Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1889 — The Difference Dress Makes to a Girl. [ARTICLE]

The Difference Dress Makes to a Girl.

Minnie was IG. She wore girlish frocks reaching down to her ankles only, but to make up for the juvenile shortage of the skirts the bodices came always up to her chin and had sleeves to her wrists. Hcr hair hung in :: braid and she had the aspect of an immature .maiden. . Her manners . were.,.corres. io'.uliugly free and innoebnt. IShe liad a rather audacious cousin Jack who took all r.uinncr of liberties' with her, within ti.c bounds of purity. '1 hey •were-o ff 'lmttffi" fanri-ltar : t nd’~nff?ctioTrrrtp I with each other. One day Jack .called itt the house. On departing he tonic* JHinnie up in his arms, carried her to the front. liail.vay and kissed her good afternoon. There were several witnesses ami nan? of us thought anytiiing of tlr: little event. Nor did thegirl. She had her arm around Jack’s .neck, while ho ctfried” her. for fear of l.iiti!;;;. min wT<h no bhov, of cither liking or disliking- the mutua; hug. She Peitlier dodged noi- invited his kiss, but accepted it as beedi ‘ssl\»ws though it had been given by m-. Well, that same evening. Jack and Minnie, went with older member.s <)I the family to a ball. Minnie, for the. first time in her life, wore the long skirts of an adult. Besides, her hair vhis done "up in an jraposliig-- coiffure, her open corsage her fair.- taper arms werts; hare to the tops of her dimpled shoulders. I was with her in the parTEFSgZs ished by the transformarion. He had left her a child in the afternoon. He found her a young wonrm in the evening. Now, mark how maladroit am in is, and how, by impulse, a woman lives up to her clothes. It is this paint that J wish to impress on Brother Howells, of Harper’s Magazine, and Brother Abbot, of the Christian Union. Jack didn’t realize that the change of rai-. ment demanded a sim tltaneons and radical change in manners. He grabbed Minnie in h's arm-, gave, her a hag and kissed her. But did she r.rt'e-sly and coolly submit again? Not much. »She drew herself away with dignity. Her face fliishe 1 genuinely ami she looked like a queen sen tanking a traitor- to the block. • ‘lf you ever do such a thing as that again,” she said, “I shall forbid you the house.’’ “But but—now, ’ Jack' began to protest; “yon ncodn t be so b.iinptious. Minnie, just because yo 1 hoe -well -—’’and iiis eves dropy.e I from tho fresh disclosure of sno.ilders to tho new concealment of ankles—“just because you have straightened up through your clothes.” •■That's just it. Jac’;." and Minnjq.. sighed with regret at the necessary :u»sumptlon of dccori id if you’ try tq hug mo, i’ll scream for mamma.” Then she naively added: “But l_sup pose_l’ll bo wearing the bld Crocks once Id a while here at Exnc.’ 1 -(.in einuaid End’'irer.