Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-11
AMERICAN WOMEy.

1oeNrress the precise nature OF tho difference
between American and English ladies is en-
ueme1y hard-it Is something too subtitle 60 be
represented by any combination Of epithets
+ fou are sensible OF sort Of charm which is
presenthere; you do not know which is morej 70
be desired, but you doubt the possibility of com
bining them American girls are certainly mo, e
independent than ours are; more accustomed 10
take care Of themselves, think for themselves
decide for themselves; not less really domestic in
their hearts but less tied TO their mothers apron
strings; franker in their speech, and more ready
to tell You about themselves, their circum-
stances, their families. There is a kind of
French nerve and force about them, but there is
also . Teutonic uuthfulness Then there is q
as a seif-possession OF manner, which
puts stranger at his ease from the first
Where an English girl throws the weight Of the
t.Iss on ner partner AN Amesicsn glrl
in . genial fashion, and expresses her opinion
freely on all the topics that turn up. English
ladies of the old school would be apt to disap-
prove OF her ON slight acquaintance. But, when
they come to know her better, they would per
ceive that she is, I'm essential matters, decorous
as wen as refined. American ladies who have
often be heard to say that they are astonished at
the quantity OF scandal they hear talked there
and II is certainly true thatone hears very little
Chicago there are, Of course, fast sets, just As
there are in London and Liverpool. But in
point of purity and real moral elevation the best
any rate equal to that Of our own upper classes;
while the American middle class is Certainly
more cultivated, more interested in the ssthings
OF the mind, y than the commercial class in Eng
Looking at the matter simply as a question of
human enjoyment, the success Of the American
system may be pronounced complete. IL makes
staid middle-aged man long to have his youth
to live over again, to see the bright, cheery,
hearty, simple ways of the young people whom
ne meets suaying on the sands at Newport, or
llvlr .IaS
Mountains, safe in their own innocence meeting
one another on the natural footing of human
creatures, without affectations of fnnuendo on
overtuTes and % In @sy
be, but 1t is all as the attorneys say, without
prejudice" Such pleasure In the society Of
ones own age, which no moralist can deny to be
one of the most legitimate sources of enjoyment,
Is in England good deal cramped by the re-
strictiOns which custom has imposed. and good
deal clouded by the idea, 50 often present to the
inquiring into what the jargon Of society calls
g Intentions A man may walk with SO
much wariness or so much honest sim
pncty 1880 as 20 avoid tins last horror; but
which he shows in lady, or which a lady
shows in him Though in this latter case the
Inference is really rather the other way), from
ances, and, however heartily he may despise it
for himself, he feels it acutely for the other
party, whom it may injure in more ways than
one. Nothing is cOmmoner than for the friend
ship of two peoples simple and natural frieni-
ship, which gives them pleasure while it lasts,
and might possibly ripen into something better
stil-to be interrupted by the idle gossip of out
siders, which, coming to their ears, causes one
or both to break off the intimacy, lest any mis-
understanding should arise. 1t may be foolish
Of them-very likely it is, for gossip is one Of
those things which people should learn to de-
spise-but there is nothing a sensitive mind
breads more than the imputation Of exposing
another person to blame and misconstrnction,
still more Of wounding her feelings. Now, in
America, people do not talk in this fashion
need regard them. Everything passes as a mat
ter of course under the blessed name Of friend
ship-"On Some PecGliarifies Of iyoeiety iR Ame-
ric0 :" IN C0rnhiH re-.