St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-15

MOdesty and propriety. yOv know. But
really" she added alphabetically. "chap-
eroneS are necessary on the Continent.
The men are so bad. But they must be
getting wicked in America" she con-
tinued with sudden sub-roSa in her
melodiOus voice, ''Or it wouldn't be SO
fashionable to be chaperoned, would
it ."
Can the Italian girls seductive solu-
ton of fashionable Americas adoption
of the chaperone be the universal con-
struction put upon the transportation
OF this Latin institution? Are American
men falling from their high estate?
| With due respect to American manhood,
much eXaggeTateS Sentimentality has
and continues to be wasted at home and
abroad on their reputed chivalry toward
women. Granted certain conditions,
they differ but slightly from the mascu-
line biped of other climes. An inch
given, the American knight is as liable
TO take square yard as his continental
brother.
Will the chaperOne as an American
Institution check or augment this elias
ITCHY?
Tradition lends to the. continental
chaperOne certain awe that commands
and receives respect. The American
| exotic has its tradition TO make. The
! natural, free, untrammeled relationship
J OF the sexes in our cOuntry-a relation
ship that rarely fails to invite the in
! credulity of foreigners, especially wom-
Ell, who. while they admire, have no de-
sire TO initiate their American sisters
is the direct and inevitable outgrOwth
of the early conditions OF our civiliZa-
! ton. There was no sex in the ''hewers
| of wood and carriers of water" who
| no fol,
! the dense forests of America, LAYING the
| cornerstone of the Republic. Our pio-
neer men and women are the only ira
dition toward which the chaperone as
an American institution may look for
substance. Reared to believe all wom-
ankind capable to sustain and defend
herself. the masses Of American man
hood give TO her the respect, the conf
dence, which inSures it. The chape-
roned American girl. therefore, is a re-
| Election upon her cOuntryman's tradi-
| tiOnal honor, prick at his amour pro
pre- which finds natural retaliation in
the suspicion that the chaperoned is not
CONNIE il faut.
Since foreigners are prone to attribute
| our adoption of the cbaperOne to the
moral decline of American manhood,
may not the latter be justified i'll attrib-
! utIng il to the moral laXity of modern
! femininity? Viewed in any light. the
chaperOne as an American institution is
not without humOr. Happily it can
never find root beyond the -Four Hun
dred," without which no city is now
complete. 1t will ever be powerless to
encr0ach upon our working women,
who, from the intellectual to the mental.
know that so long as they respect them
selves and mind their own business they
liiyalU n pn IN tho aDdc of 10 a 9TH
unmolested.
How many debutanteS at the end OF
the first season may confess to them
selves what they would scarcely breathe
to the birds, that it is not from the men
/ whom the chaperone is expected to pro-
tect them, but rather from the men the
chaperOne'S presence invites that their
greatest danger lies.
Few, very few, clever attractive
women, be they of society or of the
world OF breadWInners. escape more OF
less dislllutiOnizing encounters with
| men. The diSillutiOniZer. as a rule, eS
capes the jurisdiction of the chaperone
Net unfreQuently they are trusted fam
lily friends, men of position. unSullied
reputation, heads of families-any OF
which might invite the confidence OF
mature women of the world. A young
woman naturally turns to gray hairs
with Il sense OF security. Probably she
is never mere natural. more attractive
than when in the society of married
man. He, at least, cannot impute to heI
matrimonial designs.
Alas, gray hairs with the audacity OF
long living not untreQuently assume
;; liberties youth would scarcely dare t.
; plead, while the married man in the
gulSe of patron, we'll WiSher. is too Otter
MeDhlStODhelpS in diSuuiSe If Is tbrouuI
these yenomouS snakes IN the grass that
hundreds of guileless. trusting wnmer
meet their first cruel awakening-the
: awakening that makes them ever sus
f piciOuS of all mankind. robs the peaei
, OF the bloom that never returns. The
/ chaperone, as fad or an institution
is powerless to intimidate, to thWar
f these social lepers.
! A wOman'S only infallible chaperonC
is pure mind, upright heart. and well
, | grounded Christian principles. The
+ growing capitalization of the chaper
one, however, opens up new industry
peculiarly acceptable to the relics O
! diIapidated gentility. 1t Widens tn,
= camping ground of the social tramp AM
! gives TO clever paSse 4 last grasp at thu
: persimmOns, since budding innocence i
, often the leafs paw to draw the chest
nut from the fire."
q That American society has dIseree
p tactful chapeIOneS, that there are man
= young girls who require the projection
K of honest chaperonage insures are ire
q futable facts. Judging from the ayerag
: chaperon encountered, however, i
: would seem that one of the most needfu
reforms OF modern society is chaperOn
age for the chaperone.
An American woman who, after
fnnl oil, at