A woman of Bay City, Michigan, disguised herself as a man and clerked
in a store for a year, and then applied for membership in the Knights of
Pythias and was initiated. During the work of the third degree her sex
was discovered. It seems that in the third degree they have an India
rubber rat and a celluloid snake, which run by clockwork inside, and
which were very natural indeed. The idea is to let them run at the
candidate for initiation to see if he will flinch. When the snake ran at
the girl she kept her nerve all right, but when the rat tried to run
up her trousers leg she grabbed her imaginary skirts in both hands and
jumped onto a refrigerator that was standing near, (which is used in
the work of the fourth degree) and screamed bloody murder. The girl is
a member of the order, however, and there is no help for it. This affair
may open the eyes of members of secret societies and cause them to
investigate. One lodge here, we understand, takes precaution against the
admission of women by examining carefully the feet of applicants. If the
feet are cold enough to freeze ice cream the candidate is black-balled.