The Greenville times., 1883-01-06
MARX TWAIN
On the Daughters Of Africa and tie Young
Lady Of the Psriua.

land Society In the City Of New
York, Mark Twain made a speech |
in reply to the toast on Woman"
in which he said:
The toast includes the sex uni. |
versally. 1t is to woman compre-
hensively, wherever she may be
found. Let us consider her ways. |
First comes the matter of dress. |
This is most important consider |
alton, and must be disposed of
before we can intelligently pro-
ceed to examine the profoundest
depths of the theme. For a text,
lot us take the dress of the two
antipodal types-the savage wom-
an of Genital Africa and the cul.
tivated daughter of our high mod
ern civilization. Among the Fans,
a great negro tribe, a woman when
dressed for home or to go ont
shopping or calling doesn't wear
anything at all but her complexion.
That is all. 1t is her entire outfit.
It is the lightest costume in the
world, but it is made Of the dark.
est material. 1t has often been
mistaken for mourning. 1t is the
trimmest and neatest and most
graceful costume now in fashion.
1t wears we'll; is fast colOrs and
don't show dirt; you don't have
to send it down TO wash aud have
some of it scorched with the Hat
iron, and some of it with the but
tons ironed off, and some of it pet
rifed with starch, and some of it
chewed by the calf, and some of it
rotted with acid, aud some of it
exchanged for other costumes,
things that haven't any virtue but
holiness and ten.twcfths of tlfe
pieces overcharged for and the
rest of the dozen mislaid, and it
always fits; it is the perfection of
a fit, and it is the handest dress
in the whole realm of fashion. 1t
is always ready, always done up.
When you call Oh a Fan lady and
take seat, you don't hear: MA
dam is dressing; sho'll be down
in three quarters of an hour" No,
madam is already dressed; always
ready to receive, and before you
can get the door mat before your
eyes she is in your midst. Then,
again, the Fan ladies don't go to
church to sec What each other has
got on, and they don't 60 back
home and describe it-slander it.
Such is the dark child Of saw
agery as to everyday toilet, and
thus curiously enough she finds a
point Of contact with the fair
daughter of civilization and high
fashion who often has nothing to
wear,n aud thus these widely sep
arated types of the sex nee. upon
common ground.
Yes, such is the Fan woman, as
she appears in her simple, unos-
tentatious, every. day toilet; but
on state occasions she is more
dressy. At banquet she wears
bracelets, alta lecture she wears
earrings and a belt, at a ball she
wears stockings, and with the true
feminine fondness for display, she
wears them on her arms. At a
, wedding the bride who can afford
it puts on psntaloons. Thus the
dark child of savagery and the
fair daughter of civilization meet
once more upon common ground
and these two touches of nature
make the whole sex kin.
Now we will consider the dress
of the other type. Some civilized
women would lose half their charm
without dress, and some woult
lose all of it. The daughter o
modern civilization, dressed at hel
utmost best, is a marvel of exqui
site and beautiful art and expense
All the lands, all the climes, ant
all the arts are laid under tribut,
to furnish her forth. Her linen |,
from Belfast, her robe Is iron
!, Paris, or Spain; her feathers ar
from the remote regions of South
ern Africa; her frs are from thu
rcmoter home of the iceberg an'
!. ! the aurora; her fan from Japan
ID her diamonds from Brazil, he
{, bracelets from California, he
= pearls from Ceylon, her cameo
n from Rome. She has gems an,
.e trinkets from buried Pompeii, an,
; others that grsced comely Egyr
tian forms that have been dust an,
ashes for forty centuries. He
). watch is from Geneva, her car,
case is from China, her hair |
from-I don't know where he
4 hair is from; l never could fin
n out. That is, her other hair, he