The Worthington advance., 1876-07-13
WOMEN: IN EUROPE.

A. pure as Of old for q Thousand Years!
WOMEN: IN EUROPE.
American Girls Cannot Act in the World as
They DO at Home.
Jane Swisshclm's Letter from Germany.
had thought seriously of sending
two young ladies here alone, cOnsign.
ed to the care of friends, that they
might study music and German and,
when we came, found that those
friends had been shuddering at the
prospect of the charge. One gray.
haired gentleman, who has spent years
in Germany with his wife; who speaks
the language, and moves freely in the
highest circles, with unusual 0ppor.
tunities for observation, said to me,
bringing his hand down on the table
before him until it rang, 81 tell you,
I was glad when l heard you were
coming yourself. I never hear of an
American girl coming to Europe alone,
but shudder. They have no business
here, and do not dream of the insults
to which they are sure to be subjected.
It makes my blood boil when l think
of it. America is the only country in
the world where women are treated
with respect. A man meets one of our
girls on the street here, and looks at
her. She does not understand, thinks
he is admiring her, and bushes or
looked. He thinks she is ready for
tiiration, follows her, and, by George
proceeds to extremities Then she
does not find protector in any man
she happens to meet, as she would at
home. and may take care of herself as
best she can. tell you, it would have
been good deal better for some of
them if they had never seen Europe.' -
My attention had been called to the
subject on the first evening of our ar
rival, and could understand his earn.
estness; but have given the question
my careful consideration, and think he
overestimates the danger. There were
three young ladies with me from Lon
don and l noticed that, after we got
out of England, the men along the
road seemed to be troubled with the
stares; but no one made himself
specially obnoxious until we arrived at
the Leipzig Hotel. The train reached
the station at $3.50 p. M, and it was
10 by the time we had seen our rooms
and got down into the coffee-room for
supper. There were six or eight men
ut the different tables, two and two,
eating or drinking; and all but one
suspended motion to stare, and stared
as if we had been mcnagerie brought
in for exhibition.
l felt instantly that we had found
something new under the sun, and
took a seat next the wall, as I could
best face such folks. We wero all
hungry and tired. I thought these
critical Observers would soon see that
we came there to eat, and, for some
time, took no notice Of them; but
most of them kept up their stare, and,
when our meal was about half over,
one middle-aged man, who, I after
wards learned, was a merchant,-a
man ''of property and standing,''-
nudged his companion across the ia.
BILE, turned sQuarely, planted his el-
bows on the arm of his chair. his chin
in his hands, and made his best effort
in the most insulting stare it was pos
sible for human face to get up,-di-
recting it particularly to the lady who
sat with her profile toward him. 1
dropped hand on each side of my
plate, holding my knife and fork points
upward, fixed my eyes on his and star
ed until attracted his attention. I
knew that every man in the room was
looking on to see what would come of
it; and he and I had one good, long,
dead.leavel stare. Iwould have liked
to have thrown our decanter of water
at his head, but did not move It mus.
Gle; and there we sat, and stared into
each others eyes, until the spirits
which looked out of his owned their
master and Succumbed. I never saw
man look more like whipped span.
iel than he did while we remained in
the room. He turned to the table and
tried to go on with his coffee, but it
seemed to stick in his throat. He
turned his back toward us, and seemed
really at a loss for occupation while
waiting for us to leave,-and was in
no hurry. The amusing part was that
the girls he intended to insult did not
know anything about it, and wondered
what I was staring at.
We met, that man several times af.
terward at the table d'hote, when the
other men present stopped eating, &C.
cording to the custom of the country,
to turn around as we entered and left
the room, to stare and comment; but
that particular one never saw us af.
ter that first evening; and we ceased
to be flattered by such marked atten.
tions by others; when we found them
indiscriminately accorded to any wo
man not positively hideous, who ap
peared at the public table or coffee
room.
For some days I wasted a good deal
of Indignation on the animals, but
soon concluded that, if they were as
disaSreeable as pigs, they were quite
as harmless, aud made good specimens
in natural.hlstory collection