The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-07-12
Another Witty Frenohman Who Tells Us All
About the American Woman
HE FOUND HER MOT ONLY FIN DE SECLE. BUT EVEN
FIN DE GLOBE" us WE'LL
The Time When Feeble Fair Creatures Stretched Out Hammocs
and Couches and Dreamed of the Spoony DRESSINGS of
Hands, Which Occurred to Them Days
Before Have Passed Away

country nearly every kind of plastic beauty
the voluptuous nonchslance of the creole, the
aristocrstic purity of lines OF the Engnsh
woman, the expressive and changeaple
physiognomy of the French woman, the
dazzling complexion of the Irish girl. From
these different nationalities she has borrowed
the characteristic excellence of each; youth
and love have done the work of elimination,
since as we must remember, marriage in the
United States is the result OF instructive affinity
much more than in other countries"
If we find in these statements something of
con tradiction we must remember that woman
is a contradictory subject and be not too
severe in our judgment of NJ de Scissors. 1t
is not easy to write of the American woman
and write logically. Even our own authors
are unequal TO that task. To praise her at one
moment and to condemn her at the next has
been the habit of man since the beginning of
the world, and De Scissors, though Partisan,
is sufficiently human to be entitled to avail
himself of the privilege which by this time
may be accounted as an established right of
man.
When he had written his observations of our
women NJ. de scissors went on to write his
opinion OF our men, our art. music, architec-
ture and literature. It is scarcely necessary
to say that in dealing with these subjects he is
neither so vivacious, so witty nor so enter
tanning as in the first chapters of his book.
Like every other European he found that the
American man works too hard in his Office,
and is too subordinate at home. He takes no
pleasure and neglects to educate his higher
faculties, the result being that he is distinctly
inferior to his wife in education and intellect
ual development, and is therefore regarded by
her as a creature intended. only to support her
and provide her with monev.
NJ. de Scissors declares we are improving
in art, architecture and music but are declin-
ing in literature. Like the rest of the world,
he perceives we have lost Emerson, Longfel-
low, Lowell, Whittier, Hawthorne, Bancroft
Prescott Holmes and Motley and have no one
to take their places. He finds it strange that
We should have sympathiZed with Germany
rather than with France in the war between
| those two nations, but consoles himself in the
belief that it was only temporary alteration
of the intellect
Cur newspapers amaze him by the freedom
with which they publish the details OF private
life of prominent people, but he quotes approx
ingly the statement of q correspon dent of
Figaro who visited Washington: "In point
! of humbug, to tell the truth, all newspaper
men are equal, Europeans as well as Ameri-
| cans. Newspaper men can be compared 10
the chimney sweep, for with both, after ALL
the main question is the draft-it is the draw
| ing power that makes success"
For one thing we owe our Partisan critic an
assorted variety of warm thanks. He tells us
that after he had written his first American
book, "Boston Artists" he was told by friend,
"If you wish TO meet with financial success
you must write something practical, as the
silver question, for instance, because in
America art is considered frivolous thing"
NJ. de scissors did not write on the silver ques-
| ton. He avoided frivolous things by writing
| about women, and we have thus been spared
another solution of the money problem. In
| the name of the people we give thanks. fBos-
! ton: Estes & Lauriat.l JOHN MCNAuGHr