Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-01-18
0'Rell Onthe Americans
The Witty Frenchman Writes of
Uncle Sans Children.
Their Treatment Of Women-They
Rush for Riches Merely to
Squander Them For
eign Bosses.

stupid louklpg tsoes, writes Max o r il
Ia the January Fo, um. All are uothanI-
some, but all are Intelligent an6 beam-
ing Slth activity. In my Opinion it is In
this that American beauty mainly con
elsts. In the larger cities of the east the
hrsJ thing that attracted my attention
vas the thinness of the men and the
plum pnesS OF the women. This seemed
TO hint that the form or lives in a fur
mace of activity and the latter in cotton
wool. This impression soon deepeued
into conviction. The more | saw of
these larger cities and the brllllancy, wit,
and refinement of society in them, the
palmer 1t became TO me-, that If America
had rhus early rIyaled the older nations
of Europe In all these eleyaucies of
fashionable life, 1t was because of its
treatment of women. II seemed to me
that her lot was rs near to being per
tecuon as an certify lot could be. re
spect amounting TO reverence Is shown
tor her, and IL appears to be the chief
aim of her protectors to surround her
with luxury and make her path through
life sunny one. So far as adding to her
mental and physical grace goes, this plan
CT making every woman an uncrowned
queen answers com pletely. Seeing her
nigh position she has set herself at work
to I'LL 1t becomIngiy; and it is the cultiva-
tlon of Americas daught it Is their
charming independence and conscious
ness of their power that makes them so
attractive and renders American society
80 delightful TO the stranger. 10 their
treatment OF women the Americans might
give more than one lesson to the men of
the old world, even to the Frenchmen who
IN the matter of poliseness lives a good
deal, l am afraio, on the reputation of
his ancestors. The res pee for women in
America seems to me tC be perfectly dis
interested, purely platonic. IN France
this respect almost always borders on
galiantrl. Frenchmap will always
stand back to let d woman pass, but he
will generally profit by the occasion to
take good lCok at her.
If an outsider be com petent to form an
opinion L venture to say that the Amer.
can woman does not render to man u
Ilhe OF the devotion she receives from
him. The French wite repays u hus-
bands devotion by protecting his inter
est; an American one too often repays 1t
by breaking into his capital. But Jona-
than com plains not, To him 1t Is only
seemly that 'beauty should go beautI
fully" If one fortuae goes he Sets to
work to make aEOther, and the sweat OF
his brow Is soon crystallzIug once more
upon the neck and arms of his beloved
womaukind IN the form of diamonds.
Inc dress of American women must be
a considerable item In the expenditure of
the country. They dress we'll on all 90
casIons, and proteut tres bisn la toilette; !;
but they have yet to learn the highest
effect III dress-a cOmmlngling OF sim
plIcIty and eleg Ance. To see the street
'oIIette5 one would think that only the
looms of l.! ons and Genoa were capable
OF furnishing the material of woman's
gown, and III evening dress there Is an
apparently deeprooted tendency 10 over
eiuuO 6tiou. AttSrGoOu Teas being fre
quently given to introduce young gIrl
into sUcIety, one could uderstand d 1T
Gle extra toilette being thought necessary
III her case (thuugh In France u woman
playing hostess Carefully avoids eel, pslug
her guestH); but It's not only the bud"
as she Is called, who ls in fun war paint
1t l5 the buds mamma or aunt, or both,
In looking at whose bare neoks | have
often been lnciineu to excIaim: "LacIes,
throw veil over the past" 1here Us
something striking lncongruous IN this
jUsLlrng of the white SATIN and tulIe of
me hostess with the street dress of the
callers.
Another thing that is general in Ameri
ca Is the absence OF that BRITISH crust of
reserve, which it some lines lakes u
stranger years to break through before
he can tnd the man or woman under
meath. An American may be lovable or
the contrary, but Whichever 1t is, Iou are
not long IN binding GU After you have
met HIM two or three times you know
whether you have one more friend In
the world or have simply made the &C
quaint nee of one more person between
whom and yourself there never can be
much sympathy.
The character of the American is Eng
iish from the point of view OF its COLI
Jrasts and contradictions. Is there, for
instance, anything more sublime than
the way in which the American can com
bIne the sacred and the prOfaneY Why, he Is
greater adept at 1t than Jchn Bull. Od
board the steamer We had party OF
Americans Sho passed seven days of the
voy age playing poker. The smoking
room rang from morning tul night with
the Oaths that they uttered every time
they threw a caro- on the table. Tney
were so fluent with them that they hardly
used the same twice in an hour. Their
stock seemed jDeIhaustsble. Sunday
after breakfast a yousg lady sat down to
the piano and began playing hymns.
What happened then? Our POKER party
gathered round the young lady and for
two houts sang psalms and holy tunes TO
the edIfcatiou of the other occupants of
the steamers saloon. | was dumfounded.
In France We have men who swear and
also men who sing hymns; but believe
that the Anglo-SaxOn race alone can fur
plsh men who do both with equal facility
and gustO.
America is the home of all forms of
eccentricity and daring. Has not the
vastness of the continent the Americans
iuhabit something 10 do with ths?
think so. There is that boundles 80 ess
about the notions OF an American which
must be born of the vssiness, and limit
less possibilities of such q great terri
tory. To the American his own daring
AID eccentricity are the most natural
things in the world, and this il what
makes g great part of his charm. He
talks OF, or does, things that fairly take
your breath away just as cooley as if
they were matters OF every day occur
encs. Pgrisiaps remember to this day
the American milliousire-I wss going
to say tiIiionaire-vho, on the occasion
of his daughters wedding, wrote to the
tovn council of Paris to ask for the loan
IF the Arc de TriOmpl which De uss
anxious 70 decor ate in honor of the wed
ding and have the special use of daring
the day. He was politely informed that
the arc was not TO let Then l will
Guy it," be replied, name your price"
An American would ask the Queen of
England 70 let him Windsor Castle for
the shooting season, aud if she refused
good price for it would probably have
poor idea OF her. The looking upon
everything aud everybody a. Being to be
had al a price is one of the chisf form-
of this daring of she Americans. II
would be an ugly trait in bis character if
often 1t were not so prep0srero1s az TO
be smusing and If it were no. backed by
q perfect bonhomia.
The American is constantly accused by
Europeans OF vorshippirg the almighty
dollar" and great wa my curiosity to
i1oge for myself of the justice of this
charge. After calr1 observation of the
ways % men in America. / came TO the
conclusion that the dollar wa- certainly
not only the unit of the monetary sss-
ter bnt that 1t was also the unit of the
metrical systsu- Hoxever, / soon saw
that IL the dollar va. coveted and hsld in
great respect, Is was not 40 much fer it
self ss for the luxury il ~ss the key TO;
in other VorGs that eysrice yas a vice