Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-08
BRITISH MORALITY.
French, English and American Morals
CoRtrasted.

Lucy Hooper's Letter to St Louis Post Dispatch.
There has always been prevalent = convic.
ton that higher standard Of morality ID
common in the higher classes of British 30.
ciety than is to be found in corresponding
| circles in continental Europe. This Is alto.
gether mistake. In the early days Of Queen
Victoria's reign, when the court was presided
oyer by young woman Of the severest virtue,
matters were very different. The soled dove
existed then as now and as they always will
| exist, but not in large numbers, and they were
not permitted to futter their sullied
wings in the guarded precincts where
royalty sat in state. We or they or
somebody have changed all this. Rank and
| fashion can do as they like can mention,
for instance, beautiful and titled English
woman, one Of the recognized leaders OF Lon
don society, who is the mother Of a child that
cannot be accounted for by any complication
OF her conjugal arrangements. Yet her social
position remains unquestioned and unassaii-
able. There is another well-known woman of
high rank whose intrigues have been number
less and fragrant and who il socially none the
worse for her countless escapades. But it is of
no use multiplying instances. for the list might
be extended indefinitely. Only. if any ono who
knew the inside history of the English nobility
were to go carefully through that ponderous
volume, the British peerage annotating the
pages as he read, the result would furnish
some remarkably spicy reading.
The comparative and praiseworthy purity of
English morals. as contrasted with those of the
French, lies in the outward cleanliness of their
literature and art. The novels and plays the
prints and the photographs and the columns OF
the daily papers are wholly free from intecor-
business. unless indeed the details of some pecu-
Harly sensational divorce case disfgures the
latter. For your British moralist does not dis
IL ia L.
true, on such occasions. The publication. for
instance, of the Colon Campbell divorce suit
would have been as impossible for the French
papers as would that Of Zola's novel.
La Terre," in an unmOdified form, for
the English ones. But what is the use of
keeping the British young person strictly Sc
| Guided from all sight and knowledge OF vice,
IL on her introduction to society she finds her
self face to face with the vice itself arrayed
in velvet and diamonds and smiled upon by ali
! that is most exclusive and severe. A dozen
immoral novels and a score Of improper pic
lures would hardly do that typical parsonage g
principles half as much harm as does the spec
tacle OF a female sinner courted and caressed
in fashionable society by just the very indi-
viduals whose notice Is considered best worth
having.
American society is far more particular in
this respect and long may it remain 30. But
the power Of the reigning Anglomania is very
great and under its influence some strange
things have already happened. That hand
some ex-mistress of the Prince of Wales did not
meet with rapturous reception in New York
society few years ago was largely due to
chance. Still she was not received-to the
credit of our American hostesses be it said,
But British peers, travelling with the wives OF
other men and leaving their own Mt home, or
else the heroes Of the most hideous of
European scandals. have found great social ac-
ceptation and lordly entertainment i'll our prin-
cipal American cities. May these instances
prove isolated ones and may the experiences
OF the past teach our people lesson for the
future.