Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1862-11-01
- . . -
ENGLISH WOMEN,
BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.

bl NAlhANlEl HAWTHORNE.
| have heard a good deal of the tenacity
with which Engl ish ladies retain their per-
sonal beauty to a late period of lite but
Cnot to suggest that an American eye
needs use and cultivation before it can
quite appreciate the charm of English
besuty at any age,) it strikes me that an
Eusllsh lady Of fifty is apt to become
creature less refined and delicate, 50. far
as her physique goes, than anything that
We western people class under the name
OF woman. She has an awful pondercsity
of frame, not pulpy, Like the looscr deveI.
opment Of our few fat WON en-, but mas
s''e with solid beef and streaky talow;
50 that though struggling mantully
against the idea) you inevitably think of
her as made up Of steaks and sirloius.-
| When she walks, her advance is eephan-
tine. When she sits down, it is on a great
rsund space Of her Makers footstool,
where she looks as if nothing could ever
move her. She improves awe and respect
by the muchaess Of her personality, to
such degree that you probably credi, her
with far greater moral and intellectual
force than she can fairy claim. Her Wis.
age Is usually grim and stern, and always
| positively toroidding, Yet calmly terrible,
no. merely by its breath and weight OF
feature, but because it seems to express
50 much well founded self reliance, such
| acquaintance with the world, It's tolls,
! troubles and dangers, and such sturdy
capacity for tramplng down the foe
| Without anything positively salient, or
actively offensive, or indeed, unjustly for
mdable to her neishoors, she has the
ehec. OF seventy four gun ship in tilps
of peace for, while you assure yourself
that there is no real Danger, you cannot
! help thinking how tremendous would be
her onset, Ii pugnaeiously lncIlued, aud
how futile the effort to Iuh,ct any counter
injury. She certainly looks tenlotl gay
huudredtold better able to take care OF
herself than our slender framed and hag.
| gard wUmankiud; bot | have not found
reason to suppose ihat the English dow
aser OF htty has actually grea;er courage,
torttude, and strength OF character than
our women Of similar age, or even
tougher physical endurance than they
bn iS | lY IN,
/ society, and in the common routine OF
| social affairs, and would De powtriess and
sinid in any exceptional strait lha. nigh.
call for energy outride Of the convention
aiitiss amid which she has grown up
| oQ can meet this figure in the street,
| an. live, and even smlle a. lhe recoliec'
/ ton. Bat conceive Of her III u ballroom.
with the bare, brawuy arms that she iva.
rlably displays there. aud all the other
corresponding development, such MS is
beautiful IN the maiden bios ON, but u
spectacle to how ut in such all oycrUowu
cabbage rose as this. ......
/ Yet, somewhere in this enormous bulk
there must be hidden the modest, slender,
violet nature OF girl, whom an alien
ass OF eagthliness has uukindly over
crown; for an English maiden in her
teeps, though very seldom 50 pretty as our
own damselS, tu Say the tluih, CERTAIN
charm ot hali-bQssom, and dehcately
folded leaves, aud tender womauhooi
shiei9ed BY maiden]y reserves, wih wht@h
somehow. or other, our American girls
often fail 10 ad9 9rn themselves curing an
appreclab.e moment. It's a pity that tie
English violet should grow into such an
ouattregeoqsly deyeioped peonys as have
attempte4 tQ descfi ibe. ! wonder whether
a rhiddleaged husband ought TO be consid-
cred as legally married to all accretions
that have overgrown tie sicudbrness Of
his bride, since he leo heriiio the altar,
and which make her SO much mere than
ho bargained for Is it net sountier
view OF the case, That che matrimonial
bond cannot DE held to inciude tho three.
when the ceremony was performed And
as ~ matter Of conscience and good NOR.
ais, ought not an English married pair to
insist upon tho celebration Of Silver
Wedding at the end Of twenty 1--WE years
in order TO ega!ize aud uuaaly appro-
pirate that corporeal growth OF which
] both parties have individually come into
/ possesson since tley were pronounced
tbne flesh ...., .,.....-...