Mexico weekly ledger., 1886-11-25
AMERICAN MEN AND WOMEN.
What Florence Marryatt Has Written
About Us.

gentleman like an American gentle
man, but think it is too little to say
of them, and that it is more true that
there is no gentlemen like an Ameri-
can man. It is the same with rich
and poor. However hurried man
be, he doesn't shove a woman into
the gutter to make room for himself,
nor does he stare rudely in her face
as she passes him, nor make remarks
on her appearance or her dress.
There is no such boor in the world as
the middle-class Englishman, and
some Of the members of the so called
''upper-class' are not free from this
species of insolence. American gen.
tlemen are much more courteous in
their bearing towards women than
we are. 1t made me mad to see my
countrymen, men of good family, too,
standing in the corridors of the
hotels talking to the ladies with their
hats on, while every American head
was uncovered. No man in this
country passes woman in the pass
age without raising his hat until she
is out of sight. Artisans in the
street will held shop door open for
you, or pick up anything you may
let fall, and.a workman one day see-
ing me carrying heavy handbag on
the railway platform, put down his
own basket of tools and relieved me
of the burden. An English laborer
would probably have been much
amused to see me struggling beneath
its weight.
The American ladies are, as rule,
pretty. They have small, delicate
features, fine eyes, and good heads
of hair, even when gray. But they
seldom have any figure. The girls
are attenaated and look consumptive
They have small, thin hands and feet,
and their chests are contracted; they
have no bosoms or hips. They are
more pQHdish than we are, but less
affected. They have extravagant
ideas about dress, and they talk too
much for good breeding of what
things cost. Yet the majority do not
dress fashionably; far from it, ac-
cording to our ideas of fashion. I
heard so much of the American
woman's taste in dress that was as
tonished to see so little of it; but
when I mentioned the fact, / was
told that if 1 wished to see s'real
elegant dressing" I must walk up
and down Broadway (sic) on Sum-
day morning after church. This be-
ling so entirely opposed to the princi-
pies in which we are reared. e.,
that gentlewoman should wear their
quietest dresses to church or in the
public streets-I did not think it
worth my while to 60 in search to the
New York toilets. When American
ladies might dress gorgeously-that
is, at the theatres-they do not. The
occupants of stalls, boxes and dress
circle appear alike in bonnets and
costumes, which take great deal Of
the attraction from a we'll filed house
I have once or twice, while writing
this gossip, asked myself if should
say anything about the manners Of
the general class of American wo
men, and I have hesitated to do sc
from fear of hurting the feelings OF
those ladies on this side of the world
who have been kind and good to me-
Yet they will know that l speak ol
the community only, and not in
dividuals. AS community, then
American women are not well bred
They do not indulge in those little
amenities which give the tone to {
superior life. They have none Of
the easy grace in society which marks
the woman of fashion. They are toe
quick and jerky in their speech and
manners. There is no repose about
them. They interrupt conversation
without the slightest scruple, ant
they all talk together like flock O
parrots. Their laughter is, too, as {
rule, very shrill and harsh. There il
no music in it. They have not tina
excellent gift in woman"-a low
voice. They are not, moreover
very polite to strangers. I have sale
elsewhere that there is no gentleman
like an American gentleman. / can
not say as much for the American
lady. Some OF them, not knowins
who 1 was, have treated me with tht
utmost rudeness in public places
They stare stranger out of counter
ance, and stop their conversation t.
look after her, and make remarks up
on her dress or personal appearance
: Their discourtesy in refusing to ris,
: when one has to pass their seat at tn
theater, or to move aside when on
, has to enter door at the same time
3 is very marked. These little graces
: which are inherited with her blood
and come instinctiyely to a well-bret
r woman, are invariably missing, ant
t even their kindness are offered some
; what roughly. In fact, as a rul
r they have not the hallmark upol
: them. A late writer offended then
: very much, I believe, by saying the
: we're middle class" but If he mean
: they were on par in point of breed
: ing with our middle classes he wa