Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-11-21
WOMAN'S WORLD.
FRENCH NoVELlsT's OPINION or
TIE AMERICAN WOMAN

One Of the Coming women-"women No,
Desired"-Mrs. S. s. Lewis-Tbe No,,
Woman Crusade-NIrs. Maybriol's Case
Statistics of Women In Business
The apotheosis of woman. which IL
The so original feature of "sooietv,, in
america, IS first and above ali the
apotheosis of the young girl. These
words, so simple, are still two words 70
be explained, for it is probable that ~,
az the polnts-reserving, let it be un.
derstood, that Of honor-they express
Exactly the opposite in the United States
10 what they do in France. What first
Strikes the traveller who has heard co
much of tho young American girls is
the absolute impossibility of distin.
guishing them from the young women
The fact, so much commented upon that
they can come and go alone as tbev
please would not suffice to establish the
confusion. The identity goes further
They have the same jewels, the same
toilets, the same liberty of speech and
laughter, the same books to read the
same manner, the same beauty already
fully developed, and, thanks to the in.
vention of the ''chaperon, " there is not
q theater or restaurant party to which
they cannot go, alone naturally, and at
the invitation of any gentleman of their
acquaintance.
The quality of that official surveil-
lance may be measured from another
fact-that the young lady for whom the
bachelor gives the party chooses herself
the chaperon. The younger that chaper-
on is the more she is appreciated. The
young widow and the grass widow"-
the woman separated divorced or sim
ply isolated temporarily from her hus-
band-fills the ideal conditions of the
part. You might just as well say that
the young girls whom you see at Del.
monico's i'll the company of three Young
men and the said chaperon, or who 20
and take tea at the rooms Of another
young man, are as free as though they
had no one to look after them than
themselves. 1t is that habit of acting
for themselves without control which is
manifested III the singular assurance of
their countenances.
One of the most amiable men of New
York, who is poet, has had the idea
of forming a collection of miniatures
where he places, with their permission
all the professional beauties of the
town. I remember that in examining
them with the magnifying glass through
the pane behind which those hundreds
of pretty and fine faces smile forth
Sought to guess those who had known |
marriage and could not succeed. What, |
jim truth, will it bring them more when |
at cOmesp Duties, husband to bear |
with, children to care for, house to
look after. Today the young girl has
none of the burden of those chains. She
knows it, and she enjoys the time she
has to the utmost. She will not have
|Dne liberty the more when she is mar
ried, and she will have less time in
which to amuse herself But in most
cases she marries late. If it is not quite
an end to her. as it is for the young
man of Paris when he decides to break
off his bachelor life. it is at least a COM
mencement of abdication, The majority
do not conceal it.
1--WE must amuse ourselves before
marriage" said one of them gayly to
me- docs one know what will come
after?"
The divorce cases, of which the news
papers publish the details from time to
time, prove that that young person had
as much good sense as beauty. For my
part, after having closely investigated
the human conditions here and in Eu-
rope, think that for young man of
25 years the best chances of happiness
are to be An Englishman of good fami,
ly, concluding his studies at Oxford,
and for young girl TO be born Ameri-
can, with a father who has made his
money in mines, railways or land spec
nlation, and to arrive with good spon-
sors in the society of New York or
Paul Bourget.