Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1874-07-10
American Girls in Paris.

girls as a sad aud onerous restraint whel
first they arrive on these shores. Accus
toned to traverse the principal streets o
! any one of our great cities, alone an,
unmolested, the young new conner chafe
sorely against the regulation that pro
hiblts her from even running out alon,
for few squares to make a purchase o.
pay call. But if, 10 her temerty ant
her remembrance of the universal sane
tity of modest womanhood in our owr
more favored land, she ventures to try
the experiment, she will probably be
called upon to repent of her boldness by
such insolent treatment and such imper.
tinence as an American man would
scarcely inflict upon the vilest of lost
women. Especially do recollect case
where young girl was requested by her
mother to GO about half block, on the
Rue Castiglione, while her mother wait.
ed In her carriage at the corner. Hard
ly had she got three yards from the car
riage when Frenchman threw his arms
around her waist and attempted to kiss
her. The coachman sprang from his
horse to come to the rescue, but the
Partisan, seeing that the young lady was
not wholly unprotected, released her,
aud quietly walked away, amid the
laughter of the passers-by. who evident
ly thought their compatriot had done a
very brilliant thing. On another occa-
sion young lady attempted to pass from
shop next door to the hotel where she
was staying to the hotel itself, and on
her way was accosted by man who
seized hold of her arm, making. as
he did so, some coarse remark about its
rounded beauty. She broke from him
and fled into the hotel, where she was of
course in safety; bnt one can well i'm.
agine her agitation and indignation, and
the shock which her nerves must have
sustained in the endurance of SO vile an
insult. Both of these incidents took
place in the middle of the day, and in
one of the most fashionable and best
frequented quarters of Paris.
IL is true that young American ladies
are not always as careful in their dress
and department in the streets as the strict
laws of Partisan etiquette demand. OIL
course that fact does not the rude
ness OF the men of this politest nation
ON the face of the globe" but it serves
in some instances to explain it. There
are many parts of the United States, for
instance, and say it with great regret,
where rouge and pearl-powder form com.
ponent portions of the toilet of even
very young girls, and the appearance Of
some of these fair damsels, pretty as
they almost invariably are, dressed in
the extreme of fashion, and with black |
lace wells drawn over the cheeks and
brow, whose tints are so palpably arti-
fetal, is not calculated to repel the noe
turnalimpertinenceof Partisan fa,,eur. |
AT all events, Paris is far from being a |
favorite sojourn with our young girls.
They miss the freedom, the enjoyment,
the unrestricted intercourse of their
home life, and, if they are past the
schoolroom period, and go into society,
they find their movements burdened with
still more ouerous restrictions, while they
themselves are nobodies, mere make
weights in the social scale. At home
they are queens-they rule society,
(most unfortunate for society, it must be
said,) whils here society rules them, and
that with rod of iron, permitting none
Of the walks and talks and SLY fiirtations
which fill up so agreeably the intervals
between the dances at an American ball.
l was much amused lately by hearing
the experience of young New York
lady, who was taken TO the last ball Civ
en- at the Elysee by an elderly French
Iady-her own usual ehaperon, her aunt
being too sick to 60. She found that.
when French gentleman wished to
lance with her, he first asked permis.
sion of her chaperon, who then asked the
young lady's permission for the introduc-
ton to take place the gentleman was
hen formally presented, the dance took
place, and her partner Immediately after
her back to her guardian.
bowed, and disappeared. An American
the son of an old friend of
The young lady's father, wished to be pre-
'ented to her. but the chaperon refused
permission for the introduction to take
place on the ground that she was her
self not personally acquainted with the
young man. Finally, a young Ameri-
can that was well-known to the young
ady obtained the requisite authorization
% dance with her, and, after the dance,
ne proposed taking her into some of the
smaller rooms to show her the decora.
ions. Away they went, in happy un-
that they were doing any