The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-14
CHEWING GUM AND TRAGEDY.
To the Editor of the Eagle.

we Ike good play Cont you? The
company here last week was enjoyable
wasn't it? We went several times didn't
you?
| Did you notice the specialties that the
audience introduced, in fact did you find
that the only way not to notice the spec
laltles of the audience until the billowy
sensations of sea sickness stirred up the
serenity of your system, was to gaze at
the blue and red on the curtain? Did you
| notice that you were seated by earnest
active gum chewing young men? Did you
notice the little boys who rushed madlv
about with boxes of chewing gum Offering
| it, supplying it, crying it, chew
| ing it, all in the interest of
the house? Have you noticed
how like an infectious disease the chewing
gum has crept in and captured u.s. At the
beginning OF the season its use was only
among the vulgar few, but now it RACES
rampant. Delicate women Of hitherto ire
proachable conduct. who began by timidly
and awkwardly chewing gum, now carry
wad in their cheek with the shameless
coarseness of veterans. Some men and
women chew with epicurian appreciation;
others with sensual smack of lips; with
scri2tion. Did you ever notice that you
can tell more about PERSONS character
by the way they eat than any other means?
Gum is a good means too Some CT them
chew gum as if their internal machinery
were wound up and they couldn't stop.
so they chewed on with weary jaws in u
mechanical frenzy and with glazed, des |
perate eyes; the little cold chills ran foot |
races up and down our spine when these |
last were noticed we expected each mo-
ment TO see them attacked by loo jaw,
and the tension on ones nerves was |
wearing. Here and there was r maiden |
upon whom we have gaZed with reverent
admiration, clothing her in ideal purity
and maidenly modesty upon whose mouth
we have looked and yearned to-for it
seemed curved only for kisses-but alas it
is cut and curved for other things too, and
we gazed into the darkness and depths of
a cavern that opened and shut on Tutti
Frutti with feeting glimpses of the
ama!gam filling in her back teeth, and
from side view one got on TO the
workings of the machinery of
her jaw. Gum is now chewed in a well
regulated manner, and in perfect tune
with the music slowly and impressively,
or with rapid well fabricated limberness,
according as the music is slow or fast.
Gum is also safety-valve for the emo
tons and when the villain of the
play is bad gum is chewed with :
stern, dangerous, threatening, chew
increased or lessened according to the ,
beauty of her, pursued by the william. |
A box party to the left one night last ,
week WAS especially interesting. When j
5he dainty danseuse kicked up her heels at I
hat box. The young men chewed their
gum with nervous energy that generated G
rose upon the cheek of the blond Main S
street lawyer, and made phosphorescence t
CLEAN in the eyes of the dark ticket agent,
while the very spectacles of third shone I
with increased brilliancy: when the little Y
lancer vanished they chewed with pen
i've languor and periodic forgetful ness Of
Iucatan. {
In the box to the right sat couple also of e
he gummers; he chewed with lady like (
ickly sentimental chew, but she gathered Il
Up the wad with def curl of tbs tongue q
md came down upon it with the weight Ii
nd determination of pile driver and b
Knocked it fiat as flap jack and down e
he vista of the past f1oated forgotten
Genes of childhood the wooded pasture. t.
With its slopes and hollows its brook and D
he waving waiting ferns, that mirrored O
themselves in the water and the great n
vide walnut trees in whose limbs we used h
o sit aud watch the great old mamma 6
cg, accompanied by her weeping little q
mes, crack and devour the walnuts with r
relish seldom seen but now recalled, V
nd between acts we beheld for a short S,
ime the handsome young actor, with the
rofile and figure of a Greek god, (Oh, v
utraged goddess of comedy, dost thou N
OF weepD he too was chewing gum. We
)oked no more that wayl
Once the curtain rose and we beheld T,
Gene of sadness and tears a scene of y,
cath, and an impressive stiffness settled h
pom the house, broken only by the steady,
1ftly cadenced swish swosh of the teeth ~
the gum-ckewers of the audience as II
1ey arose and fell in the slush of gum =,
nd saliva. -
Inspired by Professor Blake's lectures on -
ectricity, we are wondering if that great 60
nused force, that wonderful wasted en- -,
'gy, as powerful as Niagars, cannot be d.
tili1ed. Is there no subtle machine which :,
IN absorb and concentrate this jaw power m
the gum chewerS and use it to run our or
ynamos? Let us at least protect against r
lis waste. Store up your energy, Oh, We y,
am chewers, even though the manager of
v house does realize good profit out of
VI, which he will lose-and ladies re-
ember that poets saying:
women should never be seen eating" by