The Wilmingtonian., 1883-05-12
fects of the first.


ed. The English girl is physically far more
active robust and strong-nerved than her
American cousin. She will walk long dis
tances without fatigue, scramble over
mountains, row boat and join vigorously
in athletic sports. In trying emergency
her nerves do not fail her, and she dares do
| all that becomes man. remember an
English girl, who at sixteen years of age
undertook voyage of fifteen thousand
miles to Australia quite alone, lived for
three years in a freshly settled tract of the
Australian desert, made the passage home
round Cape Horn and shortly after her arri-
val in England travelled the entire distance
from London to Mini Novgorod in Russia
upwards of two thousand, five hundred
miles journeying quite unprotected to take
up situation in family she had never
seen. On the other hand English girls part
ly from instinct, partly from early training
atious and painfully constrained from an
American point of view in their relations
will accept the escort of any gentlemfn n
with whom she is acquainted to a church,
theatre, or place of entertainment; in Eng
land such a privilege would only be conced-
ed to a brother or an accepted sutor. Here
it would appear that the American system
of free unfettered social intercourse between
the sexes in youth is attended with advan-
tage to both; it makes the girls frank and
the young men chivalric, while the English
system by restraining the natural and
healthy mental and social affnities be-
tween them puts premium on secret meet
ings and concealed correspondence with all
their attendant dangers.
An American girl who chances to visit
England for the first time almost invaria-
bly, begins her descriptive letter to her
friends at home with a complaint that the
people stare at her wherever she goes. 1t
does not take her long to discover that the
attention she thus excites has very little ad-
miration mixed with it. The simple expla-
nation is that the prevailing custom in this
country of wearing gay colors and expen-
sive attire is opposed to all the canons of
English taste and good breeding. These
latter declare that the perfection of dressing
in gentleman or lady is re ched when
he or she attracts little attention as posi-
BILE. To this end the English girl wears the
smallest OF bonnets, and prefers plain stuff
of black, drab or gray; relieved by the
smallest Ind rarest points of color The
wide 'brifs smed hats, claret dresses and scar
let hose of our girls would execute the |
pious horrOr of an English matron and
young women who indulged in such cos
tune would undergo great risk of being |
set down as members of disreputable Sec |
tion of society. More than this the English |
girl shrewdly calculates that the gratifca- |
tion of a taste for show and extravaganza IN
dress is likely to be accomplished at the |
expense of her chances of procuring a hus-
band for there is Il general disposition on
the part of the young men to flirt ad ltbituns |
with the gaily attired and sportive maidens,
but to choose their wives among the quiet
dowdy girls-on grounds of domestic econ |
omy in the future. There is in fact nothing
in common between the English and the
American girl except their language and
their sex.
Another striking point of difference be-
tween the customs of the two nations is in |
their dwellings. The American likes new
house, of clean red brick or white stucco
posted in the most conspicuous situation |
where it can be seen and admired by every
body, He surrounds il with verandahs and
galleries SO that he and his family may walk
around it in the summer season, to see and
be seen. The Englishman, on the contrary
prefers the most secluded spot obtainable,
and where his house can be sheltered from
the public gaze by trees he is all the better
pleased. He will even plant strawberries
round to this end. Admission to the COM
Portable rooms within is the exclusive privi-
lege of old and familiar friends; visitors and
acquaintances are not encouraged. How
different this is from American social in
stincts we all know.
The religious habits and observances of
the two peoples are equally widely renew
ed. The Catholic sections Of the two com
munities preserve similarity for Catholic
ism is the same all over the world and the
sama ramark NAV hA Soid 70 o,,,I,, - A.