Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-04-12
MORALS OF FRENCH WOMEN.
Helen Campbell on Some Phases
of Life In Paris.

/
! Sexes.
Nothing could have more absolutely
determined the fact that any considera-
ton of the morals OF women, at any
point whatsoever OF the round worlds
surface, is bound up ineXtricably with
equal consideration as TO the morals of
men, than the attempt to discover the
actual status OF Frenchwomen on this
point. And thus it happens that, hav-
ing sought diligently TO disentangle the
two, finding it at last as hopeless task
as the separation OF warp and wool in
a closely wo ven web, leave the title
as it stands, but add that what will be
written is rather certain conclusions as
to French morality rs whole, than
any attempt TO define merely one phase
of the question. There arc innumer-
able unsavory statistics. 1t is perfect
ly possible to make the page bristle
with them; but, having accomplished
this, would the truth have been told?
Not in the faintest degree, since half
truth ''ls ever the worst OF lies. and
such statistics are only one phase Of
d VIC hllbNlttSt III 10
from life itself, as one may see it from
day TO day, that the answer must be
drawn, and If any one objects that
statistics are also from life it may be
answered that facts deduced from vivi-
section come under the same head, but
are OF an order hardly to be called
natural, or TO be accepted as the neces-
sary and inevitable condition OF the
animals under the knife. Certain
theories applied and experimental
upon for generation have brought GER
tain results. 1t remains TO be seen If
these represent the real possibilities of
life for the Frenchwoman, or il other
conclusions may still be reached.
! The American, no matter how dill
gently every phase of French life
which has found chroniclers, may have
been studied, discovers that his mag
ined knowledge is but the crust cover
ing the densest ignorance. 1t is one
thing TO read OF customs, quite anothe err
to watch their actual application, and
the Intelligent foreigner" who escapes
that apparently well-nigh inevitable
gravitation TO the american colony"
in which one is shut off from all but
superficial aspects Of Partisan life, finds.
as French character becomes better
known, a maze of contradictions. They
cease to seem such when once the Gle W
has been found, but till then there is
often stupefaction at the disclosures OF
daily life, and one echoes the words of
/ the bewildered and detected American
who announced on the top OF tram
the other day:
i've been here six months, and I'll
be shot IL | can tell whether these Par
isian women are the most moral or the
most immoral critters on the face Of
the earth"
| II the popular novelists are TO be be-
/ lieved, the latter clause would rule.
/ The openness of illicit relations is a
fact which the least observant note at
/ once, and. having noted, in time come
to question if this very fact may not
/ hold more hope for reconstruction of
theories than the decorously-veile
/ but no less actual, state OF things ex-
listing in London, and in less degree in
New York or any large city, American
or English. The saving grace for
these last is that such conditions are
against the real spirit of the people,
and adopted only by those whose ideal
of life Is as close an imitation as posi-
BILE OF the worst features of London and
Paris. 1t is Paris that dominates, and
her spirit is infused into the surface
life OF every great capital, which, so
far as the characteristics of the people
make il possible, copies, the world
over, her amusements, designations,
and general scheme of living. That
this scheme includes n general degrade
tion of women is the fact for Paris,
and thus in degree, for any point where
her influence is strongest. and now
comes the question how aud why this
degradation is fixed fact.
TO one who deals directly with the
mass of women workers in Paris. il is
very soon plain that no nation of Eu-
rope approaches the French in careful
economony, and the knowledge Of how
TO extract the utmost from every CEN
time Of income. But this capacity, in
tensifed by long generations of expert
ment, has resulted in bringing wages
TO subsistence points. The Paris
seamstress or worker in any of the
trades open to women. lives, and APP
parently thriyes on a sum which to
the English worker would mean slow
starvation. Absolute difference OF
temperament is one factor. The Paris
ienne catches at every CLEAN OF bright
ness, and if she starves through the
week, manages some small recreation
for Sunday. Accepting the fact that
/ there must be continuous struggle. she
! diversiiies it with as many alterations
as can be introduced, and one OF these
is the lover, whose wages also are Mt n
minimum, who can not marry, and who,
unlike the Englishman, has been taught
from his cradle to marry with no suifi-
cient means OF support for both is
criminal. For Paris, and for many OF
the large manufacturing towns of
France, it seems to be regarded by the
majority as a perfectly simple, legiti-
mate and even commcndable arrange
ment, that the man, till he chose s
marriage, should have his mistress,
also worker, who makes and will