Evening star., 1901-02-16
ment straight through to Its logical conclu-


II know It's heresy," quoth she valiantly,
but 1t is true nevertheless and all the pro-
fessor of physical culture says goes to es-
tablish my position You can talk pure rea-
son. and distill the highest sort of educa-
ton, and appeal to the pride and inde-
pendence of women all you like. but It is
wind in the keyhole to girl who realizes
the vital Importance Of a twenty-inch waist
measure to her success as a debutante,
whether she makes her debut in a 5th ave
nue. palace or the smallest New England
village.
Women, you see realize the instant the
preferences of the men change, and the
preferences of men are changing from the
robust. mater of fact hard-headed type OF
high-spirited. broad-shouldered, self-suffi-
cient girl back to the dear old romantic
type, the tender, mysterious imperious
provoking. fnexplcable entities that the
piaywriters drew as the heroine in The
Royal Family
Just go see that play built about the
impossible wooing and winning of a maiden
all tears and smiles and chiffon and be-
quilting emotions and delicious antique
story-book nonsense. Miss Annie Russell
plays her to the kings taste and the men
are daft about it. Now women are acute
creatures and like the pretty fur bearing
animals whose coats are brown in autumn
weather. changing to pure white when the
SHOWS come, We are made by dear ola
mother nature so flexible that we can al
most reincarnate ourselves TO suit every
demand.
They VIII Succeed.
1--WE insensibly realize what Is wanting
and like versatile actors We get out all our
properties and play any character you
please Not only do women in the aggre-
gate, but women individually. find this out.
CA girl hears her brother and her masculine
friends praise Mary Jones figure enthu-
siastically and she does not need a broader
hint. Mary Jones has a twenty-two-nch
waist. so the smart girl goes home and
puts herself into stay that gives her a
nineteen-inch measurement and there is
nothing we can do to prevent her example
spreading to the other girls and SO on clear
into the colleges) But this, as the pro-
fessor of physical culture has pointed out,
is not the most astonishing feature of the
situation. In her endeavor to typify to men
the slim. elegant frou frou, tiny-footed.
long-throated creature of his romantic
fancy the woman puts on clothes that alb
solutely changes her physique. What she
wills to be, by force of dlety and pressure
she becomes.
I'm ten years I will guarantee that the
American woman will be nodded on lines
we have not seen for twenty-five years and
you will only find in out-of the-way places
the ful-waisted, fiat-chested, broad-footed,
red-cheeked, divinely tall maiden. who Is
what she is because the news of the change
has not reached her. 1t Is only fair to say
that we women don't resign our easy boots,
short skirts, loose stays and the joys of
physical development and freedom gladly.
The majority of us think wistfully of the
comfortable old times, but the subtle power
of masculine preferences are too much for
us, and sharper than a serpents tooth
would 1t be to of us to hear our waists
criticised as too thick our feet too fiat.
our stature too lofty We can boast of our
enlghtment and liberties sex. but we
would any one of make a great mistake
to lag behind in the procession that is now
in college and factory and drawing room
changing to meet the demands of the ever
| lasting. but ever-fondly obeyed tyrant.
man."