The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-07-10
LOVELY WOMAN ON THE WING.
A New York Correspondent Unveils the
Mysteries OF the Ladies Waiting Room
by M 8

Nowhere In THIS Wlde WOrld, per
haps, does the fotsam and jetsam oi
human femininity ebb and flow in sucf
a ceaseless tide as in the Grand Cen.
trail station, New York. And IL you
cherish any a priori concept OF a con
sistent type Of lovely women here is
the place where you descend beneath
the waters OF disillusion to come VI
washed and made clean.
Death as a leveler is a hide-bound
blue code as compared with the five
! minutes s-before-train-time revelations
/ of the ladies' dressing-room.
Whatever is selfish or unselfish in
/ human nature, this hustling for
/ trains. elbowing your neighbor out
of yMIr way, crowding into the line
out OF your turn at the Pullman
! window, brings 70 the front in a wo-
mans manner more than in a mans,
/ because a woman loses her self-con-
! troll when she travels. She is always
nervous and excited for no more
, specific reason than that she is catch
ing trains and has to run on schedule
! time. She may have an hour and a
! half TO wait before her train Is called
and knows that this is so by the big
clock in the waiting-room, but she
wears a hurried, harassed look and
breathes in short chest breaths for
fear she is going to miss 1t. Now a
man will look at his watch, set II
by the railroad time and-but that s
anotEer story.
InSthe outside general waiting
room n woman may sit and appear
to possess her soul in patience, but
within the sacred precincts Of the
dressing-room she keeps the Record
ing Angel busy. A woman can not
spend five minutes here without un-
lacing her innermost character.
In this bustling crowd nobody
knows anybody else, so 1t Is just her
bed rock nature that comes out, her
manners after twenty centuries Of
civilization being still so thin a We
neer that the least bit Of elbowing
jostles all courtesy out Of the reckon
ing.
It was a long weary wait we had
hours were over we were as much
sadder and wiser about our sex as a
lifetime Of casual intercourse would
have left us.
The curtain on this scene OF disil-
iusion was raised on the x-o'clock-
ers. These women were, on the
whole, n well-dressed, interesting
looking lot, out-of-town shoppers for
the most part who had spent the day
struggling over bargain counters,
dressmakers and the supercilious
"saleslady." All were tired to the
| bone, Of course, some keeping their
own counsel, but many frankly gar
day.
Each woman as she entered the
| dressing-room paused fraction OF a
second to locate the mirror, and thir-
ty-seven Of the first thirty-eight wo-
men who entered made straight for
It. Now the waves of disillusion be-
gin to roll over you.
The soul Of woman shines
through the way she does two things;
says her prayers and does her
hair. There were a home-going few
who seemed satisfied when they as
certained the iact that their hats were
straight-which meant being very
much awry rcadjusted a refractory
lock OF hair. gave n pat to a collar
and a iab to tie or a jerk to a belt.
Next were those just coming into
the city. Here comes a woman who
walks up TO the mirror. puts her
! foot on chair-the lower rung
thereof-and takes from her stock
ing a powder-rag. Glancing furtively
! at her fellow-travelers to see If they
are looking, she dabs the rag at her
! nose and each cheek, rubs IL down
! hastily, readiusts her veil and, with
n satisfied though somewhat apollo
| getic air, turns away and is lost in the
! crowd.
An increasing boldness as to type,
we notice, runs through these vary
! ing degrees of making up" The
next woman is younger than her pre-
! hecessor. and to her the travel-traces
are more Objectionable. She is bet
ter dressed. her hat tilts at more
aggressive angle, and her manner is
more assured. In s-none-of-
! your-business" manner she walks up
20 the mirror and lays down her UNI
brella and porte-monnaie. There 4,
swish of silk Innings, a glimpse OF
! open-work lisle thread, a French
heeled foot. and with due delibera.
tion this fair bird of passage asserts
the stores in her stocking. These
are a few banknotes, the inevitable
powder rag, tiny comb, a pate-brur
pencil. and bit of a rouge sponge
She takes on her hat and veil. hands
them to the white-aproned maid in
attendance. and into the serious bust
ness of over-lay she plunges. She
has come from Bridgeport and Is or
her way TO Chicago. What does she
care who watches her? With careful
| fNratbnuChf chA dau,nnps har g,-,r.