Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-05-04
More About the American Girl.

The era of the good American"
ended about the period when the day of
"a belle ATnericdine began. tYurrup
was the moving agent in both. The
vast fortunes made in the mines and
lands of the further West set-at leisure
class almost unknown except among
the Southern planters; and after the
war petroleum and shoddy increased
this class immensely. '.Yurrup'i-and
a great deal of it,-became the fashion,
and every home arrival sent another to-
follow the prevailing example. Colonies
Of Americans settled in every European
capital, and the mi-Europeanized Re
Pubiicans, whom Henry James has
satirized in many novels. and George
Curtis has castigated in. the :Potiphar
fapers, became familiar TO al who had
eyes to see and ears TO hear. The
''Tuileries Americans were a proverb;
and 1.-THE Emperor for torthem Ma
poleon LII. was the only. Emperor
pcnsioned off half his ready-made nobil-
ity upon the rank-loving ladies. whose
papas had made many dollars in pork,
'1le, soldiers coats, or Nevada sill
YER mines. But these were no more
the typical AMERICAN girls than the
'hooked-nosed people who used to SIT
round the. Iomburg tables -and, still
hunt those of Monte Carlo were good
Specimens of the nations which were
honored with their presence. Yet they
helped to leaven the Anglican mass,
They made European tour a necessity
Tor every American who aimed AT crf-
ture, and those visiting ..Yurrup'
brought back a taste for art. for house
decoration after the British fashion, and
kindliness for the Old wuria- and its
institutions which were unknown IN the
days of our youth when Mrs. Barney
Williams.was playing the conyentionai
Yankee gal The Americans complain
that they also brought backS.a con-
tempt for their plain-manneredcoun-.
trymen, and an eXagscrated MIN
.icry OF everything European, without
the influences which in Europe keep
some of our follies in their proper place.
1t is certain that we find Americans
everywhere, and that in. England, and
to less degree in the more exclusive
society OF the COntinent-always except
ing Paris, which is tolerant TO anybody
with mOney-they find access to society
which would be closed to Britons of the
same social grade. And as rule they
are very charming people. Elijah Po-
gram Is as extinct as DIR. Ginery DunkIe;
and if the mother of the Gracchi is
sometimes Objectionable, it is certain.
that the Gracchi are extremely pleasant
additions to the old life of Britain Ld
belle ADteTfcafflc is no more pronounced
than girls in new countries, where sos
cial ambition is narrowed, always are.
She Is petted. and run after as pretty
women often arc, especially in districts
where men are more numerous than
their possible mates. She sees no social
distinction which is not open to money,
and no use for money except to seek
happiness in Ostentatious grandeur. The
result Is that she grows up rather shall
low and snowy, little impudent occa-
sionally; sometimes valuing herself and
her fathers dollars at moro than they
are worth, and in very exceptional in
stances the delightful Creature whom
DIR. Dix mathematics; but She is sell
dom absolutely bad. Actual immortality
Is left TO the immigrants, who bring Co
the New World. with its easy ways, the
vices of the Old which they have left
But the .'impossible American las the
transatlantic writers term every Amer
lean who is not quite to their mind
will, in time, become rarrr. At present
the same class is growing up in our
newer ard growing colonies, and from
exactly the same causes. The Austria
liam squatter's daughter is as irreveren-
tial. full of herself, and impatient of
anything save abject homage as the
veriest Fifth Avenue or Beacon Street
belle. But when DR.. Dix accuses dy-
mantle, red ruin and the breaking down
Of laws being born of such as these, he
must have been thinking more ofthe
viragoes of the Bowery than of the
beauties who once week solace their
shattered nerves with the platitudes of
Trinity Chapel.-Lond0n World.