Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-10-14
A WISE woMANs COMPLAINT.
She Is No Use for the HousekeePing-in-a-
Flat Young Man of the Period

Flat Young Man OF the Period.
An elderly country woman, who has
chaperoned two charming nieces
through the dangers and delights of
CAV New York season, claims to have
discovered one of the gravest evils
menacing modern society, and gave her
views at elaborate length the other
day. ''The ladylike young man is at
the bottom of the mischief, " she re-
marked animatedly, ''and so long as he
is allowed to flourish of course girls
can't and won't marry Who do
meant Why, that hybrid housekeep-
ing creature.
"Our first encounter with the new
tangled specimen was when cards came
asking us to tea at Mr.. VS. rooms.
Ihesitated about accepting, but yielded
and went. Still, 1 felt for the poor
fellows natural perplexities, and bought
a nice bag of jumbles, some lump
sugar. and took a few extra spoons
along to help him out in a tight place.
"Wen, bless your heart, when a neat,
white capped maid answered the cleo
tric bell, and pushing aside long shadow
curtains ushered us into an elegant
parlor, began making every apology,
being sure we had stumbled into the
wrong place But, no; here came our
host, bowling and smiling, begging us
to take off our wraps, and excusing
himself for preoccupation-just as |
have done a thousand times at home
by saying the kettle refused to boil.
Well, while he talked to the girls ] be-
gan looking round for some place to
hide those odious cakes and heard the
spoons rattling in my pocket.
''Nith each survey took that paper
bag grew bigger and the silver jingled
under the folds of my dress. But the
polished mirrors, bowls of roses, en-
broidered scarfs and charmingly dec
grated walls were as nothing to a scene
over in the left hand corner next the
fireplace.
''There sat the tea table, in all its
glory. with Mr.. v lowering round
it like protecting spirit He had a
lady ostensibly presiding, but no old
maid could have kept sharper eye on
the tea cups. He discussed the differ
ent varieties of tea with warmth, de-
Tended the infusion process, gave his
reasons for patronizing a particular
bakery. and in the meantime handed
round bonbons and salted almonds to
his half dozen men and women guests.
From confectionery the talk drifted to
napery, and with a glow of genuine
pride our entertainer exhibited set of
exquisite doilies lately added to his
linen closet. He advocated drawn
work and the outline stitch in white
floss as rather superior style at after
noon functions, and then got on the
subject of china, which was evidently
bis hobby.
Each fragile cup and saucer was
dilated upon in turn, the delicacy and
beauty of the porcelain naturally lead
ing to a wholesale abuse of servants.
Mr.. v and man (O friend sitting
near agreed that they never permitted
Biddy to lay a finger on the properties
of their pantry. They laundered every
piece of china and plate personally to
insure safe handling, and used only
pure linen towels in order to avoid lint.
As you may imagine l sat aghast to
hear such conversation between two
bearded creatures, and was scarcely
surprised afterward, when a woman OF
the party ventured an opinion on the
subject of sweeping, to hear both of
them summarly suppress her.
Now, l want to know who our
daughters, sisters and nieces are to
marry2" continued the wrathful lady.
Certainly not those finicky Miss
Nancys; and there are no longer any
bachelors, it appears nice, jolly fel-
lows, who couldn't tell a mop from a
range or a broom from a lambrequin,
who went buttonless, and with holes in
their socks, till some nice girl took COM
passion on them; who were lonely and
needed companionship, helpless and
wanted a woman's hand to keep neat
hearth and warm their slippers
"Since that first afternoon l have
been to twenty teas of the same sort in
as many different apartments. New
York fairly swarms with this new type
of humanity, and with each exhibition
of his effeminacy l grow more dis
gusted. My girls are athletic-ride,
swim, hunt and use the horizontal bar.
Naturally, when their hosts talk bread
and butter they become painfully en-
barrassed, feel out of their element and
make absurd mistakes. New York
Sun.