In response to a request from W.T. Vankirk, George W. Peck presented the
Rock County Agricultural Society with a sewing machine, to be given to the
"boss combination girl" of Rock County. With the machine he sent the
following letter, which explains his meaning of a "combination girl,"
etc.:
MILWAUKEE, June 7, 1881.
W.T. VANKIRK--_Dear Sir:_ Your letter, in reference to giving some kind of
a premium to somebody, at your County Fair, is received, and I have been
thinking it over. I have brought my massive intellect to bear upon the
subject, with the follow result:
I ship you to-day, by express, a sewing machine, complete, with cover,
drop leaf, hemmer, tucker, feller, drawers, and everything that a girl
wants, except corsets and tall stockings. Now, I want you to give that to
the best "combination girl" in Rock County, with the compliments of the
_Sun_.
What I mean by a "combination," is one that in the opinion of your
Committee has all the modern improvements, and a few of the old-fashioned
faults, such as health, etc. She must be good-looking, that is not too
handsome, but just handsome enough. You don't want to give this machine to
any female statue, or parlor ornament, who don't know how to play a tune
on it, or who is as cold as a refrigerator car, and has no heart concealed
about her person. Our girl, that is, our "Fair Girl," that takes this
machine, must be "the boss." She must be jolly and good-natured, such a
girl as would make the young man that married her think that Rock County
was the next door to heaven, anyway. She must be so healthy that nature's
roses will discount any preparation ever made by man, and so well-formed
that nothing artificial is needed to--well, Van, you know what I mean.
You want to pick out a thoroughbred, that is, all wool, a yard
wide--that is, understand me, I don't want the girl to be a yard wide, but
just right. Your Committee don't want to get "mashed" on some ethereal
creature whose belt is not big enough for a dog collar. This premium girl
wants to be able to do a day's work, if necessary, and one there is no
danger of breaking in two if her intended should hug her.
[Illustration: I WANT TO BE AN ANGEL.]
After your Committee have got their eyes on a few girls that they think
will fill the bill, then they want to find out what kind of girls they are
around their home. Find if they honor their fathers and their mothers, and
are helpful, and care as much for the happiness of those around them as
they do for their own. If you find one who is handsome as Venus--I don't
know Venus, but I have heard that she takes the cake--I say, if you find
one that is perfect in everything, but shirks her duties at home, and
plays, "I Want to Be an Angel," on the piano, while her mother is mending
her stockings, or ironing her picnic skirts, then let her go ahead and be
an angel as quick as she wants to, but don't give her the
machine. You catch the idea?
Find a girl who has the elements of a noble woman; one whose heart is so
large that she has to wear a little larger corset than some, but one who
will make her home happy, and who is a friend to all; one who would walk
further to do a good deed, and relieve suffering, than she would to
patronize an ice cream saloon; one who would keep her mouth shut a month
before she would say an unkind word, or cause a pang to another. Let your
Committee settle on such a girl, and she is as welcome to that machine as
possible.
Now, Van, you ought to have a Committee appointed at once, and no one
should know who the Committee is. They should keep their eyes open from
now till the time of the Fair, and they should compare notes once in a
while. You have got some splendid judges of girls there in Janesville, but
you better appoint married men. They are usually more unbiased. They
should not let any girl know that she is suspected of being the premium
girl, until the judgment is rendered, so no one will be embarrassed by
feeling that she is competing for a prize.
Now, Boss, I leave the constitution and the girls in your hands; and if
this premium is the means of creating any additional interest in your
Fair, and making people feel good natured and jolly, I shall be amply
repaid.