The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-28

Here's conundrum for you. How could
a lady be tonsorially attired? The society
editor OF morning paper criticises Indian
arolis ladies because they are not more
tosisoriaIly dressed for dinners and other
functions And the answer is even more
puzzling than the riddle. One finds, on
reading further, that to be 'tonsorially
dressed is to wear an evening gown. This
Is bewildering. I can think of only one
precedent that bears even distantly the
case. Long ago. when the primitive custom
of ssboardng round was still IN vogue,
the time arrived for a young schoolma' am
TO live for a week with wealthy English
family, blown to the backwoods by some
strange wind. She went with some trepida-
ton, but was most graciously received.
Her hostess finally capped her hospitable
ministratEons by inquiring. as she showed
the slender American girl to her room,
shall / send Jeems in the morning to haul
up your stay-laces?" II the schoolma' am
had accepted the offer she might have been
described as footmanally dressed. but to be
tousorially dressed seems more remarkable
still
"Ffre-bugs set fire to a barn." read the
small boy, incredulously. do you believe
THAR"
why shouldn't we believe itT' inquired
his puzzled family.
But the schoolma'am was better acquaint-
ed with the twists of the youthful mind.
You thought fre-bugs meant nrefiies.
didn't you?' she asked. kindly. at just
means acknowledgement who set fire to
buildings. Now that illustrates" she went
On, addressing the elder members Of the
family. that you never, can tell what word
OF phrase-the most ordinary ones-will con-
yey no idea. or else an entirely false one, to
a child's mind. BY long experience. I have
a kind OF instinct for the simple words
they will not know. and say, do you know
what that means. Johnny?
"'Yes'm.'
well, what does IL mean? And then I
ask twenty of them what 1t means, and I
get twenty variegated answers all different.
and all wrong It is never safe to assume
that a child Understands anything"
What makes the wind-bIow? Little chill
kdren. am told. all believe thai the wind
caused by the swaying Of the trees-rea-
Pning quite scientifically. you see. from
cir own experience. A fan makes a
ina the naruer you ran, the stronger tne
wind. hence the more violently the trees
sway, the harder blows the wind.
XXX
The erudite historian of the woman
club movement. who claims priority for the
Boston club of 1858. says airily that she
doesn't count those little reading classes
that were around over the country at an
earlier date. Whether they don't count be-
cause they were called classes or societies
instead OF clubs, or because they had not
formal organization or because they did
not originate In Boston is not quite clear.
There must have been mary formally or
ganized clubs ami societies in co-educational
colleges and girls seninaries before that
date-the L. M. i. society Of Knox College.
for instance. dates back to 1861, and doubt
less there are many older ones-but these
<aight fairly be omitted from the reckon
ing. The hardest instance to get around
IS the Conversational Club. OF Dubuque.
Ia. II Is a club, not a society, 1t was
formally organized some months before the
Boston club; worst of all the Boston club
appears to have taken its inspiration from
an admirable letter describing the CONVEX
sational Club. written by its founder to an
Eastern friend and published by the recip-
tent IN Concord paper. The Trans-Missis-
sippi Club has even the impudence to have
preserved it's records, constitutions, list OF
officers and members and minutes of pro-
ceedings with their dates-also the Con-
cord paper, with Mrs Mary Newberry
Adams's letter In H. 1t wiz be seen that this
f. little less than treason against the maj