Evening journal., 1898-03-11
.GIGGLES, Condolences AND d.
VULGENCES.

GIGGLEs, CONDOLENCES AND d.
VULGENCES.
The period which marks the transit
tion of a bud of the feminine gender
from girlho0d to young womanhOOd is
what is known ais the silly and awk-
ward time in her life. A girl may be
both pretty and graceful and sensible
as a girl. She may be beautiful, grace
ful and sensible as young woman, but
the Wayfarer has noticed that between
the two estates there is an intermediate
period which is marked by Stiffness and
awkwardness, interpreted largely with
giggles. At that stage of life she is not
a girl; she is not a woman. AS a mat
ter of fact she scarcely knows what she
is or nOw to conduct herself. Her awk-
wardness and Stiffness are accentuated
4 by her self-consciOusness. What to do
with her feet and hands she is at a loss
TO know. Her tongue is a little too old
to indulge in girl-talk, and it is little
too young to roll of conventional wo-
man-talk. 1t speaks a sort Of dialect
embracing the worst features of both,
and enters into a conspiracy with the
other vocal organs to make her say
foolish things while she is making a
vain endeavor to seem perfectly natural
and self-cOmpOsed. When conversation
fails her the giggle supplies the def
cheney. The giggling apparatus of her
anatomy is overwOrked fer many
months, but it takes it all good-natur-
edly and will work overtime on the
slightest prOvOcatiOn, and Ofttimes
without any provOcation whatever.
When a girl reaches this silly and
. awkward age she lives on whispers.
+ She has more secrets than any prime
minister can boast Of. They are more
F than she can preserve She must have
f a cOniidante. 1t is essential that she find
girl of about her own age, and also
under undergoing the transition from
. girlhOOd to womanhOOd. They become
chums. All the friends Of childhood
and girlhcod are cut for the time be-
& ing. The two live a life to themselves.
4 Under pledge Of eternal secrecy each
tells the other all she knows concerning
herself. They begin to talk about the
boys. Each selects some schOolbOy as
the idol of her devotion and for weeks
and months the standard of masculin-
b ity is measured by him. He may be
wholly unconscious of the interest he
has awakened, but that makes no diff
ference to her. In fact, the more un-
conscious he may appear the deeper the
devotion on her part becomes. The two
girls talk it over and over. It is a
theme Of which they never tire. Repe-
tition but makes it the more interest
ing. They walk the streets together
hoping to catch a glimpse of him. In
their awkWardness they fall all over
each other They think that the eyes
of the entire community are on them
and endeavOring to fathom their Sc
cret. They walk and talR~ and giggle.
The home of one becomes the home OF
the other. They run in and out of each
others houses without any. ceremony
Occasionally they spend the night to-
gether, and long after the other mem
bers Of the family are fast asleep they
are lying in bed wide awake, talking
over their many little secrets, wonder
ing what tomorrow will bring forth
and building all sorts of air-castles
there in the dark.
So it goes for a time and then comes
a spat. This is followed by a reconcile
alton. Then spat succeeds spat as the
period of transition nears its close
They are not so chummy as they were
formerly. Neither are they so conf
Dental. Each begins to think that she
has told the other too much. The ties
OF friendship woven by Stiffness, senti.
ment and awkwardness slowly but
surely break Without knowing it they
are drifting apart. There is another
spat or two. The last one is more seri.
Gus than those which preceded it. They
quit speaking to each other Som,
tears are shed. Then they begin tellini
the other girls all they know. Tn,
quarrel becomes deep and uncOmprO
missing. The divulgence of all the sc
crets impaired and condolences repose,
during the giggling period is a thini
which cannot be forgiven. Each call
the other hateful thingr' and i'm
wardly resolves that she VIII never. tel
another girl anything about herself o
her ieelings-nO, never!
The Wayfarer does not doubt tina
there are hundreds of women in the cit
OF Wilmington at~the present day VIII
have passed through such a period wit
almost identical results, and that t
this day they harbor a feeling of re
sentiment towards the chums of thei
youth who SO wilfully made love
young dream the subject of the multi
tude's ridicule and laughter.