Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-10


y ~A+ statement that the
southern girl Is very
much what tradition has painted her, and
the points in which she differs from her
sisters of other sections, be 1t to her ad-
vantage or to theirs, are those which are
the generally accepted ones There seems
little question that she has more beauty,
If less good style and knowledge OF the
world. So, too, her voice Is sweeter,
though what she utters may not be SO
learned, and her limitation of range must
be admitted. Her manner Is franker,
kinder, freer. though 1t Is very far removed
from knowingness as to the correct mode
in the elevation Of a handshake, or the
rot-folding of q napkin. Indeed. the very
absence of knowledge of the world is what
gives her her individuality and makes her
a distinctive type. 1t has often been OBJ
served that, when a southern girl travels,
she takes on polish and worldly culture
with surprising ease and with the basis
of her natural advantages becomes
creature of tremendous charm; but. all the
same travel and contact with European
civilization is destructive to the peculiar
flavor of the southern girl pure and simple.
1t may produce something better than the
type, but 1t destroys the type.
In a Southern Ball Room.
There is one point, at least, where the
southern girl is the superior of her visitors,
and that is in her relation to her own sex.
Let strange girl come into a southern ball
room, or reception, or afternoon tea, and
she will find herself surrounded with
spirit of friendliness and welcome. Even
the ordeal Of the dressing room Is turned
from trial to privilege. She will find
kind faces to look pleasantly at her, and
kind hands ready to render her any little
service, quite independent Of the question
as to whether they know who she is or not.
She will find that she Is not stared at,
either with approval or severity. If her
gown is beautiful, there will be no vulgar
curiosity about 1t; and If it is dowdy or
ugly, there will be no supercilious criticism
of glance Contrast all this with the man
ner that obtains In dressing room at the
north, and the advantage will undoubtedly
be on the southern side.
In her manner of treating the opposite
sex the southern girl has also her own
way. She is more free and easy, undoubted-
ly, but close study Of her will reveal the
fact that she Is more apt to put a man on
his honor than her sisters of other sections
are. She Is SO unsuspicious of the possibili-
ty of danger, that that very fact greatly
decreases the danger The best type of
southern girls may do, In public, what
northern girl would consider fast; but the
chances are that her private actions would
contradict such an impression.
She has the southern attribute Of spon-
tlneous feeling and warmth of heart, and
this will always be found stronger in her
than conventionality.
The New Workers. Story.
An illustration of this occurred some time
ago. IN the north. where a New York man
was heard describing to southern girl the
vast difference made in a mans appearance
by the doing away with an accustomed
mustache. He said that when he first
shaved off mustache that he had worn for
years he was riding in the park one day,
when, suddenly, there crossed his path
lady of his acquaintance, on a horse that
mad bolted at something and was running
away. He dashed forward and tried to
catch her horse, but was unsuccessful A
little further on, it was stopped by police
man. who was holding the excited brute
when the young man came up, eXclaiming:
Thank God! / thought you would be
killed" The narrator then described how
the girl had looked at him, colby, and said
Il don't think l know you, SIR"
At this point the interested listener, so
the story goes, exclaimed excitedly, Good
gracious" with true southern vehemence
Yes; just fancy" said the raconteur, see
ing me without my mustache. she took me
for a perfect stranser!' 1t was amusing to
see the Indignation of the southern girl, as
she explained that what she had exclaimed
at was. not that the rescued girl had taken
him for a stranger, but that she had failed
to recognize and feel grateful for sympathy,
expressed by any one at all, on her rescue
from a great peril.
What would southern girl have done?"
her companion inquired.
why, she would have thanked him cor
daily. and they would probably have shaken
hands,"
''Not really! How very charmingr' said
the northerner, in tone by which he got
himself hated from that hour.
VOtnry of Blood.
But II the southern girl Is charming, she
Is also apt to be conceited, in a way, and so
despise the advantages which she does not
possess. She is also indolent and without a
due proportion in many things. She thinks
lightly of learning, because she Is unlearned
herself; she attaches no Importance to art,
because she knows nothing but nature She
Is supremely Indifferent about social vogue.
becaus, there is literally no one whom she
looks up to. She holds, backed up by the
facts of history, that most of the good blood
In the country Is in the southern states,
and, in a perfectly kindly way, she looks
upon northernerS fasteners and WESTERN
ers as less fortunate sisters, but, in spite Of
this cherished ct..-vicuon, she Is incapable
of arrogance.
Until lately-for 1t must be admitted that
1t is not now as true as formerly-she was
Indifferent about money. but stickler for
blood. Enormous fortunes smacked to her
of vulgarity, and she associated ideas Of
display and commences with them. Mere
poverty, on the contrary, never had any
aspect that was either unreflned or undig-
nified to her, and she had proved, by ex-
perience, that in this state all her ideals Of
ladyhood and good breeding could be fully
realized.
At Home.
The southern girls position In the home
is pleasing, admirable and. in some ways
almost naive one. particularly as regards
her attitude toward her mother. She Is
very slow in outgrowing, and. in some
cases, she never does outgrow the subser-
viency and Difference usually held to be
only incumbent upon a daughter while very
young In some instances. even a married
woman, with children Of her own, inno-
Gently recognizes the law Of obedience to
parents and comedies to her mother the
right to tell her what to do and what not
to do as she did in childhood. In the same
way she becomes law to her own children,
and thu modern spirit Of arrogance toward
parents often Net with in other sections Is
rarely found In the south.
Indeed, the indef1nable charm and influence
Of the southern woman In her own home is
a thing for which she Is Justly praised. The
home life is still kept up, in many cases, by
a strict adherence to old usages-such as
family prayers-in which the servants are
included, the singing Of hymns on Sunday
afternoons, the reading aloud In the family