Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-01-18
MIRACLES IN THE HOUSEHOLD.
One Young Woman Executes Four
Within Thirty Seconds Of Time.

Within Thirty Seconds Of Time.
A matter Of fact the pretty Young woman
was sitting on her foot, though you would
never have imagined it, 90 artfully was it dis.
suised. She was doing some mysterious fancy
work on stuff that looked like satin but wasn't,
and at this particular moment il CHANGED that
she was on the point OF sewing in one corner
a curious little star-shaped button.-purpose
unknown. Like q fash she passed siIken
thread through the eye Of her fine needle. drew
knot in the end Of 1t and began to stitch on
the button in the usual fashion.
The young man on the sofa opposite balanced
his silk hat on the silver knob of his cane and
gazed upon her with admiring wonder.
"Do you know" he said. that you have been
performing, whiting the past 80 seconds. four
distinct miracles2 At any rate they seem such to
me-"
''Miraclesm she exclaimed, with laughing
surprise. pray, what do you mean?"
Well, In the first place, your threading Of
that needle off-hand with hardly glance at it
was marvel in itself l am sure it would take
me at least an hour to accomplish the feat"
why that" said the pretty girl, lis simply
Maybe SO; though I'm very sure that no
amount of practice would enable me to do it.
But admit that was trile compared with the
knot in the end OF the thread. How on earth
Souiu you Tie III WITH one nanQ! nave seen
the thing done often before; but it is a sleight-
of-hand trick that seems positively astonishing
to me-"
Row IT Is DONE.
How funnyl Men always think that WON
derful; and yet nothing could be easier. See
Shis! You give the end of the thread little
turn around the end of the forefnger; that
makes the loop. Then gentle movement Of
the forehnger end across the ball of the thumb
revOiyeS the loon nc N hiring ha nd of q a
thread through it; pull. and your knot is I'm
ished. 1t easy enough, You observe"
NO. don't Never, am sure, could ac-
quire such an art The only man that ever
did acquire tiff, indeed, he knew how to tie
a knot with one hand--must have been
leiresas, the old Greek prophet used to read
about in Homer. He a woman for part of
his life, you know. owing to some magical
metamorphosis, and he used to entertain the
boys around the camp fire before Troy with
stories OF when he was girl that we're calcu-
| lated to give away his former SEX"
That was horribly mean of him. However,
do tell me what were the other two miracles
that you credit me with performing2"
III only mention one of them" replied the
young man. You have just completed it with
the sewing on of the button. 1 can sew ON a
button myseif-in fact I've done such a thing
once or twice-but the mystery is how you
strike the holes from the back side of the cloth
every time. They are very small and should
have to feel all around for them with the
needle; but You sew right through the button
as If it presented no obstruction whatever,
without SO much as taking the trouble to look
at what you doing"
That is curious, admit" said the maiden
Il really don't know how that is DONE A sort
OF instinct 1t seems to be, somehow. acquired
by practice, SO that one knows where the holes
are without feeling for them. But insist upon
hearing about the fourth miracle"
MYSTERY AN ATTITUDE.
STf won't think 20
tionng it will tell you. You are sitting. very
gracefully on your foot, and that is something
the possibility of which nave never been able
to comprehend. No man can sit on his loot
without the greatest difficulty and to preserve
such an attitude for five minutes would be
torture to me. have always been curious to
know how it was done and why"
The pretty girl yielded to an irrepressible
gigsle:
l have ever met" she responded. Il should
not have supposed that you could possibly tell,
so carefully have studied the art of sitting on
my foot without appearing TO do So Don't
you know that there is no other position in
which one can be SO entirely comfortable as III
TINS! Men, suppose. are not able to curl up
that way; II. ID very unfortunate for them.
There is quite science in doing il properly
so as not to excite notice. 1t is not thought TO
be quite decorous, of course, and so it must be
managed unobtrusively. But the next time
that you find yourself in parlor full of women
seated observe them closely and you will find
a large percentage of them sitting on their feet
surreptitiously. There is one thing men do
that has always seemed q miracle to me-
MASCULINE MIRACLE.
'I'm glad of that Do tell me what il is"
"Shave. I've never understood It. and l
never will. how men can do that without chop
ping themselves into little bits. To let a bar
Eer do 1t Is worse yet i could not reconcile
myself to the feeling that was ip chair en-
tirely at the mercy Of person operating upon
me with a razor. who could cut my head off any
second with single stroke of his weapon. No;
l confess would like to be man If it we're
not for the necessity of shaving"
You might let your beard grow"
THAT would never do. | hate a beard
mustache is nice; but, if / were man. would
always be close-shaveu otherwise"
The only real advantage OF being a woman"
said the young man, lis that she doesn't have
to shave"
And alas!" responded the pretty girl, "that
advantage is Offset by the troublesome neces-
sity of doing up her hair"
The Art of Dinner Giving.