The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-11-07
The HOUSEHOLD.
Tie American Woman.

! nNnut the American woman Is that II Is
! hup, s,ibio to be- indiii, rcut cithcr to h.r
1r about her, whether you consider her On
Hassc or individually. She hns potcn.
! ", II personality that is i'm itself chnl.
| l,ngo not to he ignored. This, in fact, Is
the real fundamental difference between
our transatlantic sisters and the women
Of our own land. Let us leave the inGi-
vidual, who really counts for nothing on
our own Judgment of national charac teris
| tics, alone for n moment and see how the
averages affect us. Take tho English wo-
man in the lump, not the new woman or
even the metropolitan woman exclusively,
but just the ordinary British type, who is
neither In the advance guard Of modern
civilization nor absolutely pctriGcd in the
old inertia. Look her well in the face ana
sec If you have any thought about her,
any feeling sympathetic or antngonis. ic
toward her, or any sense of her at all
You will find Think that she does not
stir you in any why; that so long rs he
remains outside the sphere of your person.
al Interests sh3 counts for absolutely moth
| ing in your consciousness.
But go to America and try the same
! process on the iCmininC material there.
| At the outset you are confronted with an
actual stimulating force that either at
tracts or ropels You The point is that she
| interests you intensely You must study
her and reckon with her whether you like
| her or not. rs to your ultimate admira.
ton or aversion for the American woman,
that will depend primarily on your own
temperament. If you take II score of pro j.
udiccs and prcpossessions across the At
I lantic with you, her swift intuitions Will
not only discover but dcride them, and
| you may return with hatred in your heart,
/ vowing that she is neither fish, flesh, fowl
nor good red herring, and, least of all,
woman as you would have her be-
But if you arc wise enough to adj Just
your ideals to the spirit of our time, and
, II you have learned to look on woman as
human being rather than function, the
! American girl will surely illuminate your
/ whole conception of her sex and lift it w
to tho plano that is permeated by her scin-
tllant and incisive individuality. And
! when you meet her again in Europe she
| will come to you as a blast of the free up
| per air sweeping over tho stagnant ways
/ of old world life Then you will wonder
as "a man who takes a deep draft of cham
| payne after long abstinence how you ever
, came to relinquish the wine of life when
| it had once touched your lips. And If you
: continue in this m0uu the chances are that
| you will marry that American girl, which
| is equivalent to champagne every day for
| dinner and pcrhapsa thought more trying
| to the constitution in the long run.
! Wnon all Is told, however, America Is a
/ paradise for women a great green thr0Hc
| for her, set in western sea. And that
| nature is fitting her hand for the scepter
and her brow for the crown no one who
stands in IA largo assembly of Americans
can doubt Her physical superiority to
the American man is obvious to the most
casual observer. a generation or two of
STOPPING over the Office desk has whetted
his intelligence at the expense of his ply
sique, while the woman has grown fair and
tall in the atmosphere of ease till she Io
semblcs nothing so much as q race horse,
compact OF fiery spirit, nervous strength
and delicate contours. Her marvellous
adaptability, too, enables her to grace n.
well as grasp her queendom, and till the
END her hus band is never quite sure wheth
er he admres or adores her most, which
uncertainty brings him as near happines!
as IA man can hope to BET. D. in Lon
don Star.