Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-12
xaoF MUSCLE

A slender neaeiytlressed young woman
tripped along Areet the other afternoon.
swinging what 1ooked like a cased type
writer in her left hand. She carried the
thing as II it weighed about as much as
one Of those inaeiaied strap pocket books
that ladies wearp4Ione finger. She swung
it to and fro as she walked. Occasionally
she changed it To- the right hand and then
back again, and she-made these changes as
easily as the stage juggler who losses in
f1ated cannon balls Of rubber. Men and
women turned about to gaze at her. She
didn't look like strong woman with a
variety show-she was just slender.
pretty, neatly dressed young woman, with
a frank, open countenance. Yet the SUI
preme ease with which she handled that
cased thing was enough to make men and
women turn around,
The men standing in front Of the office
bulldings-it was the luncheon hour-stared
at the young woman.
DIE ever see anything like that for
strength In "a little woman's arms?' they
said to each other. 1.-The thing must weigh
iuiy !, th II pounds Yet ,,d,a she handles
Maybe she's about to start a women s
gymnasium, and is just carrying mat thing
around to show how strong she's become
herself through gymnasium exercising,
suggested one man.
But she doesn't weigh much more than
hundred or So" said another man,
watching the young woman as she tripped
were reticule. ''These gymnasium girls
are generally big. strappiney creatures on
the ATLANTA order. She looks like girl
that d faint from the heat or II she saw
mouse, and her arms are slender, too. Inc
way she handles that thing, you'd expect
to see swelling biceps under her sleeves,
but she doesn't look little bit strong.
When the young woman passed in front
CT artY
shopping women who We're coming out
pulled up and stared after the young wo-
man VINO was carrying cased typewriter
as II 1t was half-pound box OF candy ,u,
What muscular creature mat girl
must be!' they exclaimed. Did you ever
try to lift one of those typewriters? Why,
they are as heavy as lead couldn't more
than carry one of them across room. And
she changes that from one hand to the
other without even leaning over to one
side as she does it, and holds it out so that
1t hardly touches her dress. Now, aren
appearances deceptive? You wouldn't think
that girl strong enough to drive picture
nail to look at her, would you? This phys
ical culture for women is a good thing. ana
l do wish l could be ambitious enough to
go to a womenS gymnasium, &c, &c.
The young woman's entire progress along
F street was marked by such talk as this
by the astonished people who saw her easy
manner of handling the cased typewriter.
She seemed unconscious of the attention
She was attracting by her exhibition of
marvellous strength, as they phrased 1t, but
moved along trippingly without looking
either to the right or left.
Finally half a dozen or so young men.
out for their noon airing, began to follow
the young woman at a respectful distance
to see how long she'd be able to carry her
heavy burden without showing a sign or
distress. She swung along until she reach
ed a typewriter establishment across the
way from the patent office. Lightly chang
ing the cased thing to the other hand she
walked down the steps and into the type
writer store, and the young men who had
been following her at a respectful distance
out of curiosity stood outside and peered
through the windows of the store.
They saw the, young woman put her bur
den on table. unlock the clasps of the
case from the. Dashboard screws and lift
the cover The mystery was explained.
There was no typewriter beneath the cover.
The young woman's heavy burden had con-
sisted of tin typewriter cover and the
| wooden base board for the absent type
writer.
The young men Who had followed the
marvelously strong young woman at a re-
spectful distance and had stood peering
into the typewriter establishment grinned
sheepishly at each other, called each other
Rubber and went their ways.