The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-12-14
NEW ENGLAND GIRLS.
DEFENDED ~, ONE WHO THlNks
THEY ARE misunderstood.

4 Long List OF Women Who Have Won
the Worlds Heart-A Composite of All
Her Grandmothers--The Reason Why
Many Remain Unmarried.
have often felt Indignant with those
crlticsr-critics who have no higher con-
ception of woman than her powr to
charm the senscs-who find nothing better
with which to characterize tho New Eng
land girl than accusations of pronuncia-
tion which she never uses, an acquaintance
with Browning which Is 10 her credit,
and set Of eyeglasses which indicates at
worst only a studious ancestry and an alb
sc~ce Of personal vanity, but which she
wears In no larger ratio than of one In
hundred.
There may be girls In New Engand, as
eyorywhcro who are uncouth, ignorant
and unattrnctiye, but 10 is impossible for
any ono who knows what ho Is talking
about to call them lyrical. When we
speak OF plants, according to Dr. Gray,
the higher grade must bo taken as a pat.
tern, or II we speak OF Jews 1t IL not Of
tho earringod and greasy vender of old
clothes, but OF David, the poet most read
and sung Of ell the world Of poets; OF
Mondclssohn, Of Disracli, of Heine or EN-
ma Lazarus. And SO when call tho New
England girl to mind think, IN tho first
place, OF what tho great Abigail Adams
may have been as a girl In the earlier time,
Of tho lovely Harriet Newell md Of Ann
Hasscltine and the crowd of witnesses
that follow them. ! think OF the white
soulcd Lydia Maria Child; OF Margaret
Fuller, with her spell upon poet and phi
losopher, old man and young. / think Of
Lucy Larcom, who, IL sho lived near heay-
EN-, held tho earth and the beauty OF tho
earth also close in her heart / think of
Fanny Fern, overflowing with rollicking
fun; OF Mrs. Stowe, with the humor that
flashed in brightness through the dark
pages Of her book that turned the fate Of a
nation.
see Mary wilkins, the Incompatible
teller OF stories that leave you "sinily
round the lips and teary round the lashes;"
Gertrude Hlyi that rosy, starry child Of
genius; Sarah Orno Jewctt, with her dark
and stately French beauty, sweet as any
woman OF whom ever poet dreamed. / soc
Gail Hamilton, most brilliant OF the es
sayists Of the day, with perpetual charm
for all within her personal radius. ! see
again Annie Cary singing La Fayorita. 7"
i SOC Emma Eamcs as Mozart's sad and
molodious Contossa as the divinely beauit-
full Juliet, interpreting the innocence and
strength OF love I'm tho tomb OF the Capu-
lets. j see Charlotte Cushman, who, In
Romeo. taught men how a woman wishes
TO have love mado 70 her--in her youth
with men at her feet, In her later life with
all women there. see Anne Whitney
molding the clay Of Roma, little woman,
perfectly modelled herself as an antique
statue, with fire stolen from midnight
heavens I'm her eyes. ! SEQ Louisa Hop
kins, I'm her Rirlhood piece OF pure Greek
beauty. in her mnturer years with her
great poem of Motherhood think OF
Helen Hunt, with her Cleopatralike vari-
ETY.; Of Maria Mitchell, living with tho
stars, her companions; Of Louisa Aloott,
the fricnd of how many hundreds OF thou
sands of children; Of Louise Coulton, sing
ing her troubador songs, beloved of every
one; OF Celia Thax.or. born Of the sea and
the sun. do not need TO go on with such
names, To cite Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
holding the gates of heaven ajar for SO
many "a prioviDg heart, or Grace Green
wood or Rose Terry or host OF others
with power, moro or less, for no one denies
the New England woman's talent. There
IL only a doubt Expressed rs 10 her person
al charm, yet In oach one of these women
that have known the personal charm has
been more than tho intellectual power
Tho prevailing idea Of tho New England
girl is II stiff picco Of angular precision,
narrow minded narrow hearted and ruled
by an inlloxible conscience. or course
such young woman exists In New Eng
land, as sho may In old England, as l
have mot her In Virginia In Missouri and
Ia Texas also, hat when one hears that
typo spoken of as the real type 1t makes
one smile to look around on tho young
girls OF Boston and the lesser towns,
generation Of girls showing the result OF
such nouiisliment mud hygionic care, tall,
broad shouldcrcd. long limbed with free
movements of grace with rich color, fine
features, bcaining eyes, with long and
thick trcssos, well rounded, well dressed
well hammered, we'll taught, moving and
looking liko young goddesses.
She H. In this generation composite OF
all bor prnndlnothcrs II she has tho pill.
grims firm adherence to her faith let the
faith bo what 1t will, sho has also the
libcraliiy Of che friend of Harry Vane, the
straightforward courage of tho Scotch
Irish, the vivaclty Of the French and al
ways some Of tho iron fiber of the Puritan
Ia hor moral and mental and physical
constitution. She does not forget, it may
b, that tho liherality was Of the sort that
preached against tho pernicious practice Of
women Ia going abroad with their faces
uncovered lay u voil, u conservative libcr-
ality Ia fact, 80 tremendously In earnest
Is she In whatever cause or theory sho
cSpouscs tliat shc avoids bigutry only by
cGro All this perhaps may give her n little
too much sense OF superiority III she is In
Boston, and especially if she Is Of the cir
clio Of the City's chief wealth and refine
mrnt and long ti'sccnt, she does not ro
gard "a incinbor of the house of lords ne
morc than her fathers social equal, and
she feels nearer To the English nristucracy
than to that Of hcr own country people,
allowing that they have ono. Sho afIilintcs
moro with Philadelphia than with New
York She knows that Now York consid
ers her provincial. but what matterf She
sliu tUndCeCchuS 30 swVctly TINT you do not