Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-10-08
CHAFF
assesses OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

How very few men or women ever mar
ry their ideals. Men who have always
admired large, robust women invariably
marry small, thin ones. Women who dis
course garrulouslv on black-eyed, black
mustached Apollos invariably marry some
short, red-headed and freckled fellow
that bears as much resemblance to their
ideal as mushroom to a silk parasol with
rulfles on it. Alas for our inconsistency.
writer of an Eastern journal, i'll COM
menting on the use of the bicycle among
women, doesn't hesitate to say that it has
the effect not only of improving the
health but of broadening the mind as
well. 1t only stands to reason that an
improved state of health brings with it
stronger nerves and good blood AS a
consequence, triling ills of life that were
such an annoyance are no longer a source
of misery to the woman who gets to
spend an hour or more riding past green
fields, over country roads and inhaling
Natures own great remedy-fresh air.
The bicycle certainly has transformed us
into a new race of women. The "pale
and interesting" young woman is no
longer considered Bright eyes, stout
limbs and ruddy cheeks are in demand.
Can any one deny the bicycles influence
in making this change?
A custom prevails among milliners and
a certain class of dressmakers to take the
services of young women and girls with
out reimbursing them. They take these
young people to learn the trade and dur
ing six months they will pay them moth
ing. Every day during this long noviciate
they deliver bundles for learning dress
making and carry bonnets home to pa
irons of the millinery establishment if
they are serving their apprenticeship i'll
the hat and bonnet business. These
girls must be nicely dressed, and it is
presumed they must eat and drink like
other mortals and have a room to shelter
them after their days labor. Do these
money sharks ever think that these young
people have such necessities? The utter
heartlessness of such men and women is
shown i'll this unjust and dishonest prac-
tice, and we'll exemplifies the wall of the
poet who wrote
"Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn"
No man has right to the services of
another without recompense. 1t is writ
ten that "the laborer is worthy of his
hire, >" and common justice demands that
honest labor deserves honest recompense.
A union among working girls would
solve many of these difficulties, and it is
to be hoped that they will soon see the
utility of united endeavor.
Uneasy rests the head that wears a
queue. The late Emperor of China was
not the first of his kind that found out
the truth of the old adage. The present
Dowager Empress seems to have things
pretty much her own way. 1t is supposed
that she fastened the departure not only
of the late Emperor, but of his two pre-
decessors, out of the fowery Kingdom.
1t is not so bad to be a mere plebian,
after all, over there, as he can at least
close his almond eyes and sweetly dream
of tea roses and chrysanthemums without
being disturbed by her sanguinary High
ness the Empress.
The martial soul-stirring element of the
old war songs was we'll illustrated a few
days ago in one of our schools The
teacher, wishing to teach her class to
march, sat at the piano and played in turn
"Tenting on the Old Camp Ground"
Marching Through Georgia" and "John
Browns body lies Wondering in the
Grave" By the time she reached the
last air her class was fully aroused.
Books were picked up off the desks and
laid on their shoulders by the boys to rep
resent guns and the girls waved their
handkerchiefs for flags. The whole class
broke out in hearty song for "Three
cheers for the Red, White and Blue" 1t
is noticeable that during the present war
no such strains have been written, no
music that can get as close to one as was
composed and sung during the war be-
tween the North and the South. Asso-
citation has much to do with it, Mostly
all the old war songs were written in
common time and were played for our
fathers and brothers during those long,
tedious marches they were compelled to
make across hundreds of miles, footsore
and weary as they were, with their hearts
filled with images of the loved ones they
had left behind.
A very able woman writing for a
monthly paper a few days ago said that
women may retain the affections of their
husbands by simply acquiescing to their
views of matters. That is all very we'll
if woman is supposed to be a thing
made to order-without life or ideas
which individuality always brings with
it. 1t would be a very delightful state of
affairs--a kind of intellectual Utopia, as
it were-for the lords of creation if when
they said "the moon is made of green
cheese" the women would bow their
heads in deep humility and mutter sit
is really so" Man is a considerable,
loving sort of being, who must not be
thwarted or the unfortunate offender
might as well count herself an unlucky