The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-04-26


what its name implies, house where honest,
merry play is made for those who look on.
THE BUSINESS woMAN's FRocK.
One of the exciting topics of the day is
"What kind of frock shall business woman
wear ?'' Whenever there's a womans conven-
tion it usually puts just such sort of bee as
this in the bonnets of the women who write,
and it goes buzzing round in the funniest sort
of fashion. Now, am quite willing to ac-
knowledge that it is criminal to be a business
woman, but fail to see why they should be
put in special suits like convicts. There
never was more sensible gown made than
well-fitting cloth one, aud the women who
can't walk in them had better put on trousers
at once. AS for lot of pockets all over you
Goodness, gracious F! it's as much as the ordi-
nary busy woman can DO to manage one
pocket without having the greatest number of
places in which she would carry around lot
of unnecessary rubbish. What does she want
pockets for, any way? One good pocket to
hold her handkerchief and her purse is quite
enough, and that she should go carting around
all her correspondence or a collection of note
books and of pencils is usually an evidence
not of the amount of business she does, but
of her lack of business knowledge.
BUSINESS WOMEN WHO ARE TIREsoME
The business woman who wishes to thrust
upon you that she is not a gentlewoman, but
puts her business before everything else, is
about as offensive a type as has resulted in
this great nineteenth century. She speaks as
if she paid SO much apiece for words and had
an extra supply of sibilant sounds on hand
she writes even her social letters on business
paper, and she walks as if the ground needed
tramping upon and she intended to do it.
She regards the women whose business in life
it is to be lovable with intense scorn and re-
fers to them as idle butterflies and as for the
woman who makes her own living in a wo-
manly way she has even more contempt, be-
cause she thinks she is wasting her opportuni-
ties.
THE SMALL BOY AS A CRITIC.
There is only one thing l hope about the
business woman's dress, and that is that those
who have designed the diabolical get-up may
wearit down Broadway and bring delight to the
soul of the small boy He is the one person in the
world whom the business woman cannot scorn
She couldn't put him down to save her soul.
He rises like a rubber ball with a new piece of
slang and an impertinent speech that is as
truthful as it is epigrammatc. He is the con-
centrated extract of sass. Kingdoms may
rise and fall, but he ''gets there" just the
same. By his ridicule idiotic fashions have
been downed, and by his appreciation and
cheers policemen have been brought to de-
fend the weak. Occasionally he errs in his
enthusiasm, but not often; and if he can only
once get or to the business woman's dress it's
doom will be sealed. Personality like the
small boy. He is at once earnest and origi-
nal, and he has great respect for ability in any
way. You may not altogether approve of
this method of expressing it; indeed, it may
embarrass you, but it is sincere; he is con-
noisseur about woman's clothes and gour-
met as to hokey-pokey ice-cream.
To the number of about fifty he greeted me
the other day. stepped out of hansom and,
seeing that tho lining of my coat was
red, he raised his voice in this way: ''Do yer
catch ON to 'er paintin' ther inside of 'er coat
red" They caught on with whoop, and the
smallest of the tribe called out: 81 say yer
a-makin' the lady blush" 1t was an en-
barrassing experience, but an interesting one,
and it showed exactly to what extent the
small boy was capable of using his eyes.
THE LATEST IN woMAN's Wells.
The new wells not only show stars and cres-
cents here and there upon them, but spiders
and flies. The most curious is veritable
spiders web net with one tolerably large and
three small spiders meandering over it. The
effect is more unique than beautiful, and
rather too suggestive If the young woman
who wears it rejoices in bleached hair and
rather loud get-up and gives you an invitation
to pay her visit you will keep thinking of
that old story about the spider and the fly,
and things suggestive of such unpleasant in
cidents are not desirable for belongings.
WOMEN WHO LIKE CREEPY THINGS.
The jet snake coiled around with his tail
is conspicuous among the bonnets of the
spring, but like the spider he is little too
creepy and don't seem quite the proper thing
for woman to wear for her bonnet Roses
and flowers of all Sorts pretty plumes, and
gay ribbons are appropriate to women, but
mankind rather shrinks from a woman given
over to the worship of strange gods in the way
of serpents and spiders and horIible-looking
beetles for which they really do seem to have
a decided prediction.
SOME FUNNY THINGS IN THIS WORLD.
It's funny to like ugly things when there
are so many beautiful ones in the world, but
then there are so many funny things.
It's funny tosee an old woman with bleached
hair and a sailor hat.
It's funny to see an old man dressed like a
dude
It's funny to see a cat in long white dress
and with a pink mob cap on its head.
It's funny to see little dog in Hamlet
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