The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-05

An American Lady's Impressions of
Social and Family Life.

Strasburg Letter in Boston Transcript.
Most ladies help in some way with the
washing. and invariably do all the cooking
on that day, and on the next they assist
in sprinkling and folding the clothes to go
TO the mangle. Every German girl is
taught how to fold the sheets and table,
as they stand, one at each end, holding the
linen. with the right foot planted firmly
forward and the left one back, and then
pull with all their might to stretch il; and
a very fatiguing process 1t is.
But the average German woman is very
strong; she must be to do all that is re-
CURED OF her. She has little or no time
fCr readtu: or any a: or phi >hInent after
marriage; it is kitchen and house work.
and sewing and mending by turns. She
must help her children with their lessons
and must be content, for amusement, TO go
out occasionally for a walk with her hus-
band, stopping always for a glass OF beer
at a restaurant, and this especially on Sun
day afternoons. A few balls in winter with
the simplest social entertainments sand
sees or knows of the world. a woman is
considered old at twenty-five, and If not
married before that, is dubbed an old maid
and set on one side, and what can she have
known before that as they seldom travel,
and are very strictly brought up.
She is very useful, and. TO use their own
words, "Sehr praktisch und beScheiden''
very practical and shy); TO be shy es-
pecially, is considered virtuouS and appro-
pirate In woman at least In society. where
thought to be almost Indicative of q fast,
bad character. Seldom pretty, with a bad
figure. hat-footed. and with absolutely no
taste in dress, in contrast to the average
American woman, she is gam und gar
gninteressant' entirely uninteresting):
Therefore, 1t is easy TO understand that
Germans do not always wish to marry
American women for their money, but be-
cause they find them vastly more agree
able and clever than their own country
women, although they are astonished by
the free expression of their opinions. a
German husband cannot squelch his Amer
loan rrffo aa he -orl1 q Garnann- ono ~
she presumed to differ from him by say
ing, What. you have another opinion than
mine; please remember, l am your hus-
band, and you shall think as / do" So
most of them go about looking as abject as
wet hens, in the presence of their hus-
bands, who, though generally domestic and
very devoted and af~fectionate, expect en-
tire submission to their authority; and /
doubt If a German woman would think or
consulting her husband, and these condi-
lions are true of the best class Of people.
All their ideas are primitive, ages behind
the times, and intensely wearisome to those
of a liberal education. They seldom be-
lieve anything tbey've not seen, and simply
contradict those WHO inform them of things.
merely the idea, for they utterly refused
to accept Ii as a fact-that a woman de-
signed the Woman's building AT the chi
cago fair threw them into hts or con-
temptuous laughter and no facts or argu-
ments to the contrary could remove from
their minds the conviction tnat some man
na0 really uOne Tic NDOiC bbAh6 Va 49,
fully instructed Miss Hayden how TO do II.
They cling to their worn out old Forms
of etiquette. and If really good manners
were the result no one would complain, but
IN often seems quite the reverse. For in
stance. q man invited to dine VIII make IN
Vulnerable bows. deep and solemn, on en-
tering and leaving the drawing room. but
often he will not address one word OF coll
yersation 10 his hostess. but go from the
table TO the smoking room with all the
others, who never appear until the even
ing is over, thus leaving the female por-
ton 10 entertain each other as well as they
can. No visitor by any chance uses your
door mat. but will come in with muddy
boots and calmly rub them TO and fro on
the carpet until one thinks a dust pan and
brush should be worn on the chatelaine.
Even less irefined were table manners, and
In Is WHISPERED here that forks were never
used i'm Germany until after 1870, when the
French came TO show them how" but one
fears they will have to come again and
stay longer to make the custom a lasting
one.
on he question OF bowling. Americans
would do well to take a few hints from the
Germans who are careful when they bow
10 friends and acquaintances, both men
and women. TO look one directly in the
eve. which seems to emphasize IL greatly.
Children are taught that at once in the
schools. and there is none of the hang-dog
bashfulness among them when they re-
spond 10 n greeting; and neither do ladies
when they bow in the street look down on
the ground or round the corner or my
where except at the person they meta
custom ONLY too common in America.