How To Tell A Lady

Two women shall get into a omnibus, and, though, we never saw one of them before, we shall select you the true lady. She does not litter when a gentleman handing up her fare, knocks off his hat, or pitches it awry over his nose; nor does she receive her change after this (to him) inconvenient act of gallantry, in grim silence. She wears no flowered brocade to be trodden under foot, nor ball room jewelry, nor rose tinted gloves; but the lace frill round her face is scrupulously fresh, and the strings under her chin have evidently been handled only by dainty fingers. She makes no parade of a watch, if she wears one; nor does she draw off her dark, neatly fitted glove to display ostentatious rings. Still we notice nestling in the straw beneath us, such a trim little boot, not paper soled, but of anti consumption thickness; the bonnet upon her head is of plain straw simply trimmed, for your true lady never wears a “dress hat” in an omnibus. She is quite as civil to the poorest as to the richest person who sits beside her, is equally regardful of their rights. If she attracts attention, it is by the unconscious grace of her person and manner, not by the ostentatiousness of her dress. We are quite sorry when she pulls the strap and disappears. If we were a bachelor we should go home to our solitary den, with the resolution to be come a better and a – married man.

{Galena Gazette

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, July 9, 1864