Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1914 — Tight Skirts Embolden Women to Win Fight With Rat. [ARTICLE]

Tight Skirts Embolden Women to Win Fight With Rat.

Tight skirts are not without advantage. No one ever heard of a woman with the old fashioned wide skirts encircling her ankles doing anything but climbing on a chair or a table and howling like a frightened child when a rat or a mouse made its appearance, but at a recent meeting of the Pythian Sisters in Rensselaer a rat ran across the floor. One woman shut the door which was the only exit for the rodent and armed with the cross sabres from the altar and with brooms and various articles the women temporarily assailed the daring visitor. He ran beneath one of the platforms and this was raised and he was chased out and one of the sabre wielders cut off his tail With a vicious swing that would have done credit to a gladiator. With daring unknown to modern womanhood one of the sisters finally jumped with both feet on the rat and wath a gasp of anguish, which seemed to express a conviction, tempered with remorse, that the day had arrived when rats no longer held the scepter of power over women, breathed its last. Two or three women, through the force of custom prevailing for many years, jumped upon tables and chairs and gave full vent to their lungs, forgetting the security of the tight skirts. An epoch in the world’s history was made in the successful encounter, and woman, proud woman, has come forth with another proof of her qualifications for equal suffrage.