Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-04-22
FRENCH WOGEN.
Their Influence, and How ft Differs
from fiIat OF other women.
u. WHITMORE,
Publisher and Proprietor,


Their Influence, and How IL Differs
from tmAt OF other women.
In the other lands of Europe the
influence of women may be said, in
general terms, to present certain
determined but limited aspects; it
is calming, soothing, restraining,
and it is simultaneously duty-teach-
ing, enervating, purifying. But in
France it assumes, in a multitude
of cases, an additional character
istic of a totally different species.
1t is often all that it is elsewhere; f;
it is moGerating and softening, rec
tifying and redeeming; but it is
continually something else besides;
it is-visibly and nationally-stim.
ulating. There is perpetually, in
the leverage which Frenchwomen
exert around them, a manifest
ly instigating tendency, a
palpably enkindling force, quick
ening, impelling, infaming agency
Their action can be as tender, as
moderating as that of any women
on earth; but it can also assume,
with amazing ease, all the forms Of
incitation and arousing. Here lies
its great characteristic: 1t iS in the
examination of the results produced
by this marked form of work that
we discover the special national
effect of the influence exercised by
French women. In the other sle-
ments Of their empire they act
more or less, like other women; but
in this great line of action they are
themselves aloue; in this they ex-
pend power which no other
women of the world display To
see this power in its fullest efec-
tiveness, we must seek foI
it at either the top or al
the bottom Of society; it is III the
middle strata that it is especially
discoverable in the true tullness OF
its capacity. The women of the
lower sections possess no directing
energies of the sort which we ore
discussing here; and those Of the
highest rank are too utterly with
out class influence to be able to eX-
ercise national domination. 1t is
in the center that we find the real
acting women of France-the wo-
men Of energy, of number, and Of
Will. There we see at work a mass
Of organized pressure which stretch
es out to the corness of the land,
which grasps and urges on the en-
tire life of the people-which makes
itself felt in thought, in talk, and
in events. On the strange fact Of
the absence in French society
of any guidance from above, il
is, however, necessary to say
something more before proceeding
further. The difference between
the position and the ascendency OF
the high-born in England and in
France is so enormous, and it is es-
sential, in addressing English read
ers, to insist upon it with special
emphasis. We all know how i'm
mense is the force of that position
and that ascendency among our
selves; but in France no such force
exists at all A certain small part
of the beat noblesse there consti-
tutes a group apart-a group Of
which the members bear great
names, but which enjoys no pre-.
negatives, exercises no rights, Gp-
plies no teaching, awakes no praise,
provokes no sympathy. Thegroup
is rarely accessible to outsiders, ex-
cepting as mere acquaintance; il
purposely surrounds itself bys bar,
rier, within which it vegetables in
ancient prejudices, in self-esteem
and in horror of our time; it has
few contacts with the true life OF
France, with the movements Ol
opinion, with the realities of to-day
Ii offers to the generation no ac.
cepted model; it supplies no ad,
mired example; it serves in moth.
ing as a recognized gnide. There
is no national imitation OF it, nc
national employment for it. 1t ex-
lists as a force in its own eyes only
the country does not even regard il
as a representative social order, still
less as u valued national ipstru'