The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-08
Those Seen In
This Country
ARE INDEPENDENT.
What They May and What
They May Not Do,

Is the American girl really emanci-
pated? 1 have lived in various parts of
the United States, and personally can
not imagine a girl having more liberty
or less. Her education is as liberal as
a boys; she chooses her own husband,
or knows the reason why: her allow
ance is almost as generous as her
brothers.; her dover is far more so,
and she frequently rules her parents
with rod of iron, which, however,
has several weak spots. Certain minor
liberties vary in the different sections,
and there is a general atmosphere of
freedom and progress throughout the
land; but the great European m,scon-
ception on this particular subject is
owing, l fancy, to the hordes Of noisy
and third-rate young of the American
4 species who invade England and tie
continent year after year, who hail
\ from Heaven only knows where, appear
to owe allegiance to no insignificant
earthly parent, who f1irt with unknown
men, eat candy and chew gum in hotel
parlors and on the top of omnibuse5,
and chaperon themselves, secure in an
armor of unattractiveness. This is the
f1otsam and jetsam of a rev country,
an interesting study in ITSELF, but 1
have no time for 1t mere. The aver
age we'll brought-up girl, whose pa
rents are of more or less importance
in the community, who is carefully
al a
schools, at colleges, or in converts, who
grows up with the idea that after
school days and wear or so Of tra"el,
she is to be launched IN society, is the
type which will &c Give attention.
l have stated the liberal patronage
which the American eagle afford her,
but there is another side TO the pic
ture.
In regard to certain conventions the
young girl of this country is fairly
muzzled. In many cases she is rot al
lowed in the streets or to shop alone;
to drive with a man unchaper 1ned
would mean social ostracsm; to walk
with him alone in an unfashionable
part of the city is a delrous lark, and
a party of young people ut a concert
or theatre is fianlled by an elderly and
martyred dado Does she 50 far forget
herself as to receive presents from a
man not engaged to her she is bitterly
criticised; and at any Jne IF the great
summer hotels she finds it painfully
easy to get herself talked about She
may break as many hearts as she
chooses and engage herself repeatedly;
and although this prerogative may be
regarded as mot quite nice" by the
ultra-conservative, she can do that and
more, provided she wear her muzzle in
public.
The American girl from the earliest
l. hEaN
own opinions. This she does with a
thoroughness, which often makes her
q pest as child. but unquestionably
contributes to the rapid development of
her intelligence. AS older people talk
to her and before her with little re-
serve, and as she reads pretty much
what she chooses, her secondary
& knowledge of the world at the age of
eighteen is really startling. AS re-
suit the sternest parent could not con-
vince her that she needed advice in the
selection of a husband, and she marries
when and whom she chooses-this is a
prerogative that our cousins across the
water envy-but If she almost inva-
riably makes her own choice in the
matter of a husband, she also disposes
Of him with alarming frequency. Boys
and girls marry every year, to find
their mistakes and go their devious
ways in an appallingly short time,
writes Gertrude Atherton in the Ameri-
can Queen.
Parents demonstrate when a sutton
seems to their vigilant eyes not all
that is desirable; they may even go to
the length of making themselves OBJ
noxious and mourning the wrath of
their children, but the children threat
en- elopement and that settles the mat
ter.
There is a prevalent belief that the
women of this country are WOrshipped
as goddesses. 1t is quite true that she
Is an imperious creature and demands
the homage and subservience of man
as her divine right, and yet she has
curious Inconsistencies. Brass buttons
fairly riddle her pride. The army and
navy cadets and officers are gods be-
fore whom she bows in obedience,
There is a periodical crop of articles
in the newspapers on the craze of the
American girls for titles. That some
are mad on the subject there is no de-
nying; nevertheless the American girl
who prefers a foreigner to one of her
own countrymen is the exception, as
can easily be proved, for where one
rich girl buys title hundreds marry in
their own set