Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-06-09
Lad, Wilde on AmerIean women.

The first question prOpOunded to a traveller on returning from transatlau- tie tour. says Lady Wilde m London Queen, IS usually, "WhatIsyou- opinion of American women? for, in truth, the American woman ls by fur the most lm- pOrtant element in the social machinery of the States.
 Her reputation for baauty ard smart ness has spread over the whole earth, and to doubt her fascination would be heresy even beyond this 1gnostlc age. However, We are, fortunately, 1ot wholly dependent on the c7udejudgment of the awe-struck, startled travellers, saturated as they are with old-wOrid prrjudIces. and priaOned iu It's narrow conventional traditions; for the Americans, having al- ready interviewed and exhausted all Europe, are HOW laudably engaged In the process of interviewing euch other, and that with an acuteuess and insight far beyond the'obserVng faculty of the bewildered foreigner. Every cIty also has its peculiar characteristics and with these we are made fnlly acquainted
 through the novelists. Philadelphia Is the Quaker city-neat, orderly, calm and reserved, where everyone seems to go Co bed at 10 o'clock, and the ladies make no effOr5 t0 heighsen the charm of their
 faces by the alveutitIous aid os rouge
 or pearl powder. Bgt they cultivate literature, poetry and art, and clety Is elegant and retiRed In New York there is no distinctive type of race. All rae s have been fused into uniformity b tn. same habits. passions, and ambitions, and the influence oi Europe on society. The women are dressed ty Paris, and the men by London, and life is modelled on the English style, but with much more spleDior Of outlay and effect. New York IS the true paradise Of women where they glow and glitter ID their gorgeous plumHge while the men toil and work iu their lusky offices Go amass the wealth that may cover their vIvss with diamonds t0 staItle LurOIe a city Of splendOr, luxury and pleasure; the third great capital of the world, and equal in wealth to London and Paris put together.
 The English glri never stsrea. nor asks questions with uht-Gsire curiosity. Suo Is trained Co seem and Oe @ uegaticn-a dormant soul, without volIti0n or an opinion on any sut ject, felt or expressed. Her American cousin, however. bus an aggressive frankness, based chiefly upon interrogatories and bold personalities.
 Her gaze is clear and direct: not ''the stony British stare" but with tle large. truthful eyes of chlllhlo1-tbe eager, iuqulring glance of a candid nature. Truth IS in all her words. This Puritan virtue las indeed remained aD heirloom in the American family. ' hey have none
 z Al .N.A AH a e.. .N
 dscities of high life in Europe the dei- cate tiatterIes so charming and so false. These are stamped out at once by the frank, fearless candor of the American girl. Yet one trembles @ little before a candOr SO uncOmprOmlsInE; for We all shrink from the downright expression of the actual, and the glare of an uu- shadOwed truth makes one nervous. But the Americans have no mercy. Ma ture meant them for nation of inter viewers. They generalize. describe aud and label you after ten minutes Inspec- ton, aud send off your portrait across the Atlantic, with all your imperfections on your head, for the amusement of the crowd. who must be pr1pit.ated by a victim, and who appiaud and shout Brave, Torow when "speciaT has peen more than usually successful iu tossing the victim from his horns, Co bs trampled ia the dust of tEe arena.
 Americans like reading, but not study. Everyone in the cars seems furnished with n sixpenny novel or the last Harper, while newspapers cover the land like snowtiakes in mid-winter, but, above all, they like lectures, because they can thus combine easily acquired information with the excitement of dress and out door variety, and crowded lecture is infinitely more amusing than a Harper. Besides, it k of importance Co them to assimilate knowledge rapidly, as they eat and live, for life with them is feyerish rush of excitement and en- ioyment. They are rapid in speech, iu travel, in speculation, in everything. They live, every moment Of thelr lives, an intense, daring, crowded, uudacious, reckless and restless life of work, ,v edith and luxury. The present Is enough for them. They take each moment as it comes and get all the good out of it they can. There Is no girlhOod or b0yhoOl: everyone Is grown up, and the life of self-assertiOn and speculation begins from the cradle. Young girls have per feet freedom at an age when Europe wouid not allow them out of the nursery. They receive gentlemen alone in the evening and go to theatres and pubIc places with them, uuaccompauied by any dleuna, for the chaperone and lynx eyed Inatron of old-wcrld usage and tra- dition has been quite suppressed in America, along with the supeIhu0us veyvals