The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-09-29
TIE FRENCH WOMAN.
Mrs. Leslie Says She Is Far Less Romantic
Than Her American Sister.


Than Her American Sister.
Curious as it may seem in a nation
so highly and in many respects so artl-
ficially civilized, the virtues which we
find most conspicuous on French soil
are those which in the United States
are as conspicuously absent. Filial
piety, the absence of which is mourned
by nearly every American father and
mother to-day, still forms the sub
stratum of the best qualities to be met
of society. 1t is not only the devotion
of a son to his mother, feeling which
in France is so unfortunately mingled
with sentimentality as to have lost, in
the eyes of most people, all the merits
it might originally have possessed; but
the obedience and respect of son even
toa bad father is taken for granted, and
the most tyrannical abuse of paternal
authority is not considered in the least
as abrogating tilial duty.
The Frenchwoman often seems what
she is not. When bent on amusing her
self-and it is through the medium OF
this mood of hers that we generally
weigh her character and Judge her
actions-she leaves, it is true, all care
at home and enters upon the business
of pleasure with the spirit of efiftt7--
But it is unjust to call her frivolous
and idle on this account. Perhaps nc
women are such industrious and serious
workers as those of France. The
material prosperity of their country is
certainly largely attributable to their
admirable capacity for making them
selves useful in all departments of life
from which they are not shut out by
walls they can not hope to scale-walls
which they show their practical wis
dom by not trying to pull down.
The typical FrenchwOman's charac-
ter is not deep, but it has been traced
out by nature with no unsteady hand.
Her spirit of independence, her COM
parative freedom from that timidity
which is often represented as a charm.
ing weakness of the sex, have enabled
her to conquer much of the ground that
belongs additionally to man, simply
qualifying herself to compete with him
industrially and intellectually in a
multitude of ways. She likes to be
self-reliant, and to feel that in case Of
need she can do battle with the world.
Although Frenchwomen generally
marry early and under conditions Of
parental influence which invest the ACT
of putting on the bridal veil with about
as much sentiment as that of taking to
their first long gown or gathering uI
of their girlish tresses into maidenly
coil of plaits, the majority of them
make good wives, and still better
mothers.
The Frenchwoman is not, perhaps
the most atfectionate of spouses, but in
her devotedness to her children she is
not to be surpassed, while the interest
she takes in her husband work and hel
desire to help him for the common good
throw into bold relief the strongest
side of her character. If he is doc
tor, she will make out his bills for him
if a tradesman, she will look after the
accounts and preside over the till
whatever his occupation, she will lend
him a helping hand.
What | wish to lay stress on is the
fact that the Frenchwoman, although
extremely emotional at times, in the
ordinary business of life looks at moth
ing through purely romantic and
sentimental medium. 1t is this pecu-
liarity which marks the chief distinc-
ton between her and the American
woman. The latter is just as passion
ate, but she is less practical.
There is a dreamy sentimentality in
the nature of our American woman
that easily and frequently merges into
religious melancholy malady almost
unknown in France. From maiden
hood to old age her views of life are
romantic. Even after much misfor-
tune and disappointment, she rarely
sees things as they really are Con-
sequently, she is not the helpmate in a
material sense that the Frenchwoman
is.
But the deficiency is abundantly
made up in other ways, It is the ex-
ception when she loves her children
more than her husband, while the
Frenchwoman's affection for her off
spring is generally all-absorbing. The
sentimentality of the American woman
is at once her strength and her weak
ness. 1t is her strength because it is
intimately associated with strong re-
ligious instinct and reverence for
moral principles which color all her
thoughts and direct her conduct 1t is
her weakness, because it is apt to make
her rely too much upon others and to
cause her to hope when she should act.
--Franb Leslie, in Philadelphia Press.
The Value of Apples.