Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-03
THE GIRL AT HOME AND ABROAD.

''Write me check" the poet cried,
And the silence, ali wool, was Il full yard wide
THE GIRL AT HOME AND ABROAD.
AT this season every year hundreds {
girls leave schools and colleges and ente
the social world. The college graduate
usually old enough and has received menta
training that will prevent her doing sue
foolish things as girls younger and wit
less serious training are apt to do. A cir
of twenty-five who makes her entranc
into the social world-and most colleg
graduates are usually that old-must b
innately vulgar if she offends the sense O
propriety. But the graduates of schools
especially the fashionable schools, are usu
ally younger, and unless they have grow
up under wise and educated mothers the
frequently mistake amazement for interest
amusement for admiration.
In late number of the North america,
Recies0 is an article that every girl shoult
read-the article entitled american Girl
in Europe" 1t is filled with hints on the
mistakes American girls make in the man
ners they adopt, and these mistakes the
writer attributes largely to the bad model.
chosen. She speaks warmly of two Amer
ican girls who had made this mistake. She
says:
81 have never seen two such aristo.
cratic-looking creatures as the daughters
OF Woodworking couple who had Struck
oiP somewhere in the Middle States, who
came over, teeming with money and ignor-
ance, to admonish Nice, and set expectant
and most impecunious mobiles by the ears
and prouder, better behaved, more badly
speaking pair of beauties never helped the
English novelist or the French playwright
to type. | was much touched to hear
the mother asking lady near her I'what
she should do to make her girls more like
the foreign girls Give them a year OF
school in England and a year of school in
France was the sensible reply. For the
shrewd American mother saw her daugh-
tiers were laughed at She saw that they
neither walked, sat down, rose up, ate their
dinner, talked to gentlemen, nor put on
their hats like the shy, proper, rel ressed
girls that had been educated in converts.
She got to know that their own country
women disowned them. She also saw that
they were inclined to copy bad models, not
good ones, which is the besetting sin of
the variety of American girls"
The writer of the article, Mrs. John
Sherwood, heard comment on the atten-
tions of the Prince of Wales to beauti-
full American girl in which the Americans
were accused of doing American things"
Anxious to know what these american
things" were, she asked gentleman who
was prominent literary man, and who
entertained Americans most Hospitality,
what was meant by the accusation "Amer-
lean things"
swell, will tell you," said he. "In
the first place, the American pronuncia-
tlon is, even amongst your cultivated peo-
pie, most unmusical and unpleasant to u.s.
dare say ours is to you. Then, if you will
forgive me, we observe in your handsome
young women an entire absence of that
delicate reserve, that fragrance of pro-
priety, which is our idea of good breeding.
l do not say that there are no charming
exceptions And, then, we do not like
your air of success, your air of appropriat-
ing everything"
She also tells us Of the comment of a
foreign husband OF an American girl, who
stated that his first impression of the lady
who was afterwards his wife was ''that she
was the hardest looking woman he had
ever seen" and in reply to the question,
"When did you alter Your opinion ?" re-
piled: "When | got to know her / saw
that the hardness was all affected" The
young girls had
COPIED BAD MODELS.
Much that Mrs. Sherwood has said sp-
piled to the girl at home as well as abroad
She speaks OF what she terms the odd va
rieties Of American girls-the girls who
love their parents, but do net reverence
them. And this is the sort of girl who
usually speaks of her father and mother as
"papper" and "mamlner"-parents who
have accumulated money, or made il, and
spend it entirely for their children. These
are the girls who, having little wider
social training than their parents, little
more educational, advantages, but fire.
quently lacking their parents common
sense, think that they have nothing to
learn, and shut the door; to the possibili-
ties that their opportunities constantly
give them.
>hA 20. l@hNi hSON Pubo SfSlI AuuCliSdu
girl in her debt by these wise words:
In the matter of dress, an American
girl rises to the situation at once. She is
very rarely, if ever, badly dressed. Given
such an amount of prettiness as she has,
such quickness of eye, and so long purse,
Paris dresses her "a ravir," and she wears
her clothes like queen, or as queens but
seldom do. 1t is astonishing, when one
sees such taste in one direction, that one
can see such limitations of taste in the
matter of manners; but it is quite evident
that some young American girls think, If
the outside of the cup and platter is clean,
it is no matter about the inside They
neglect their speech, which is a matter of |
vital Importance. For wherever we live, |
whether in Yorkshire or Rome, Peoria or
Paris, there are such things as culti- |
Tated and agreeable voice, a correct pro- |
and a pretty accent. No one
IS so dependent upon this charm as |
1t has made many plain woman |
gift of speech. And the |
Venus of Milo would become fright, if |
;he could open that glorious mouth of hers,
voice, saying @hort" for "heart, "mormor"
OF mania, OF, ueIHD2 neF Cfa,Slc Iea- |
ures for the moment, she should give an
Unusual cackle and launch into slang. 1t |
will not help the American girl to say she
don't care" She does care. There is a
American aristocracy TO which
Ill should aspire TO belong. The original
md beautiful American women have a
rivacity and wit which the older civiiiza-
ion have lost. She should never lose her
But she should study to be
ow-yoiced, sweet-voiced, calm, quiet aod
ave. ignorant of ourselves.
;egin ofteu our own charms, which the wise
Deny US for our good"
This would be pretty posy for many an
american girls ring. She regrets nothing
that somewhat promiseuous emblazon-
,ent which accompanies celebrity. She
oes not always remember that she must
eep her "presence new and fresh, like
obes pontifical.'
AS was said in the beginning OF this ar
Gle hundreds of girls will entr for the
rst time that test Of manners AID char
tiers. the social world, this summer. If
on carry to it vulgarity, false standards,
Rotations, it will soon discover them,
ID YOU will be put on your level. The
rIs full of health and vitality will find
y;f;mxte exercise in tennis, archery and
e. e many forms Of outdoor life on which
4 r. -