The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-11
GERMAN GIRLHOOD.
influence OF Disdainful Silence in Ger
man Criticism.
Lady BLdnnerhGsSett, in English Illustrated
Magazine.


L1dy BLdnnerhassett in English Illustrated
Magazine.
Notwithstanding many instances of
mental superiority and physical courage
displayed by German girls, the distinctive
characteristics of German girlhood tend by
no means to interfere with politics and
craftsmanship, with heTic adventures or
deeds, performed on the stage of public
life. The German girl has been taught to
claim as her supreme right not freedom
but obedience. Her highest ideal of a
noble woman is Iphigenia, who offered up
her life, willing sacrifice, first to the
parental will then to the will of gods. The
present portion in life of the German girl
is the result Of conception Of womanhood.
the roots of which, although mostly IN
known to her, strike very far into the
depths of the national soil.
The legal position of the married woman
in Germany of necessity exercises a moral
influence on the life of the unmarried.
That legal position rests entirely on the
view of the superiority of man, of the
subordinatiOn of woman. Even the notion
that she is bought by he's husband survives,
in however slight form, in the ceremony
of betrothal. Her husband is her master,
her guardian, her natural supporter-above
all he is her educator.
mildest form of criticism opponents will offer
whenever on the platfor N or from the pro-
fessional chair the attempt is made to
plead in favor of womans political rights.
Ga this point all the female advocates of
the emancipation of their sex are uuani-
nous in their lamentations.
But the aspect of the debate is different
when transferred from political to social
grounds, and limited to the inquiry as to
how girls can earn an honest living. This
Inquiry is of the first Importance, since, ac-
cording to the statistical reports of 1875 in
the large majority Of districts or towns in
Germany from 40 to so per cent. only of
the girls have any chance of marrying
at all. For these the choice lies between
education and training for science and art,
and purpose more or less connected with
them, or with charitable work in all its
varieties.
First rat, Germ a d ,cttrs Prof. Leydem
at their head, . unanimous in asserting
that the female nurse is far superior to the
male attendant. They are less clear as to
the advIsabllity of giving woman medi-
cal degree, and deny that the female doctor
is wanted or popular in Germany. As a
general rule the German girl cannot obtain
degree. and the doors of the lecture room
! of the twenty-eight German universities
are closed to her. So it has been taught
| advisable to provide lectures on scientific
|
| meuts, of which the first founded and the
most important is due to the efforts of an
| Fnglishwoman. Miss. Archer, and to the
Enlightened protection of the Empress
| Frederick, then Crown Princess.
| In the primary schools, which in Ger
many are unsurpassed, and seldom equaled
elsewhere, the teachers are women. The
| instruction in the high school is almost ex-
clusively given by men, but it is the aim
| of the advocates of women'S rights to re-
| place male by female teachers
1t is the idea of the Germans that one of
| the most important elements in the State Is
| not the lady artist or the novelist, but the
experienced housekeeper and good servant.
| This consideration has led to the organiZa-
ton of societies and schools for training
women for the practical pursuits of life
| Thus there are cooking schools, housekeep-
ers' societies and the like. In Russia the
state objects to the employment of gir.s
In the postal and Geographic service The
states of South Germany are more liberal
in this respect, and allow female candidates
! to pass tine examinations for such employ
ments. There is one department for female
| labor which has been marked by the most
signal success in Germany. 1t is the nurs-
| ing of the sick aud wounded-hospital
work in all its forms.
Girls in Germany are simple in their tastes
and habits, hard-wOrking, rather serious.
Frivolity among them is still quite an ex-
ception, but, of course, it exists. Attract
| lveness Is not their prevailing characteristic
! ic, partly also because habits of self-con-
troll and renunciation, early acquired and
steadily followed, do not always make 1t
easy to sacrifice to the graces, particularly
in the country where the art of converse
ton is not cultivated. Their powers of
acquisition seems crater than their creative
| power. No German girl has ever produced
any thing first rate, either in literature or
in art; no German woman novelist has
equaled one the second-rate female novel
lists England. The purely intellectual work
achieved by the German girl might have
been left undone without considerable loss
What the country will never be able to
spare is the self-sacrifce and the loving
obedience with which she silently shapes the
| national life