Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-07-10
AMERICAN GIRLS.

. ! L.
A writer in Patadm's Magazine fol
June AYERS that for regularity of outline
anddelicacy and freshness Of tint, III,
faces of American girls, arc unsurpassed
But they dress too "lOudly"-too much
in color, too positive and decided, anC
are in this respect far behind the French
women, though they are yet ia advance
of all Others, English, German, or ltali-
an. And it is disappointment TO heal
them speak. What they say is, perhaps,
well enough, but the tone and mode in
which they say it are not well enough.
Their voices are commonly too thin and
shrill, and when lhey are not, are pItchedi in
too high key. Sometimes they come
through the nose good deal more than
Is desirable. They have a metallic ring,
or at leasi reedy quality, like the Vo.r
hamand of the organs, and not that soft,
low, and gentle quality which Shakespeare
proclaimed SO "exeellent in woman. y
An Englishman who has been disenchant-
ed by American girls, especially those to
be found in the large cities, prints in
Putnam fer July his opinions of them as
follows:
l daily see girls, in their teens, with all
the airs and much of the way of thinking
of old women of the wOrld-confident,
vain, self-indulgent, and withal 6JaSe.
True, the exceptions are charming. I
find them chiefly among families in mod
crate circumstances, but of good connec-
ton, wherein the daughters have been
reared in active, wholesome and RESPONSE
bic duties-had, in Short to contribute
directly or Indirectly to their own support
With intellectual tastes and religious ed l
ucation, this discipline in land where
the sex is held in respect-these yes=s
women are noble, pure, brave and con-
scientious, as well rs aspiring and intel
ligent. I have seen many such in the
normal schools, engaged in clerical work
in the departments at Washington,
and by the fresides of the inland
towns, or in the most thoroughly
respectable and least fashionable
households of this metropolis. But one
is disenchanted, not only of his ideal of
womanhood, but of the most homeiy and
humble domestic illusions, by the sight of
crowds of ggily-tlressed females, with
huge greasy masses of hair On the back
of their heads, and no modest shield to
their brazen brows, dragging their long
siIken trains through the dirt of Broad
way, or crushing like half inflated bal
looms, their ample skirts through deusely
packed omnibus. The triumph of ex-
travagant luxury may be seen, at certain
seasons, at what looks like apalace, ahuge,
lofty, marble building, In the principal
thoroughfsTe of this city; it is not aroyal
residence, nor gallery of art, nor a.
college, it is drygoOds shop.
Imagine a thousand women there
convened, an army of clerks show
ing patterns, measuring off goods, or.
rushing to and fro with change and
orders. Every one of these females is
dressed in silk; at least one half, if at
tired according to their means and station,
would wear calico or homespun; perhaps
sn eighth out of the whole number of
husbands to these shopping wives are
either bankrupt or at work in Wall street,
with fear and trembling, risking their all
to supply the enormous current expenses
of their families, whereof half relate to
female dress. Carry the inference from
these facts little further; of course, the
daughters marry for an establishment,
look abroad FOR enjoyment; by-and-by go
to Europe, ostensibly to educate their
children Qeaving papa to his club and
counting -room), but really to gossip at
Dresden, flirt at Rome, or shop in Paris.