The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-03
THE WRESTLING FACE.
TeIItaIe Lines About Feminine Mouths
show Extent of Habit.
New York Sun.

New York Sun.
The tune was See the Conquering Hero
Comes" and the whistler. hidden some
where behind a pile Of dry goods boxes.
rendering the music with spirit and
precision
"That boy is a good whistler" said
"Boy?" said the manager of the depart
ment THAT is not a boy: il is a woman
She is our assistant bookkeeper, and she
certainly is one OF the best MINISTER'S lot
an amateur L ever heard. She must be
unusually busy now, or she wouldn't be
rafting off that tune at such lively rate
I've noticed that the deeper her interest
in her work the better she whistles. The
first time ! heard her whistle back In the
office / was ineXpresSibly shocked.
Why, my dear Miss Mellin. said,
really this is most extra ordinary
Yes said she, L suppose 1t is but I've
got to do il when / get down TO real hard
work. If you expect me to get through
with all these accounts to-day you've just
got to let me whistle
$50 she whistled. and she's kept on
whistling whenever we have an unusual
rush of business. 1 don't know that il looks
any worse TO see a woman whistling when
going about her work than when walking
along the street
The customer gasped- DO women whistle
do they?" said the manager IF you
had kept your eyes and open that
question would be entirely superfiuOus.
Why, the number of whistling women seen
a visiting foreigner as peculiar Haven't
you heard them? Haven't you seen them?
American men long ago earned for us the
name of a whistling nation, and now the
women are doing their best to keep up the
reputation.
IF you will watch them hurrying along
the streets you will find that fully 30 per
cent. have their lips puckered into whist
ling shape. Sometimes this preparatory
quicker really amounts TO something and
they emit shrill, unmusical noises, while
q
semblance of a whistle. In most cases
these women, like my bOokkeeper. are un-
conscious of their astonishing facial con
tortion. and merely whistle or strike the
Whstling expression as a relief to Their
high nervous tension.
Before / became superintendent of this
department L was on the road for several
years and / noticed that the women of
other cities also given TO whstling
You just ought to hear them out in Chi
cago There is no half-hearted compromise
| about the whistling out there. The notes
ring out loud and bouyant. The old adage
| about whistling girls and Growing hens has
| no terrors for Chicago women, and they
don't care rap who hears them.
In Philadelphia they are more subdued,
but they whistle. just the same. But II
| you want to hear good whistling from the
feminine portion of the population-soft,
sweet melodrama whistling-just go to
Richmond. That town is noted for many
| things but If | was asked to give my opin-
ion OF its chief title to fame ! should say
it is the women's proficiency in whistiing.
but, taken All IN All, New YORK beats
the world on whistiing. You viii find
more cases of the whistling face here than
| anywhere else. This phase of the habit Is
to be deplored, for the tell-tale lines in the
face Of a confirmed whistler are not pretty
The upper lip is heightened and furrowed
with fine lines, and the corners of the
mouth become wrinkled. These facial
characteristics are more pronounced when
the whistler performs his little turn from
nervousness instead of pleasure conse-
quently they are much In evidence. for il
certainly IS nervousness that makes most
people especially women. whistle their
way through life"