The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-04

lish rests in the comparative absence
Of this phenomenon
Man there does not and cannot bear
himself as the cynosure of the female
eye; the art of throwing the handker-
chief has not been included in his early
curriculum. The American dancing
man does not dare to arrive just In
time for supper or to lounge in the
way While dozens of girls line the
walls in faded expectation of waltz.
The English girl herself can hardly
be blamed for this state of things. She
has been brought up to think that mar
liage is the be-all and end-all Of her
existence. In the United States the
number Of girls who strike one as OBJ
Nious candidates for marriage is re-
markedly small. This may be owing to
The art with which the American wom-'
an conceals her lures, but all the
evidence points to its being in the main
an entirely natural and unconscious
attitude. The American girl has all
along been SO accustomed to association
equal terms with the other sex, that
she naturally and inevitably regards
him more in the light of a comrade than
of u possible husband. She has so
many resources, and is so independent,
that marriage does not bound her horl-
zon
Her position, however, is not one of
antagonism to marriage. If 1t were, l
should be the last to recommend II.
1t rather rests on an assurance OF
equality on the assumption that mar
riage is an honorable estate round
ing and completing Of eXistence-for
man as much as for woman. Nor does
it mean l think, any lack of passion
and the deepest instincts of woman
kind. All these are present and can pc
awakened by the right man at the right
time. In deed, the very fact that mar
riage with or without love- is not in
| cessantly in the foreground of an Am
erican girls consciousness probably
makes the awakening all the more deep
and tender, because comparatively I'M
anticipated and unforeseen.
The marriages between American
| heiresses and European peers do not
initiate seriously against the above
view of American marriages. IT cannot
be sufficiently emphasized that the
| doings of a few wealthy people in New
York are not characteristic of Ameri-
can civilization. The New York Times
! was entirely right when it said, in COM
| menting upon the frank statement OF
| the bridegroom in a recent alliance OF
! this kind that it had been arranged by
friends of both parties: "A few years
| ago this frankness would have cost him
| his bride, if his friends had chosen an
/ n
even now it would be resented to the
point of a rupture Of the engagement by
most American girls"
| The American girl may not be in
| reality better educated than her British
sister, nor more profound thinker;
but her mind is indisputably more agile
and elastic. In fact, a sloW-going Brit
| Usher has to go through a regular course
! Of training before he can follow the
J roiH fVan c 81 f
| ations. She has the happiest faculty Of
| getting at ones point of view and in
| putting herself in his place. Her mag
ination is more likely to be Over-actiVe
than too sluggish. She is wonderfully
adaptable, and makes herself at ease
| in an entirely strange milieu almost be-
| fore the transition is complete.
| The innocence of the American girl
| is neither an application, nor a preiu-
diced fable, nor a piece of stupidity.
! THE innocence of the American girl
| passes abysses of obscenity without
stain or knowledge" She may be per
! fectly able to hold her own under any
circumstances, but she has little of that
detestab9e quality which we call "knoW-
ing" The immortal Daisy Miller is a
charming illustration of this.
! The whole atmosphere of the coun-
| try tends to preserve the spirit of I'M
| suspecting innocence in the\ American
]
maiden. The function of a chaperon
is very differently interpreted in the
! United States and in England. On one
| occasion 1 met in a Pullman car a
young lady travelling in charge of her
| governess. A chance conversation
ELECTED the fact that she was the
| daughter of a well-known New York
| banker and the fact that we had some
mutual acquaintance, was accepted as
all-sufficing credentials of my respect
ability. We had happened to fix on
| the same hotel at our destination: and
| in the evening, after dinner, l met in
the corridor the staid and severe look
ing governante, who saluted me with,
! 'Oh Mr., Muirhead, have such a
headache. Would you mind going out
with my little girl while she makes
some purchaser" / was a little taken
aback at first; but a moments refec-
ton convinced me that I had Just ex-
perienced a most striking tribute to
the honor of the American man and
! the social atmosphere of the United
States.
If American women have been well
treated by their men-folk, they have
nobly discharged their debt. II is
! trlte to refer to the numerous schemes
Of philanthropy in which American
women have played so prominent a
part, to allude to the fact that thew
have as body used their leisure to
cultivate those arts and graces Of life
| winch the preOccupation of man has
led him to neglect. This chapter NAV
| Wei close with the words of Professor
! Bryce: mo country seems to owe more
| to It's women than America does nor
| to owe to them SO much of what is hast
IN IT'S social institutions and in the be