The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-05-11
American Women 10 Ore 90 ers,

Mrs. Scott-Siddons is quoted as having
said: "An American servant will tie on hei
veil in natty, graceful way that an English
duchess knows nothing about" Mrs Sid
dons will not be charged with an ver-strain-
ed regard for the Yankees, or a wish to favor
them at the expense of her own countrywo
men. In thus placing the servant and the Ouch
ess in contrast she was simply emphasizing a
truism which was less fact at the time than il
is at the present hour. For among all civiliz-
ed people the English women are the most ill.,
dressed, and seem to lack the natural gifts,
self-reliance and ability Of choice and selec-
ton which are the Unborn attributes of Amer
lean women. An English nursery set off against
a nursery in this country may be taken as a
type in miniature of the taste in the dress and
all that the term involves of the differences
which characterize the women of the two ma
tons. In this country little girls find instant
satisfaction and congenil employment in ar.
ranging and adjoining their dolls apparel.
Left to Their own intuitions, and hampered by
little or no pupilage from their elders, it must
be owned that the taste and ingenuity which
they display are often simply wonderful. An
English lady, who passed thirty years of her
life in her native land, and who has lived in
this city half that time once said: The
homes Of American girls. so far as am famil-
lar with them, are schools of art in dress adorn-
ment and whether their taste and skill are nat
ural gifts, or acquired by observation, do not
pretend to say, but there is nothing to COM
pare with it in our homes inEngland." Consis-
tent with this admission is the almost universal
tone Of the English press and ofmost travellers
who visit our shores from other lands. That
English women study comfort, and provide
themselves with rich fabrics and costly adorn-
ment in dress is past dispute. A dowager or
duchess arrayed in gorgeous silk, satin, or vel
vet attire with the complement of green gloves
and yellow ribbons, and shod with broad
heavy loose-6tting boots, is hardly pleasant,
though it is . constantly recurring, picture of,
taste in dress among the wealthy classes in
English life. Ifthe wearer has any idea of the
contrast Of colors, any perception of the shock
ing incongruities which the tout ensemble ofhe
costume presents to cultivated eye, nothing
is seen OF it IN the ease and dissatisfaction Of
her demeanor. While the fact remains that
American women are the best dressed ladies in
the world, it is also to be remembered that
while they, with the vast majority of their
sex, Yield to the current of prevalent fashion, it
is not blind nor slavish submission; they think
for themselves, and stoutly, on occasion, as
sert their own individuality, and refuse to sue
cumb to the dictation Of fashion, modiste or
millner. Their natural or cultivated good
taste, which includes the lines of beauty, which
Mr.. Beecher made himself merry over recent
ly, is generally all-suf6cient in doubt and emer-
gency. Their "glory" is to dress tastefully
and becomingly. Their ''hallelujah"i is the &C
claim of successfully contaminated purpose
- N. Y. Evening Post.