Old Stories - "A Young Girl's Muscle"

I've noticed quite a few interesting snippets in old newspapers as I read through them. Here's one that caught my eye, initially because the protagonist bears the same name as an ancestor (the age is off, though; she would have been 15 at the time of this piece). As I read through it, I knew I wanted to conserve it.

A Young Lady's Muscle

She Knocks A Man Down For Wanting A Kiss

Miss Minnie Ratz, while walking in the suburbs of Pottsville a few evenings ago, was followed for some distance by a middle aged man much to her annoyance. Miss Ratz endured the fellow's impertinence as long as her indignation would allow and then she turned towards him and asked what he wanted. He replied that he was struck with her beauty and would give the world if it was his for a single kiss. She replied that such a little favor as that was hardly worth paying for after walking so far after it and bade him come and get it, without money and without price. He advanced to take the coveted prize.

Now, Miss Ratz is a young lady about 22 years of age and is not only a girl of prepossessing appearance, but one of extraordinary strength. She is as brave, too, as she is strong. As the man approached her she squared off and gave him a regular Sullivan blow between the eyes, knocking him down. She then hurriedly picked up a stick and commenced operations on his head and before the fellow could recover himself the claret was flowing pretty freely from his nose and his head was in anything but a lovely condition. When the importunate suitor got up he wanted for no explanation but took to his heels at once. The man was an entire stranger to the girl.

-- Originally published in The Agitator: Wellsboro, PA., Tuesday, July 7, 1885, Page 7

Gwraig said it best: "Good for her."

Note: none of the punctuation survived into the graphic I was reading. Whether this was the effect of time or scanning, or both, I don't know. In any case, it was gone, so I made my best guess as to the intended punctuation. There may have been an m-dash or two in there, especially right before "without money", but I chose to use a comma instead.

[Originally posted on my personal blog]