The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-15

Ii was forever being robbed
~ Her jewels, fguratively
speaking, lay upon her soul
as heavily as the crown upon the pro-
verbal kings head. Her money, il
she had any, was either in the bank
ineonveniently out of her own reach
or in her husbands pocket. She went
about charging things, so that her
lord and master knew, to title, the
cost of everything she wore, from a
sealskin sack to shoe lace. Gradual.
ly she has walked up, until now she is
So subtle that the boldest and clever.
est robber is mere amateur beside
her. She is her own detective. She
goes about with an innocent face, a
pocketbook that could not possibly
contain over 4o cents, and bundle OF
$40 bills so skilfully hidden some
where about her that it would take
an Al detective to find it.
The latest place for secreting her
money is her hair. Look not senti-
mentally at those soft coils of gold
at the back of the modern girl )
neck, young and unsophisticated man
they are built upon a yellow chamois
bag and twined about coil of green
backs. Gaze not fondly upon that
curled pompadour of brown, silken
strands. 1t owes its height and bulk
to a bank account, and not to nature.
The human hair pocketbook has
proved itself success beyond even
feminine expectation. The stocking
bank is a mere bagatelle beside II.
The old-fashioned method of pinf1inB
ones wealth into the folds OF ones
shirt-waist is a thing of the past. The
hat, the glove and the wrist-bag are
like Othello, without an occupation.
The transformation all began when
women grew independent and rebelled
against the tyranny of having their
allowances doled out to them in 10
and accent pieces by Mere Man. One
morning, after reading a thrilling
speech by Bclva Lockwood, Arabella
said to Simeon:
Simeon, my love, hand me the rent
money and the gas money, and the
maids money, and"
What" gasped Simeon! 'hand you
my last cent to be teetered in that
little jingly thing at your belt' Not
muchp
And then Arabella began to hunt
around for a safe place to stow the
family income, before she went out
shopping, or to pay the semi-monthly
bills. AT first, women learned to carry
large sums of money, when travelling
or bargain hunting, by tucking it snug
ly in front of their shirt-waists and
pinning it firmly to their .eorsets,
knowing we'll that the corset is about
the only garment which woman
wears that is so tight that it cannot
fall off. Then there were terrible
times. A woman coming in from
town on bargain morning would
see something she especially wanted
lying on a counter surrounded by a
lot Of other women. She would pick
up one end of the article only to find
that the other end had been grasped
by another shopper
"Give me three of these, please" she
would cry breathlessly to the clerk
and then she would blush furiously
all over and slip out of the crowd,
only to rush madly to the ladies' wait
ing-room, to find quiet corner, tug
at the buttons of her waist and work
for twenty minutes to extract the
wealth hidden there. After that she
would return to the counter only to
find her coveted bargain gone-lost
| foreverl Back she would HE to the
dressing-room again, once more to
struggle with the obetrererous shirt
| wairt and the uncomfortable corset.
Then, one day. button-up-the- back
waists came in. Here was problem.