New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-15
IN ENGLISH GIRL OF THE PERIOD.
From a Letter 10 The San Francisco Aroona

From a Letter 10 The San Francisco Argondm
People do say it is this constant companioDshiD
with men, and mixing with them IN their held
sports that give the fashionable English girl of the
day all her love tor "mannIsh ways, ana make
her the slangY, horsy, rapid creature we so often
ind her. Perhaps people ore right Yet what real
harm. after all if girls do wear stand-up collars and
scarf ms, and hunt fish, shoot play billiards, aud
smoke None. certainly. IL their hearts are all
right. Besides. look at The models they have. The
Empress of Austria seems only happy in the saddle,
and no less personages thaa the Prlncesses Louise
ana Beatrice smoke cigarettes. Such actions are,
OF course, likely to shock the sensibilltes not
alone CT our gGandmothers, but of q certain type OF
young lady yersatlonal powers are limited
to undeTtoned replies OF "yes" and mo- and
whose proper bringing up is exhibited III pain
fully studOus avoidance of either showing her ieet
separating her knees while sitting down. But q
woman nowadays does not care to please her own
much the other, and 1t is only too clear
which sort of young lady is he most attractlVe to
men. and which Kind OF girl gets the dances at
halls and the most attention everywhere. Men arc
pretty good judges OF women, anu II they dont
object, aud are willing to make their wives out OF
girls who know more of hOrae-tesh than they TO
of botany, and prefer a Whit of tobacco smoke TO
ylang lang or Atkinsons white rose. 1t Is their
own look out, ana no one elses business. s.
know young lady who lives down in one OF the
southern counties. She is OF the prcttlest girls
in England has five thousand year III her own
right, Is just hreeand twenty, and the daughter Oh
a peer whose pedigree goes back to the Conquest
and whose country house is the show-pace OF the
county. To look at her you would think her the
quetest of the quiet, and that she hadn't an IDEA
beyond crochet and weak tea. But she hunts, has
her own stable keeps four hunters, now and then
rides a steepechase. buys and sells her own horses
without help from any one has her own wine mer-
chant, wine-cear. and tObacc0nist; fehces, boxes,
skates, and rows has her boudOir decorated with
fOIls gloves, whips, hUrseshOes, and hunting tro-
phes smokes cigarettes during The day and cigars
after dinner is capital judge OF caret and port,
and can tell Amontillado from Narsala with her
eyes shut is hrst-rae shot with shotgun or rock
rifle; draws her own charges, and pays her own
bills and last, though not least. has delightful
way Of letting you see her foot and ankle wnen she
puts one leg over the other on sitting down. that
would make a prim old dOwager faint, and get ler
sat upon directly by the sly ones Yet she has
never beer known TO lirt. has refused more offers
than the quiet ones ever dreamed OF cevlng, anu
once 1t is related. taught the Prince OF W ales
lesson by stopping in the middle OF vase win MN
at a state ball at buckingham Palace, and refusing
to 90 on because he held her tighter than she CON
sidred proper. YOu can call girl Ike that last;
But she knows enough to take care OF herself ana
ner companonship with the young swells OF the
day. and her imitation of their talk and ways, mas
taught her to prefer their friendship to their love- IL
Is rot unlikely she is nearer right III her estlato
of her beings than the dragonesses Oh pro
priety who regard with adherence, but are VIII
ing TO sell their bushful madens TO the first liner
tine or titled scapegrace whose establishments anu
rent-roll make him in their ewes desirable parH'