWaet bidding