THE UNDERBRED GIRL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 26, 1 February 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE UNDERBRED GIRL.

How She Dresses, Her Behaviour and Kkr Conversation.

There are some things that stamp the underbred girl like a sign-manual. She giggles, for instance, stuffs her handkerchief into her mouth and wears her gloves with, one fchumb out and bare. She is usually dressed as nearly in the height of fashion as her knowledge and circumstances permit, even if her • things' are pinned, together—a pin always answering iov a stitch with her. in the street' she is alp/ays more or less conscious of her clothes," throws about side glances that, however innocent, expose her to misconception, and receives amiable glances that would be insulting if she knew enough to be insulted instead of flattered by them,

In the house she sits with her feet pushed out or her knees crossed, with one foot high in the air ; she has a finger in her mouth, or thrusts her tongue into tbo side of it; she bitea her nails, scratches her face or keeps her hands at work on her lips or chin or e}'es. Whe is rather fond of perfumes, wafts of them following her as the moves, with the suggestion of burned sugar ttiat belongs to the cheap kind she is usually obliged to content herself with ; she wears cotton lace and all sorts of shams in jewellery and adornment ; and so long as her exterior satisfies her, her unseen underclothing is of no consequence. In her conversation, too, she affects the knowledge of the world which expresses itself in slang, and not a word escapes her lips that is not savoured with the spice of the misuse of English. She may be, with all this, the soul of kindness, warmheartedness, and even of good principle in general, but she is an exceedingly uncomfortable, mortifying and distasteful person to be thrown with to any extent in daily life.