The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-01-07
THE WHlSTLING FACE.
TelltaIe Lines About Feminine
Mouths Show Extent of Habit.

Telltale Lines About Feminine
Mouths show Extent of Habit.
The tune was "See the Conquering
Hero Comes" and the whistler, hidden
somewhere behind pile of dry goods
boxes, was rendering the music with
spirit and precision.
''That boy is a good whistler" said
New York Sun reporter.
Boy" said the manager of the de-
partment. THAT is not 4 boy; it is
woman. She is our assistant book
keeper, and she certainly is one of the
best whistlers for an amateur | 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 l heard her whistle back in the
Office l was inexpressibly shocked.
Why. my dear Miss Mellin,' said,
really this is most extraordinary
"'Yes,' said she, L suppose it is, but
I've got to do 1t when l 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
80 she whistled, and she's kept on
whistling whenever we have an un-
usual rush of business. l don't know
that 1T 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 on the street, was the anx-
ious question.
do they?" said the manager. If
you had kept your eyes and ears open,
that question would be entirely super
fluous. Why, the number of whistling
women seen here Is one of the first
things that strike visiting foreigner
as peculiar. Haven't you heard them?
Haven't you seen them? American
men long ago earned for us the name
Of whistling nation, and now the wo-
men are doing their best to keep up
the reputation.
'If you will watch them hurrying
along the streets, you will find that
fully 80 per cent have their lips puck
cred into whistling shape. Sometimes
this preparatory pucker really amounts
to something, and they emit shrill un-
musical noises, while. again, they are
content with the dumb semblance of a
whistle. In most cases these women,
like my bookkeeper, are unconscious of
their astonishing facial contortion and
merely whistle or strike the whistling
expression as q relief to their high
nervous tension.
Before l became superintendent of
this department was ON the road for
several years, and l noticed that the
women Of other cities are also given to
whistling. You just ought to hear
them out In Chicago. There is no half
hearted compromise about the whis-
tling out there. The notes ring out
loud and buoyant. The old adage about
whistling girls and Growing hens has
no terrors for Chicago women, and
they don't care a rap who hears them.
I'm Philadelphia they are more sub
dued, but they whistle, just the same.
But If you want to hear good whistling
from the feminine portion of the popu-
lation-soft, sweet, melodious whistling
Just go to Richmond. That town is
noted for many things, but if 1 was
asked to give my opinion or its CHIEF
title to fame 1 should say it is the
women's proficiency in whistling.
"But, taken all in ALL New York beats
the world on whistling. You will find
more cases Of the whistling face here
than anywhere else. This phase Of the
habit is to be deplored, for the telltale
lines in the face of a confirmed whistler
are not pretty. The upper lip Is length
ened and furrowed with fine lines, and
the corners of the mouth become wrin-
kled. These facial characteristics are
more pronounced when the whistler
performs his little turn from nervous
ness instead Of pleasure. Consequently
they are much in evidence, for 1t GER
tainly is nervousness that makes most
people. especially women. whistle Their
way through life"