The San Francisco call., 1905-06-12
THOSE HORR|D
MEN TO BLAME
Beyy of Fair Club DamselS
Go on Tramp, Have Jolly
Time and Trouble Follows
DETERMINATION Is RIFE
"0nly Innocent Fun" Says
One, "Unbecoming" De-
.clares Exacting Member


.clares EXacting Member
There is a bitter dissension in the ranks
of the Young Women's Common Sense
Athletic Association, arising out of wide
difference of opinion held by the member
ship on the question of what is the proper
and what the improper thing for the fair
ones TO do on their weekly tramps in re-
gions where the prying eyes of man are
attracted by the jaunty damsels on
healthful vigor bent.
Charges of unbecoming conduct and ac-
tions out of harmony with the spirit of
the association have already been pre-
ferred by the club against two of its
members, the Misses Helen and Anna
Harm, residing at 1455 O'Farrel street.
The accused ones have been haled to ap-
pear before the board of directors and
show cause why they should not be ex-
PEELED from the associate The Misses
Harm indignantly deny that they have
been guilty of any wrongdoing, and have
employed an attorney to represent their
side of the case and, if necessary, seek
complete vindication in the courts. To
offset the charges preferred against them
the accused ones declare that they are
being prosecuted by a certain clique of
the younger members, whose own per-
sonal conduct at times has been any
thing but proper.
The association, which has been in ex-
istence out three months, now has
membership of III, and the list is stead
lily growing. They meet in well-equipped
quarters in the Jefferson square club
house. Across the portals of their club
rooms it is the privilege of no man to
pass. DR.. Mary Holt is the president,
and Miss Claire Donovan, teacher in
Mills College. is the physical instruct
or. The personnel of the members diff
fers as widely as the north from the
south. although private character above
reproach is necessary to join.
TAKE WEEKLY TRAMPS.
Every Sunday the members take
tramp. fully equipped in natty outing
suits, some wearing short skirts and
long-topped lace boots. Although man
has been strictly tabooed from the sacred
precincts of the club, 1t has been found
to be practically impossible for the fair
ones to go tramping without meeting at
every turn of the road the omnipresent
genus homo. They went to the Cliff
House beach on their first tramp. and
the horrid men watched the vigorous
maidens go in wading The more timor-
Gus ones, it is said, did not participate in
this diversion. They were shocked, some
of them, so they say, at the innocent
audacity of their sister mermaids. The
next time the association went tramping
Point Bonita was the objective, but even
in that benighted spot they were unable
to escape the curious gaze of those hor-
rid men.
Dear, dear, dear. What should the
young ladies and the old maids and the
spinsters do?
They passed a farmhouse, and from
= l. +, o.olx
they looked the other way, and more
men; it seemed that they were the cyno-
sure of all eyes; from behind every knoll,
every rock and from within every bush,
like the picket men at Bunker Hill, the
impertinent men poured their whitening
glances.
CLIMBED A TREE.
Some of the girls liked the idea of be-
ing conspicuous. And when they climbed
gayly up into the top of an uprooted tree
to be photographed they did not care
who saw their high boots. Those of more
stateliness and avoirdupois declined to
follow the example of their more agile
comrades.
And that is not all they did, declares
Miss Helen Harm, who says she is being
prosecuted by the clique of "giddy" girls.
"They sat down on the grass close be-
side some soldier boys who were playing
ball at Fort Baker" said She ''They did
not do anything really wrong, but l do
not think that is just the proper thing
for young ladies to do. Yes, and some of
them made remarks to passers-by. But
that isn't all One member. and a portly
one at that leaped-actually leaped-
from the ground into the back end of
farm wagon drawn by two mules, and in
the wagon were preacher and two 9th
er strangers. Then thirty-fve of the
members got pass and visited the quar-
ters at Fort Baker When they came out
the passes only called for thirty-four
persons. One of our number had appro-
priated her pass. With much red tape
the curious problem in arithmetic was
finally left unsolved and Uncle Sans
bluecoats allowed us to depart
DROVE MULE TEAM.
Now, this trouble all came about be-
cause on that trip to Point Bonita my
sister and two other ladies got into that
mule team and went driving. Miss Dono-
van, the guide, objected because there
were men present, although she knew one
of them to be a minister of the Gospel.
| resented the criticism. What is sauce
for the goose is sauce for the gander. If
it was wrong for the girls to go riding,
it was certainly improper for others to
go wading and do those other things"
what are you going to do about it,?
Miss Harm was asked.
az will seek to have the club withdraw
the letter written to me and my sister,
expunge all record of the act from the
minutes and rescind the charges abso-
lutely," said she.
Miss Donovan, the physical instructor,
when interviewed said Il simply saw
fit to criticize certain conduct of the
members which deemed to be not prop
er. and they refused to see 1t that way.
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