Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-12

| admire her at all when l began, but find
her to be a cultivated taste-like olives.
| She is an inspiring subject, the further
you go into the labyrinth of her mind and
! life the more interesting you find her. But
! let me tell you that, whereas I spent a
| year and half in the far east trying to
| discover her traits and made but little
! progress, / have found her out in less
: than six months experience in the woody
| west" Do not understand me that she
does not exist east of the Mississippi. for
she does very much So but she is neither
| SO well developed nor so profound young
! person as l see her by the Golden Gate.
This-in a few words-is the difference. 1t
explains what. otherwise. pages might not
| n AXE clear: With you she is the matinee
girl" with us, the girl of night box parties
and cafe suppers. She is a frivolous young
person with you. and her idea of bliss is
too much caramels. Our "fin-de-siecle"
young lady eats tamales IA Mexican dish
composed principally of red peppers) and
Welsh rarebits. and will take beer In pref
erence to soda water every time.
In the east she is petite and piquante, she
walks with wrenching movement which is
considered very fetching" in her set. and
she carries her hand on her hip in a way
that our grandmammas were taught was
the exclusive prerogative of the farm hand
Her slang vocabulary is superb, and she
spends all her leisure moments in adding to
IL; any boy who will retail the latest thing
in street arab conversation is dubbed a
perfect love" and lust too cute" She
wants you to know that she is up to
date she makes ii painfully evident and
thrusts the fact in your face at all hours
she dont believe In anything, and some
way she doesn't know anything either You
might think that she would be worldly
wise to a degree, from the class of her as
sociates, but she is as innocent as the
boarding school miss is supposed to be- Her
reading Is not all that one might wish, bu.
II Is only OF the penny dreadful and
"shocAer" order of literature which does
her no harm simply because she doesn't re-
member IL. Nothing really coarse comes I'm
her line because she has not the mental
stomach to digest it, The food Of her brain
must be like the chief diet of her body
soda water and sweets This young person
Is apt TO be horsey and up in" foot ball
ana horse racing, but II is in a superficial
sort of way. She is Just dying" to get
married, but she would prefer 20 elope and
create sensation. She lives on sensations;
ana yet she is good little thing. IL she
were put in the right way she would go in
Tor humane societies, hospital work ard
that sort of thing. with exactly the vim
that Is now wasted on slang. Her skirts
are Kept short so long as possible. because
that makes her look like those sweet
chorus girls" whose pictures adorn the
museum called by courtesy her room"
Banjo playing and comic songs she does to
perfection, with the added zest of n nasal
twang rather charming than otherwise
and decidedly 1.-The thing" She has hosts
OF girl friends, quite as many as among
the boys: which is in itself proof positive
mat she is not clever Most girls are afraid
of clever girls. If you get the eastern up
TO date girl on any subject deeper than
cigarette cards she is completely at sea.
and, reduce her vocabulary to the kings
English, she Will be, to all .nten.s and
purposes, a mute.
Western Girl is Different.
Now, the "up-to-date" girl in the west is
| quite another person. physically as well as
mentally. She IS very tall and stately; II
not strictly handsome at any rate she is
very attractive. and she is most wonderfully
careful never to be caught doing anything
in the least unconventional Unless Won
know her intimately you are apt TO think
that she is not only very dignified, hut even
very prudish. Her stately manners are
quite overwhelming. But she knows her
audience and is all things to all men. With
those of pious turn Of mind she is piety
itself, and she can discuss the pros and cons
of the tenets of any faith. always with a
leaning toward the ongest este blishad faith
for outwardly she is ultra-conservative. She
goes to church with the regularity OF clock
work, but as for inducing her small brother
to accompany her. that is another thing. 1t
Is too inconvenient to save his soul. In Lent
she gives up all things harmful to her COM
pleXion Yet the frivolous find no one more
frivolous, the cynical no one more cynical;
no one can dance longer or better than she
and no old clubman can absorb so much
champagne with a clear head AS for her
gowns and hats. Paris is not more Partisan.
1t is not her greatest aim to dress we'll
that is merely an incident-but, like every
thing else she undertakes, 1t succeeds. She
plans her own gowns, that they may not be
exactly like every ones else. and no one but
she can put together such clashing colors to
make harmony. She Is not given TO reading
further than the novels that are the topics
of the times and those French CONNECTIONS
which are recommended on account OF their
| extra wickedness.
To watch her dress is a thing never TO
weary Of 1t takes half an hour to curl her
hair. and she does it with a red-hot iron.
Every loose and straying hair is made into
a dainty curl. and only an expert could tell
that they are not natural Her nails and
| hands are absorbing subjects, and she
paints-dear! yes--but with skill little
| short of art. / made mental note OF the
| cosmetics, &c, on her dresser the other
day. There was bottle of white wash"
| (she calls 1t enameD, bottle of rouge,
dubbed by her young brother chronic
| blush" box of lip salve, a stick of darker
salve for the corners of her mouth, a stick
of backing for the corners of her eyes. a
stick of Chinese ink for her lashes, a stain
for the eyebrows, a box OF face powder,
box of powder for her arms and neck,
bottle of finger-nail staining. another OF
acetic acid, a box Of nail powder, and an
| imported box of henna for the finger-tips
Could any belle of the Roman empire have
beaten that? Yet when she Is all made
up her skin looks quite natural, SO skill
| fully Is 1t done. She has to paint, she as
sures YOU because she has no color-tight
lacing and unholy hours have ruined what
little she had-and she blacks her eyes be-
cause il she does not she looks tame"
| Probably 1t will occur to you that she can
not last long at that rate-that her skin
will be ruined, her hair burnt to a crisp and
her constitution undermined in a very short
time. But that has no terrors for her. She
knows that she is doomed to go with a
crash when she does go. 1t is Just in this
that she is "up-to-date" She is living fast,
and in the present only, spending all her
principal, both monetary, physical and spir-
itual making hay while the sun shines
She is the embodiment Of the French phrase
"in-de-siecle."
Bright as q Dollar.
So much for one view Of her. Mentally,
she is most complicated. She has been to
the very best boarding and finishing schools,
but beyond the writing Of very "swagger''
note she has absolutely no book learning I"
What she did with her time besides smok-
ing cigarettes at night and smuggling for
hidden novels into her room I am at a loss