THE MATRON'S HISS.
(An Apologue with an Application.)
[A lady-bicyclist the other day, riding in "rational dress," was roundly hissed by an elderly Mrs. Grundy, standing by. The wheel-woman is said to have retorted, "Are you women who thus hiss me? When you bathe, you wear a special costume, which you deem suitable. When I ride, I do the same. Where's the difference?">[
"But," said the Proud Briton to the Perfect Stranger, "in addition to our armies and fleets, our religions and our laws, our parsons and our policemen, we have one Protective Power, moral palladium and social ægis in one, whose value outweighs that of all others."
The Perfect Stranger looked surprised.
"And what," said he, "is that?"
"We call it the 'Matron's Hiss,'" replied the Proud Briton, with enigmatical complacency. "Anything contra bonos mores, bad form, improper, new-fangled, unconventional, unhealthy, unwholesome, immodest, vulgar, vicious, venal, on to summarise still further, anything that is either new or naughty, or both, is immediately 'put down' by the 'Matron's Hiss.'"
Quoth the Perfect Stranger, "I should like to observe it in operation."