The herald., 1895-07-07

the voluptuous nonchalance of the c,re-
OLE the arstocratic purity Of lines OF the
English woman. the expressive and
changeable physiognomy of the French
woman, the dazzling complexion of the
Irish girl This is the country of COM
plexions; they are more delicate. There
are very good ones in England, in Hol-
land; but they are very apt to be coarse.
There is too much red.
| The American woman does not know
snobbism that moral sickness of all time
her gracious affability puts everybody at
| ease assuring the timd ones and encour-
aging the silent.
She knows many things, not only by in
| tuition, as the women OF other nations
but also by study, appropriating to her
self the literature and poetry of all ma
| tions, and showing in all the intense life
| which is in her. She likes to travel con-
! tinually-it is for her necessity and hap
piness 1t is a traditional instinct of her
people with taste for the nomadic,
| which recalls the large plains, the great
forests, the melancholy rivers and gray
| sands OF their own country and causes
them to feel crowded
She Is very practical in her home life,
and works more than the European wo-
man; nowhere do you see so many girls
Working-often not for their living, but to
nave more money to spend-as you see in
america. This struggle for life, this con-
tlnuous contact with men in business
omces, all day long, the gymnastic ex-
ercises practised in this country by the
women even of the best society, impart to
the American woman a certain masculine
character, which is evident in her move
menus In her manners and in her en-
ergy. Her movements are so original so
inherent from the movement of the Eu-
ropean woman! How lovely is the undu-
lation OF her body! how pretty is the
swinging OF her arms
Inc american woman is very smart in
knowing now to exploit her SUPREMACY
But how would she explain to me her
almost unrestrained penchant for Ger
mans? Is 1t possible that, fascinated by
a juggled victory over a nation which is
most chivalrous towards her. she forgets
the position of German women?
Now as to flirting.
The definition of flirting has been given
so often thas it would be tiresome repe-
tition to return to it. The Irritation is not
defect or quality; it is an education At
five years of age the girl goes to school
without being accompanied by her parents
or by servant as Is the case in Europe.
Young boys of the same age come to take
her, and they accompany her home; the
school Is mixed, the boys and girls all to-
gether. After school they play together
on the streets, near their homes, without
the least watching on the part of their
parents. At the age of 16 or II the boys
and girls are separated the former being
sent to college or to business. From this
time they can see each other only during
vacations, but in the interval, from both
sides, some progress has been made-,hey
are just at the threshold of Loves Young
Dream and everything is rosy as you
would say; we say dams lie bleu....-...you
know the song:
'Petit bleu petit bleu, petit bleuv'
So, as any one can see. the privileges
Of Irritation in the United States are holy
and imprescrptible. If they are not set
forth definitely in the American constitu-
tion, at least they are implied in it, as it
authorizes every citizen of the great re-
public to do his best in the pursuit of
happiness; and filtration being one of the
means to this end, the passing intimacies
between boys and girls are accepted and
respected.
The American girl brings to filtration
all the deXterity of her sex, the confidence
that flirting will not imperil the respect
which she inspires, the sagacty of her
precautions experience. In those giddy
heads which seem utterly devoid of sense
and barren of ideas, there is often more
diplomacy than one can realize.
Is it an advantage? Certainly it is; be-
cause she is not given up to vain imagina-
tions; does not waste her time in flights
into the mysterious world; she follows iiv-
ing types rather than improbable heroes;
the deceving mirages give way before
prosaic facilities, and good sense displaces
Europeans entertain very false notions
about Irritation as it is practised in
America Every traveller, before his trip
to the new continent, promises himself
numberless conquests. unlimited success
and easy triumphs. If he is witty and
accomplished and an entertaining CONVEX
sationalist, without doubt he will find ex>
quisite pleasure in those salles of wit and
intellectual skrmishes, refined and gra-
cious in style, as in the old days of
French gallantry. If he is a Don JUAN
in a word, a man who does not wish to
waste his time, 1 would tell him frankly
to despair of success in the role because
one of two things will be the result; either
he will be an object of ridicule and will
leave behind him a reputation for stu
pidity, or he will be driven out of decent
society. S. C. DE SOISSONS.