Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-28

t-t instead OF an irritation.
FsssNAI Fdgeting is wasting just so much
valuable engery which might be turned to good
account. II jars the nerves-of yourself anc
others-tires the muscles shows a lack of menta
poise and brings the tired lines and crows feet
more quickly than any other one weakness Of
womanknd.
Perhaps you don't know that you do fdget;
ten TO one you believe that you present a calm
digni6ed exterior under all circumstances. You
say that you are not nervous, that you wouldn't
run away from mouse or faint in railroad
accident cut up fuss at the sight of blood
or even scream in fire. so surely you don't
fdget. You may be justified in claiming courage
and yet wrong in supposing that you do not
waste your good, calmer spirits those spirits
which make the world glorious place and all
mankind your friends, by nervous, jerly move
ments in your little daily duties
Watch your sisters, take heed Of their head
waggings, finger twitchings, foot tappings and
facial contortions, and then go off quietly by
yourself and religiously answer the question: cam
l guilty of trying my physical being in any of
these unpleasant ways?"
There many ways in which woman eN-
hibits this little unpleasant mannerism. Watch
her while waiting for package in a store; tap,
tap, tap goes her foot, Earring her dainty little
person and using up strength which is very much
needed in the shopping expedition upon which
she is bent. If the wait is Of more than two
minutes duration instead of sitting quietly on
the stool provided, folding her hands repose-
fully and enjoying few moments rest, it
would be but sensible to do she fits about from
counter to counter, heedlessly picking up and
laying down articles in which she really has
interest, thus annoying the salesgirls as well
as fatiguing herself to purpose.
If by any chance she should seat herself to
await her change or package, her head is con-
stantly turning this way that or she is ex-
aiming goods lying upon the counter, her brow
whether she has made the best possible selec-
tien. Her poor little head is being tormented
with problems of the respective washable quail
tiles Of blue and pink, when she has already Sc.
lected violet-what's the use?-and think of the
wear upon the brain.
Unnecessary Nervousness.
And besides puckering her forehead with the
weightiness of this problem, which she really
should have settled when she made her pur-
chase, she draws the of her mouth down,
turns her neck first this side and then that to
get the right light upon goods which she
has intention of buying and all the time
the muscles of her back rigid and she makes
ready to take instant flight upon the arrival of
her package It is all unnecessary and 50
firing and could be so easily avoided by observ-
ing few simple rules. just to make I'D her
mind to examine only what she wants, to make
her selection carefully and then abide by it.
and to let the mind and body relax during en-
forced waits, would make shopping a pleasure
and would be one blow at the fdgetng habit.
Watch this same little woman and she is here
there and everywhere-while waiting for a train
Ten to one she knows that she has a full twenty
minutes to wait, and yet she sits in an anxious
strained position, one shoulder most likely drawn
up above the other showing that her muscles
tense. And she is forever shifting her bun.
dies, tying strings, peepng into bags or merely
changing the packages from one hand to the
other.
Right above her head is the big station clock
which is supposed to keep correct time, at any
rate the trains pull out according to its point
ings, and yet My Lady Fidget must needs un.
tangle her dimnutive timepiece from her belt
or bodice and with her bundles tightly gripped
in her free arm scan its face anxiously. Back
goes the watch--that watch which is always ahead
or behind time, and If you were to ask the little
lady what its face told she would stare at YOU
blanky and go all through the same performance
before replying 1t Is safe betting that she
doesn't see the time, or that her mind makes no
note of it during the some dozen or so times
that she consults her watch. She knows that
the guard will call the train. she is perfectly
well aware that the station clock is right above
her and yet she can't seem to avoid putting her.
self to the very unnecessary inconvenience of
consulting her own timepiece.
While she waits she scans the faces of the
passing throng, keeping her head tipped uncom.
fortably back and her eyes strained and all the
time her foot is tap tap, tapping. The tapping
deserves a paragraph all To itself, and it will
get it little later.
At last her train is called and there is a ner
vous rush forward, a jerky lodging of other
rushers, many starts onward and steps back
before she finally reaches the gate. And all be.
cause she doesn't give thought to what she is
doing and in calnness wend her way trainward
Fidgitng All the Time
Even after she is comfortably seated in train
or electric the same fdgeting continues. She
squirms IN her seat, adjusts her hat, takes the
comb from the back of her hair and makes fruit
less attempts to arrange some stray locks She
pulls a pin two out of her stock and sticks
them in again, inartistically most likely. and
she runs her hands around her waist. pattinp her
belt here and there, giving it a hitch ND in tbe
back and a tug down in the front. She crosses
and uncrosses her legs, and by the way, sitting
crossegged is very injurious; our physieians
unanimous in their opinion that it is one
of the causes of appendicitis; she looks at her
shoes and scowls, and then she does the worst
thing OF ALL She stares fxedly out of the win
dow, straining to see up street and down street
for no earthly reason, and to read the numbers
on the houses, even when she knows perfectly
well where she is. She starts, as though to leave
the car, if she is aboard train everytime n
station is called and when finally she does reach
her destination she has frantic scramble TO
collect her many membranes and get off in
time
All the trouble she has in finding her fare
and her ticket, the many times she goes to her
purse to make sure money is safe, and TO her
bag for her handkerchief has been told too
often to need repeating, but it is one evidence
Of the hdgeting habit