The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-10-05
It's MUCH TO HER CREDIT.
that She is an American Girl,
and That She is
Pretty.
DAUGHTERS of Columbia the Only
Really Handsome Women
Of Europe.

Wherein the Women of Britain and the
Continent Fall Short of Their Amer
lean Sisters.
Special Correspondence of The INDEPENDENT
! AMSTERDAM, Sept. pa watched her from
he moment she sat down to 'early bite, y
the Dutch idiom styles the national
reakfast of coffee. bread and behring's.
he had brown hair combed loosely back
rom white forehead, large gray eyes and
fresh complexion. That she was Ameri-
an was evident even before she smiled at
ae waiter, in his shabby dress suit, speech
,ss as she asked for ice water. She wore a
retty travelling gown of black and gray.
he put her elbows on the table cloth but
ne curves of her round arms we're so grace
al that one was easy when she assumed
lore conventional pose.
watched her butter her rolls and pat the
ray-haired business man, evidently her
,ther, on the back, and go on marauding
kpedition across the table for an extra
imp of sugar for her mothers chocolate.
did not take my eyes off her till she
ushed back her chair and was bowed by
1e fascinated waiter out of the "eetzaal."
hen wondered why she SO held my at
,ntion, and the answer wrote itself out
ear and large on the hotel table, cloth
ne seldom sees a pretty girl in Europe,
nd when one does she is apt to be an
merican.
1t would be an interesting question, if
ne could hope to find an answer, why
omanly beauty is so rare, at least over the
orthern half of the continent. It was un-
81 the shadow of the Jungfrau that an
| nglish girl leaned on her alpenstock, as a
cowd of urchins focked about her to sell
1at white flannel fraud which they palm
as edelweiss on the unwary;, Here are
81 father, land the boys will grow into
ne, sturdy, handsome men, but the girls
ill take smallpox or die young" It ia
ne that it would be hard to find fifty
physically attractive women in Switzerland,
j spite Of it's climate and its mountains,
fhich it would seem would make one fair
lem; it is also true that the case is not
UGH better in the countries round about
witzerland, or indeed in England itself,
kcept, indeed, among what the English
RI would have called the Flower classes"
Sir John Millais' lament that female love-
ness is diving out in Great Britain has gone
l,und the world, but it must be acknowl-
iged that the tight little island has still
etty chambermaids. It would be hard to
~ Just how the law of natural selection
as worked to bring about such result,
At while the country girls of New Hamp-
aire and western Massachusetts have a
! lid rose grace that the heavier build of the
1cI forv 1onnh<or riuo
lille the saleswomen in New York stores
| 10 more attractive in countenance, though,
i las, not in manner, than women clerks in
10 great London houses; while there are
iore beautiful faces to be seen on Fifth
tenne than Rotten Row., one cannot be
ing like as rosy and bright-eyed as the
saite-capped, white-aproned. pleasant
iced damsels who fill ones water pitcher
lenever one finds rest for the soul Of ones
OF in the United Kingdom.
6Were poet would write an ode to the
les and my towels. The high-bred Eng
III girl is of her sort absolute perfection,
ut a liking for her resembles taste for
ives, keen when once acquired, but natu-
to few persons. She is, indeed, tall,
esh complexioned. One cannot hope to
i'd elsewhere on the civilized globe such
flendid specimens of physical humanity as
lie young men and young women who row
| I'd punt and lounge on the decks of house
ATS on the Thames. Generations of good
eding and outdoor life have developed |
agnifcent -bread-shouldered in the |
an, deep-chested, altogether admirable; |
ually vigorous, to all appearance, in the |
t)man, but in divers ways peculiarly un-
Eaceful.
The aristocratic English girl has face of |
kfmarkable shape. The better her position,
cording to Burke's Peerage, the longer is
countenance. An expert might distin-
| ish an Hon. Miss from Lady Mary,
lighter of hundred earls, and Lady
airy again from her grace by the simple
al. it is merely elongated, and the chin is
1t to be pointed. The more marked this
aracteristic in the individual, the more
rtainly is the hair pinned high on the
ad, fitting the stiff sailor hat down over
eyes and exaggerating the northeast to
,nch of plumes or tall pin is thrust into
hair upon the very crown, producing
9 same effect. The eyes are rather long
d often In proportion narrow, the neck
tensive and made much of by the
,ht, high dress collar. An English
ng, waist long, general effect in the tailor
wn angular, only partially redeemed by
clear red and white complexion and gem
al air of health and WELL being. No other
oman in Europe has her physique, but
assured by Greek standards she is.far from
autiful.
! It is mistake to suppose that the Eng
hwoman holds her youth longer than the
nerican. She does not fade but she
f,arsens. In some cases there is a special
4ason for this, as the six to eight inebriate l.
ylums for women within easy reach of
indon might testify.
The Frenchwoman has the one quality
|lich the Englishwoman misses. She is
most invariably graceful, but she has no
ses. l never saw three Parisians who in
,e were beautiful. One afternoon on the
| .omenade at Ostende voice behind me
tclaimed: 'See that lovely French grip
Q had chestnut hair and wonderfully fine
ss. and certainly she was wearing Paris
,thes. As she came nearer we bowed
Ewn metaphorieally before her high
[eled slippers in acknowledgment that
, was queen and that we
ilcomed her into her kingdom.
H q moment she was abreast of
4, What were the words that fell upon
! ears? isn't it just too sweet, but
sh could get pound of Philadelphia
ramels." One may set it down as rule
most without exception that the women
IL are at once French in toilet and pretty
of United States origin.
0ne evening not long since at the opera
ant more time studying the Paris beauties
An the stage. There was the Princesse de
gan, who with each new toilet creates a
,sh sensation over half the world. Sallow,
in, almost an invalid in appearance. she