Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-12-05
the TWO GIRLS.
Differences Between the English and
American Products.

London Letter to the New York Times.
To see the two girls-English and American
dancing polka is to see all the differences
between them emphasized. The American
girl is nervous creature. She is a. excitabie
as a thoroughbred mare. When she dances,
her eye sparkles, her cheek fushes, her face is
lighted up, and every nerve is at tension in the
thrill Of music and motion. Life Is living,
painting reality just then. The English girl,
on the contrary, does not alter her arniable
torpidity in the least. She does not smile.
She is as grave as ever. As she turns solemnly
around she might, as far as her expression
goes, be reading an invisible volume of SER
MONS She has not vestige of abandon and
so dances rather angularly. The English foot
is large. She does not dance; she trots Dane
ing is not a delight; it is exercise. II belongs
not in the domain of art but of calisthenics.
She is a stately column Of blanc mango on a
rotary pedestal, and seems to have Just as
much of feeling as that tasteless luxury has of
favor.
In society, which she enters at eighteen or
nineteen or later her manner with strangers il
rigid to the degree OF austerity. This is dine
partly to shyness and partly to that worship of
proprietv which the English eoverness and the
English boarding-school mistress devote their
entire energy 70 inculcating. The American
girl, with her grace, quickness, savoir faire.
knowledge of herself, of the world. and of men.
is as different from her English sister as was
Mr.. Pygmalions sentimental lady friend from
Galatea's statue. There is an individuality in
her conversation and manner, and in the way
in which she wears her clothes. She can talk
fiirt. and take care OF herself under all circum-
stances. The fact is, that she Is thoroughly
wide awake while the English girl is slumber-
ing. The English girl marries somewhere be-
tween q and 20, and makes the best OF mothers.
All the ills of matrimony she bears with per-
feet ease. her muscles being firm her nerves
mistaken and her brain quiet. Stupidity is a
blessing under certain circumstances, and
when woman is too brainy, that quality is
likely to be conspicuously absent in her chill
dren. She devotes herself to her family and
her home. The home life in England is as
delightful as IL is III ique. The extent to which
two people can be interested in each other. in
their children and in their home to the exclu-
SION of everything else on earth would be sur
prlslng in the country of divorces After half
a dozen years of matrimony the English girl
begins to be somewhat interesting as taiker.
shrewd International observer said the other
night that the English girl of eighteen COM
pared mentally with the American girl OF
twelve. while the American girl of eighteen
was represented i'll English society only by the
young married woman. About the time that
she becomes grandmother the English girl,
mentally. becomes thoroughly awake
The English girl of eighteen suffers by COM
girl of eighty has no rival. Her rival has long
since been shelved or entombed. 1t seems hard
on American women that it should be So They
are unfortunate in several respects, and the
loss oil the beautiful afternoon of life which
every old English woman will assure YOU is the
best part of it, is a most serious one. Women
like other people, live but once and it seems
as though little wisdom put out at interest by
the mothers of the next generation in America
would bring in a heavy return OF happiness.
1t is all very well for the American girl to be
smart. but she wears herself ont at it. 1t is the
fashion of her country. She knows too much
Her brain is too active. She learns too much
at boarding school. particularly of subjects not
set down in the regular curriculum of study. 1t
is not the privilege of humanity TO see very far
beyond the tip of its nose in any direction. and
the entire sum of human knowledge is SO triAing
that advanced study amounts to little. There
Is no particular necessity for any girl to be
witty, or subtle, or clever. She had much bet
ter. for her own sake. be stupid and happy. If
she has a clear skin and good teeth she has all
that is required. Feminine youth and purity
have always ranked as the most beautiful things
of earth, and are nowise lessening in popular
ity. Besides, stupid girls always have good fig
ures. Their blood is not necessarily dancing to
the brain. and the arteries have time to make
curves and dimples in the proper places And
when 1t comes to wasting twenty or thirty years
under tombstone which might be most agree
ably passed in dinner parties the value of STU
pidity is not to be gainsaid.