Smyrna times., 1872-10-16
The New York Woman.

What kind of being is the typical New
York Woman? Our neighbars across the
water evidently regard her as something very
different from the typical Englshwoman; and
they form their judgments not so much by
what they know of the New York Woman at
home, as by what they see of her abroad.
They lind her extravagant in her tastes some
thing more than self assured in her bearing,
loud" in her dress, and superficial in her
education and mplishments-ifshe has any.
Now we do not admit that a woman who can
be thus characterized is the type of New York |
womanhood The world does not hold better
women, or better educated women, or better !
hammered women, than are to be found in
great numbers in this much detained city; but
the Engllshman does not see them, for they
iealously guard their society when he comes
here, and when they travel they are unobtru-
sve and do not attract his attention The
| average travelling EngIishman in New York
knows just as little of the best society of New
York as the average travelling American does
OF the best society of London.
| Yet the Engllshman has an apology in what
he sees, and, perhaps in all that he sees, for
the severity OF his judgment There is type
of womanhoOd in New Eork-and it has, alas!
tar too many repreSentatives-Of which every
American, everywhere, has reason to be
ashamed. The same type can be found in all
the large cities of the country, but it exists in
its perfection here. 1t lives in hotels and
boarding houses; it travels, it haunts the
fashionable watering places; it is prominent at
the opera and the ball; in Short it is wherever
1t can show itself and its clothes. 1t reiOices
over notice of itself in the ECening Chatter
Lo.c, or the lPeekly 4Ndk amt Water, as among
the proudest and most grateful of its sOcia
achievements. Its grand first question is
"Wherewith all shall | be clothed p and when
that is answered as well as it can be- the next
. is: How and where can | show my clothes sc
! as to attract the most men, distress the great
est number of woman, and make the mos
stunning social sensationY' We have no fea
0 of exaggerating in this Characterization. W.
c have seen these women at home and away
f and their presumption, boldness, vanity, idle
is ness, display, and lack of all noble and woman
d ly aims are disgrace to the city which prOdu
g ces them ana the country after whose nam
l. they call themselves.
e OF course there is a sufficient cause for tn
N production OF this type of woman, and it is t
n be found in her circumstances and way of life
te 1t is prevalent among the nOureduc riches
ed among those OF humble beginnings and insult
y. cent breeding and education. 1t is fostere
Ill in boarding houses and hotes-those hotbed
st of jealousy and personal and social rivalry an
y. almless idlenesS. Ihe woman who finds he
II. self housed and clothed and fed and petted an
IN furnished with money for artificial as well
SO real wants, without the lifting of finger
so the burden OF care, and without the cultu
at of head or heart that leads her to seek for Il
OF higher satisfactiOns of wOmanhOod, becomes
ID the most natural way precisely what we ha
described. 1t would be unnatural for her
become anything else. The simple truth
ty that unless women have a routine of duty tn
all diverts their thoughts from themselves, al
ne gives them something to think Of besides DIRE
pie and the exhibition of it, they degenerate. T
ste only cure for this that we know of is univer
The house keeping. There is no man who c
it'll afford to pay fair price for board, who cant
OF afford to keep house; and house keepn
,rs, though it be never so humble, is the III
the natural and the healthiest office to viii
pay woman is ever called. There is no c
thing that would do so much to elev
-. the type of New York womanhood as a u
;'a e versql secession from boarding house
% VI hotel life, and a universal entrance VI
caa o, separate homes. Such step would incre
~ e" the stock of happiness, improve health of b,
| tt ol and health of mind, and raise at once
Tue Tue standard of morals and manners
'Aln The devil always finds work for idle hand
do, whether the hands belong to men or WON
oeI but American men are not apt to be idle. II
. . VI arc absorbed in work from early until late,
"a ~ leave their idle wives coOped up in roe
Dui W that cost them no care, to get rid of
ne., lingering time as they can. Is it kind to
We this, or is it cruel? If it is kind in its mott
py it is cruel in in its results The whole Sys
DC of boarding house and hotel lie is vici
e Is To live in public, to be on dress parade e,
Tue day. to be always part and parcel of a GOSSIP
enI I.. multitude, to live aimlessly year after y
ony with thoughts concentrated upon one s pei
'slon and ones selfish delights, to be perpetu
H. GS. without a routine of healthy duty, is to
the t;on of aII III = n,o;robIa onS IoUs6i
life, ,romanbooa ,,Om VI M l. : 30 maEo hr ,hs ,
i ior natural process, that gay, gaudy, loud, fri
:. : Gus, pretentious, vain, intriguing, unsatis
rs III and unhappy creature which the English
anu knows as 1.-The New York Woman
{ he w, NJ