noon
In order to understand the Tessie of today one would have to know the Tessie of six months ago -- Tessie the impudent , the life-loving . Tessie Golden could say things to the escapement-room foreman that anyone else would have been fired for . Her wide mouth was capable of glorious insolences . Whenever you heard shrieks of laughter from the girls ' washroom at noon you knew that Tessie was holding forth to an admiring group . She was a born mimic ; audacious , agile , and with the gift of burlesque . The autumn that Angie Hatton came home from Europe wearing the first tight skirt that Chippewa had ever seen , Tessie gave an imitation of that advanced young woman 's progress down Grand Avenue in this restricting garment . The thing was cruel in its fidelity , though containing just enough exaggeration to make it artistic .