The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-24
ODD WRESTLING LORE.
SupeTStitiOnS and Anecdotes Bearing
Upon the Habit.

NpUH AHN Auutts
Whistling Is an Art, and One Woman
Has Become Famous by Practicing
told Proverbs Have it That Whist
ling Women Are of Small Account
Sailors Hate and Fear whistlinR,
Whistle of the Scots Described by
Burns-The Whistling Oyster.
From the Chicago Times.
Since Mrs. Alice j. Shaw has made
whistling a fine art there have been all
sorts of things written about whistles
from the days of the Grecian god Pan
down to the present day. But the fact
remains that La Belle Sifieuse, - as she
is affectionately called all over this coun-
| try and Europe, stands alone as the one
who has brought the art of whistling to a
pitch of perfection which no one else has
equaled And it is something to be with
out rival in anything in this big world
| of ours.
While her success has been all that a
reasonable woman could ask or desire, a
witty English writer declares that eff
| people only knew how whistling drives
out all other thoughts and even makes the
murderer forget his doom on the edge of
| the scatfOld she would have millions in
| her audiences, for the people seek amuSe-
| ment to forget care One can forget his
| mother-in-law in the overpowering sym
| phonies produced by LA Belle Sitieuse. ~
| A fellow tried to start a whistling
school out in Kansas City, and started in
| with eleven scholars at 81 head. They
III 81
| wondering how he was going to begin,
| when he stood them up in row. both
| boys and girls. and then gave the order
| prepare to quicker" Their disabilities
were so affected that they burst out
laughing, and the first lesson came to
naught, for there was not quicker" in
| the crowd.
There are some old proverbs which bear
very hard on whistling woman. For in
stance, there is that old Northampton
shire couplet which has been preserved
by some poet of Ben Johhson's time, which
runs as follows:
A whistling woman and a Growing hen,
Are neither fit for God or meu.
There is also an American proverb of
| recognized antiquity which reflects rather
seriously on the feminine whistler. 1t
runs as follows:
A whistling girl and a Growing hen
w oCAAAN
The poetry of the latter couplet cannot
| consistently be recommended, but the
idea is certainly very clearly brought out.
That unmitigated punster, Louis Harri-
son, coined a proverb as a part of the di-
| alogue of LA Cigale' which was not half
as bad. Miss Lillian Russell used to pick
flowers of property bush at one side of
| the stage and whistle meantime Harri-
son said one night: "Stop that whistling.
| hat ~ IL
gathers no moss2" The audience laughed
and Harrison promptly arrived at the
conclusion that he had made anew joke.
LEGENDS AND SUGGESTIONS.
From the days of the cruciixion there
has been legend that it is particularly
unlucky for woman to indulge in whist
ling, there being tradition that while
| the nails were being forged for the
| Sayior's cross a woman stood by and
whistlcd. OF course it is not known
| whether this tradition is authentic or not,
and even then it is no worse for a woman
| to whistle than for man. One great
trouble about whistliug is that q woman
never takes hold of a thing by halves.
| She goes in for the ''whole hog or none"
/ when whistling is concerned and there
| are numerous instances which tend to
show that the present craze, which, by
| the way, Mrs. Shaw had the honor of in
/ aug dblllS. has gone 50 lax lIdb men IUluh
| it necessary to Stihc the feminine whistle
| by making unkind remarks about the
| puckered lips which are supposed to be
| necessary to evolve the proper sort of
| whistle.
| So the horrid men say that the only
| sure way to stop woman from whstling
is to invite her to practice before glass.
! 1t is considered by such ungallant
| creatures that when a woman sees the re-
HncfiCr of 1i,,c bo -,
| stantly refrain from all future efforts in
! the whistling line. 1t is said that the
| goddess Minerva disgustedly threw away
| her reed pipe with a NEUROLOGICAL curse
| when sheI beheld the reflection of her
| lovely face in a pool of water disfgured
| by the distortion necessary to her musical
| performance Still it is not always safe
| to wager that the modern woman will ar
rive at this conclusion. Mrs. Shaw has
| certainly contrived to whistle without
distiguring her cOuntenance and the
| dreaded quicker" does not seem so terri
BILE after all when one looks at her per-
Torrance with an opera glass.
Arabia must be a heaven on earth for
those who despise whistling. The Arabian
philosopher contends that whistler's
| mouth cannot be purified without period
of abstinence of forty days and forty
nights, and it was also said of the
whistler that Beelzebub himself has
touched the whistler's body and caused a
production of the terrible sound There
are other localities where whistling is
taboOed. The natives of the Tonga
islands, in Polynesia, hold that it is a sin
to whistle, as it implies disrespect to the
Great Spirit. Then there are districts in
Northern Germany where the villagers
maintain that if one whistles at eventide
the angels are thereby made to weep.
There is one place, though, where even
in modern days, whistling is frightfully
| unpopular, That is on shipboard No
one ever knew a sailor who whstled
Jack" can tell you all about ''whistling
| down the wind" but he could not pro-
duce quicker" even if it would save
all hands from Davy Jones' locker There
| is mariners yarn about sea captain
| who refused to take on board a woman
who was known to whistle, fearing that
| his ship would go to the bottom with
such feminine Jonah on board. 1t must
be rather awkward for the captains of
! the big ocean cruisers nowadays. Nearly
! every woman who travels between Liver
| pool and New York whistles, and yet the
| boats cross in safety Mrs. Shaw de-
clares that the sailors regard her as a
mascot on all the ships upon which she
has voyaged. Perhaps the old supersti-
ton has given way, like many other