The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-05-23
Bayard Taylorss Opinion Of Feminine
Virtue In the Frigid Zone.


Virtue In the Friaid Zone.
Bayard Taylor, writing from Juoxenei, in
in the Frigid Zone, on the 9th of January
tells Of nurse named Frederika, who at
tended to his case when suffering the horrors
Of tooth ache, and makes some remarks on
womankind in general in the paragraphs
annexed: atfss
I" This good-heaIted eirl was eenrine
specimen of the Northern Swedish femalc.
Of medium heighth, plump but not stout,
with rather slender waist and expansive
hips, and foot which stepped firmly and
nimbly at the same time, she was as cheer
lul body as any one could wish to see.
Her hair was Of that silky blond SO common
in Sweden; her ewes clear, pale blue, her
nose straight and well formed, her cheeks Of
the delicate pink Of wild rose leaf, and her
teeth SO white. regular and perfect, that atn
sure they would make her fortune in Amer
lea. Always cheerful kind and active, she
lad nevertheless, a hard LIE of it. She was
alike cook, chambermaid and hoetler, and
he'd cross mistress to boot. She made
our fires in the morning darkness, and
brought us our early coffee while we vet lay
m our beds, in accordance with the luxuri-
| GUS habits of the Arctic Zone. Then, until
the last drunken guest was silent. toward
midnight, there was no respite from labor
although suffering from distressing cough,
she had the outdoor as we'll as the indoor
duties to discharge, and we saw her in
sheepskin jacket Harvesting horses, in
temperature OF thirty degrees below zero.
The reward of such service was probably
about eight dollrrs year. When on leaving.
| gave her about as much as one of our hotel
servants would expect for answering a cues
lion, the poor girl was overwhelmed With
gratitude, and even the stern landlady was
80 impressed with my generosity that she
insisted on lending us a Sleeps in for Our
feet, saying we were good men,"
There is something exceedingly primitive
and unsophisticated In the manners Of these
Northern people, straight forward honesty
which takes the honesty of others for grant
ed-a latent kindness and goodwill which
may at first be overlooked, because it isnot
demonstrative, and q total Inconsistencies
of what is called, in highly cultivated circles.
"propriety." The very freedom of manners
which, in some countries, might denote lax
ity morals, is here the evident stamp of their
purity. The thought has Often required to
mc--which is the most truly pure and yir-
ginal nature, the fastidious American girl,
who bushes at the sight of a pair OF boots
outside gentleman's bed room door, and
who requires that certain unofending parts
of the body and articles of clothing should
be designated by delcately circumlocution
terms, or the siInple-mindedS Swedish woman,
who comes into our bed room with coffee,
and makes our fires while we get upand dress
coming and going during all the various sta
ges of the toilet, with the frankest uncon-
sciousress of improperly? This is modesty
in its healthy and natural development, not
in those morbid forms which suggest an i'm
aginat'on ever on the alert for prurient i'm
ages. Nothing has confirmed my impression
Of the virtue Of Northern Sweden more than
this fact, and l have rarely ielt more res
pect for woman or more faith in the inherent
purity of her nature. -f r, .,.. .s-