Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1876 — The Te-hes. [ARTICLE]

The Te-hes.

A whiter in the Detroit Free Press says: Perhaps you don’t know them by that name; well, then, suggest a better. They are the salt of our society, in -one sense—girls of good minds, minds that will be good if they survive the giggling age, girls of good families, well dressed, polite and fine looking, but possessed of the Insane idea that they must laugh upon all occasions. whether there isanything to warrant it or not, else they are not jolly, gay girls and lively company. A bevy of them came into the Public Library the other day; one had just had an adventure which was to be recited; she dropped into a chair, bent over and held her sides and they all chorused in. They hadn’t heard it yet, but, of course, it would be awfttl. funny when it was told. She •was edming up K street when she stepped bn j a rotten plank—te, he, he—chorus, te, is, he, and down she went. Oh dear, te, he, he, and her foot got tangled —full chorus —te, he, he, he, and a man came along with a horrid check shirt on, he, be, he—big checks—perfectly horrid he, he, and helped her up, ha, he, he; then a waving of bodies back and forth and a grand te, he, ad libitum , all together. Now rdid not make this up, hot a bit of it. They were splendid girls—l speak sincerely—but what an exhibition! 1 saw an old grav-beard take a book he didn’t want and hurry away. Then another glri took it up and said her book was so comical she just howled over it—ha, he, he—they must all read it, they would laugh so, as if that was the chief end and aim of a girl’s existence. When a man is amused he laughs with gusto, and then straightens his face till next time, and it has some meaning, but the perpetual grin or giggle is detestable. At a lecture recently I saw six young ladies seemingly convulsed with laughter for five minutes or more at the accidental dropping of a paper of candies over the floor. I think I can go into a social parlor and select the groups of married ladies from those of the girls, not by their faces or their dress, but by the amount of giggling done; matrimony subdues the snicker. Now we are not an old maid with corkscrew curls and vinegar lips, and nose out of joint, and we do not speak for sulkiness ; but we leave it to the Free Frees or any other philosopher if there isn’t a call for reform in this branch of young lady behavior.