The Iola register., 1889-02-15
YANKEE WIVES ABROAD.
An English journal Gives Some Excuse for
Thesr Popularity.

YANKEE WIVES ABROAD.
An English journal Gives Some Excuse for
Thesr Popularity.
The frequency with which English
men of distinction select their domestic
partners from the United States may
well set people asking what it is that
causes the occurrence. The fact that
Lord Randolph Churchill. Sir William
Harcourt, NJ. Clemenceau, the Duke of
Marlborough and the successor of
Count Moltke in the important military
post with which his name is associated.
have married American ladies may
tempt philosophic inquiries to go in
search of true and efficient cause of
the occurrence, now brought still more
into prominence by the marriage of
Mr.. Chamberlain. If we are to initiate
them, we might find a certain number
OF plausible explanations; but, at the
end of the exercise of our best ingenuity
we should have to confess ourselves
puzzled.
That there are number of Ameri-
can young ladies who are most attract
i've and charming will readily be ad-
mitted; but, without posturing as out
rageous patriots in this respect. we arc
disposed to think the English girls can
hold their own against even their fair
American cousins in the matter of good
looks, and decidedly outstrip them in
the qualities which most Englishmen
regard as engaging and. irresistible.
The ideal of the States is, notoriously,
not quite the same as that which for
the most part prevails in this country,
and we suspect it would be found, on
searching and impartial investigation.
that the American standard is less of
what is usually meant by an ideal than
the English standard. In other words,
it is, like Americans themselves, more
practical. just as, for the most part,
they educate their children not so
much with the object of making them
fine scholars and cultured gentlemen,
as of making them capable and success
full citizens, so, probably, they aim,
even unconsciously. at preparing girls
not so much for a brief passage of ro-
nance as for the long and unromantic
business of life. At the back of the
head, as the phrase is, of most English
girls is the idea that Lancelot. or
Prince Charming, or some equivalent
of those agreeable and seductive per-
sonages. is living somewhere in the
world; that it would be delightful to
meet him, and that, conceivably, that
happy fate is reserved for them in par
ticular. In a word, English girls are
what is called romantic, and American
girls, if romantic, are so in a less de-
gree. Like the rest of their race, they
are educated to understand and be in
harmony with the hard and somewhat
cynical conditions of their life.
They have less nonsense" about them
than English girls. They are sensible
women of the world. knowing all
about it." not easily deluded, ard quite
equal to the task of confronting exist
ence in all its various phases.
1ASuSc 1uSS OuyOy SouoiuCi duiC suC-
cess in society, even on this side of the
ocean. Society does not ask for ro-
mantle disposition, for refinement or
delicacy OF temperament, but, on the
contrary, for practical good sense. for
|certain business-like quality. and for
those gifts which enable people to sue
ceed in deal ng with their fellow-crea-
lures. 1t is often remarked that Amer
lean women push their way where En-
glish women, possessed of no greater
personal advantages. would fail. The
reason is that the former understand
the conditions of success better and &C
commOdate themselves to them. They
are not the women that stir the pas
sions or inspire the song of the poets;
nor will they 60 down to posterity as
heroines or charmers. But they have
their day. They succeed in London
drawing-rooms as their brothers sue
ceed in 'dry goods stores in New,
York, and for much the same reason.
We have no doubt they make excellent
wives t. men who live in the full glare
of society, and prefer clever, capable
associate to a tender domestic compan-
ion.-London Standard.