The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-17
HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
The American Girl Compared With
Her Foreign Sisters

a
Attention has been recently drawn to the
fact that every one Of the daughters OF the
great European banking house of Rothschild
has been brought up as IT, she was destined to
the prominence achieved lin the world Of lei
ters and of art by certain ladies OF title In
England and on the Continent appears TO
nave given rise to the, impression that cul-
ture and accomplishments are the rule instea
OF the exception among the fair sex of the
Old World. In fact, regret has actually been
expressed in several quarters on this side OF
the Atlantic that the daughters of America
should be inferior in INSTRUCTION and attain
ments of one kind and another to their sisters
of Europe. There Is. however but little cause
TOT any lament OF this Kind. and speaking not
OF individual cases. but of American women In
general. 1t may be questioned whether they
are not as a class superior in brilliancv and
in intellectual equipment to the women on
yonder side of the Atlantic.
In England the average of ACCOMPLISH
ments of the class known as gentlewomen Is
not high Their education is of singularly
superficial character and while every girl Is
supposed to learn how TO sketch and plsy the
piano after fashion, these two attachments
being considered necessary the knowledge
OF foreign languages, of modern history, and
of everything outside that touched upon in
the so-called ladies papers," is the most
elementary and restricted description. English
girls are exhuberant with health, vitality and
physical vigor, due in the main to their out
door life and fondness for exercise Rut
1t cannot be said that they shine in any par
ticular, save in riding and at lawn tennis
Their conversation is dull and uninteresting.
and when once one attempts to breach any
subject OF general interest outside the narrow
circle which constitutes their own particular
world. and beyond which they never look.
they are hopelesSly at sea and likely 10 reea rd
their companion either a freak or as q
quiz, whose object is to make them look
foolish
The average American girl knows all
about Europe, and without moments hest
tation could rattle off the names Of the var
tous rulers of the Old World But it would
be difficult to find one gentlewoman in a
hunoreo IN England who IS acquainted with
the identity of the president of the United
States, who has the fantest conception Of the
distinction between the two great national
parties here or who does not imagine that
Boston Is only a few hours distance from
New Orleans. This ignorance of the Eng
hshwoman as class is SO general that
when ony one of their number can realIv
put forward any claim to accomplishments
That are. after all, ordinary, she is at once
considered in the light Of Phoenix and her
name is heralded forth in the press to such
degree as to convey an altogether wrong
impression abroad in regard to the intal-
lectual calibre of the English woman. We're
accomplishments more general among the
fair sex of Great Britain 1t is doIIbtful
whether we should heareso much about the
attalnments of the young Duchess of S,th
erland as pastry cook, of the late Duchess
of Leinster's skill in trimming bonnets. of
Lady Warwick's knowledge Of horticulture,
Oh MIS- Dodo Asqulth's mastery of English
politics, and of Lady Rea's acquaintance with
foreign tongues and literature.
In France the gentlewoman is equally lack
ing in accomplishments. True, there are
daughters of the old aristocracy who in
spite of the aff1uence of their parents have
made a point of being graduated from the
public schools and OF taking up the di-
plomas that qualify them to earn their living
either as governesses or as teachers at the
various educational Institutions of town or
state. But this is the exception rather than
the rule, and although the practice has been
adopted by the daughters of some of these