The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1889-09-19
The GERMAN WOMAN.


Incidents OF Couxtal.
The German woman Is neither the ex-
celIent housewife which she processes to
be nor the bluestccking she Is often
thought. ssGretchen" exists no longer,
except on the lids Of the boxes Of cam
died fruits, and she Is quite a match for
Faust when she meets him. In fact, tbs
German girl of today, especially In Ber-
lin, Is not so much Like the Marguerite of
Goethe as the L.oulou of .tGyp."
German school life is a serious bust
ness It begins at z years old, and the
two SUBJECTS of study which are special
" IN favor with all classes Of people OF
any pretensions ara French and the
piano. 81 do not think It is an exag-
geration, says the writer, ITO say that
90 per cent. of the daughters of parents
in easy circumstances play the piano and
80 per cent. speak French
As soon as girl becomes confirmed
her education is generally concluded,
unless she goes In for special higher
branches Of study. Her parents begin
to think Of getting her married. ane she
goes to her first ball. Courtship, the pre-
liminaries to which generally take place
on the floor of the ball room, or, in the
winter, to the rhythm of the same waltz
time played by the same military band
on the ice, is inaugurated thus: If the
young man means business he calls on
the young lady's parents one Sunday
and breaks the ice. He will then be
asked to dinner, and a ceremonious
exchange of little sentimental presents
viii take place between the pair, inter
larded with sentimental sentences-al-
ways in French.
When an engagement has been def
nitely announced the young people are
allowed quite an English amount of free
dom in their intercourse. Indeed, if we
may believe the writer, their manners
and customs are considerably more
frankly free than ours in this country,
for, she says, ''they do not scruple to
kiss each other in public as often as they
feel inclined, and there is nothing more
disagreeable at soiree than the spec
tacle of one of these sentimental
couples" Before marriage the German
girl is a mighty reader of novels, her ca
pae-.f for sentimental stories being
simply inexhaustible. Rarely, however,
does marriage in German prove the real
ization of any of the dreams in which
her girlish fancy has taken delight.
The German married woman has never
occupied the same place as does the
| French woman, by reason of the total
absence of any sentiment of chivalry or
romance in. the treatment of women by
men in Germany. True, the sons, the
| husbands, the brothers of the women of
Germany deserve our respect for their
| energy, their character-all that supplies
| nation with it's force. But how disas-
trous is that force for the women. Force
/ is more fatal to grace than even to right.
What hardness in the dignityl What
carelessness, what supreme indifference
on the part OF those proud and selfish
| heroes, who do not ask their companions
! of the other sex to understand them and
appreciate them, but onlyto keep house
satisfactorily and to bear number of
| childrenl So far, indeed. does the Ger
man husband carry his want of gaIlantry
| that he absolutely dislikes to see his wife
make use Of any of those advantages of
/ the toilet the results of which are COM
prised in the epithet scornfulIy applied
to well dressed woman-emparisien
The state of intellectual, moral and
social subsection of the German woman
| naturally does not tend to develop any
originality in her. She never starts a
new idea or a new fashion. Imitation,
not invention, is the utmost of which
she is capable, and even in initiating she
is slow. The German woman is crushed
beneath the overwhelming superiority
of her lord and master. The famous
''deutches webb. ;" who is the traditional
type of the German woman, is just the
German of Tacitus-the servant of man.
| Cor. London Globe.