San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-06-20
MOTLEY MUSINGS.
In Poetry and Prose by Querque for
The Sunday Light.

| III EOelry anu EToSe Dy Ruerque lor
The Sunday Light.
| copyrighted by Dave & Tabor)
A girl is young woman; but it takes
ever so many feathers and htings to
make her into q young woman. The
| distinction is important, and it is not
merely question of skirts. waists and
long plaits; but of hours Of dressing,
endless anxiety about the straightness
of hats, multitudes Of hair pins, and a
nice taste in shoes, gloves and trink-
cts.
Once upon time you could tell a
| girl from a boy by how she caught
| anything or manipulated her trouser
| pockets; but this Is no test since girls
have taken to bicycles.
The only criterion remaining is the
| mouse.
Many a masculine maiden, many a
manly maiden, many a mannish mas
| querade, has been scared into feminin-
| ity by this merry and marvellous NAM
| NAL.
Is it lad with laughter glad?
Is it maiden fair?
How shall I know the belle from beau
When both mems garments wear?
BE it maid" the wise man said,
"a mouse Will her sex betray;
"Or let little spider be placed just
beside her
"And mark If she starts away"
Girls are very precious. They re-
quire pressing before they eat, drink,
play the piano, go for a walk, or agree
to marry. If you don't press them,
their mothers will press them to press
you to press them, and then. hey, pres
to! you are engaged before you have
done up the 37th, button of her left
hand glove.
You must press her to eat and press
her to drink,
And press her to play the piano or
think;
Until, through the Press, you will
presently find,
You have left all your bachelor pres
tige behind.
Girls do not smoke so much as men;
therefore they knit or crochet or pre-
tend to do something which makes
them look busy and leads to nothing.
They used to work samplers; until the
outbreak of cholera and other epidem-
les, aroused public feeling to such an
extent that they had to take to type
writing and other harmless amuse-
ments; but, having no regular work,
they like to appear industrious in order
to boast that though mans works
from sun to sun, woman's work is
never DONE
Stitch, stitch, stitch, from morn till
dewy eve;
Knit, knit, knit-my work l cannot
leave;
Sew, sew,sew, in comfortable chair
Though none may know wherefore I
sew
And nobody seems to care.
Work, work, work, just for daily
joke
Work, work, work, because I cannot
smoke.
IT'S o, to be a maid with never a
thing to do.
But sit all day and calmly say,
Il do more work than you!"
The tame and domestic girl keeps
the masculine under-garments in good
repair and makes abortive attempts on
the outer man. She keeps the home
in perfect order and can prepare and
serve a meal; but is always fresh and
clean to receive company. No one
knows how she does it; but she does.
She invariably awaits her husband
with sunny smile and warm slippers
in spite Of servants or the inopportune
arrival Of summer. She shudders at
higher education" but can always
talk with her husband on abstruse
subjects; especially If, as is usually
the case, she hasn't got one. Her
clothes are never of any particular
color; but always fit her perfectly and
she persists in wearing a single rose
regardless Of season or cost. But her
chief and browning glory is that she
can cook a potato.
The honest lass
Her day will pass
In sewing or in stitching,
In welding brooms,
And busting rooms,
Yet always seems bewitching.
| She never looks
In musty books
And hasn't heard of Plato
But knows full we'll
The mystic spell
That cooks the great potato.
The wild or giddy girl is another
matter. She spends hours and dollars
on dress; but always looks snowy;
reads endless novels; scorns domestic
virtues; sings noisy songs and plays
| dashing music; uses water-colors,
slang, and various cosmetics; loves
dancing, theatres and hot-house flow
ers; but hates the prosaic round Of
hearth and home,