The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1899-07-08
WAYS OF SOUTHERN WOMEN.
They Have a Tendency 10 Irr1tnte
Northern Women Who D. Not
Understand Them.

One OF the Things men most lu!pItSS
the northern visitor to the south is the
bravery and furtiIude of the women
there under the trying circumstances
which have become lately the ..n:t OF
so many of them. In the larger cities
they have turned their attention TO
various efforts at earning a living. while
in the smaller places practically only
one way is open 10 them. II is that
first refuge of most women who find
themselves compelled to work. and are
vet without a profession or the training
for any regular career-the boarding
house. The difficulties of hOusekeep-
ing in most of the southern states are
greater than women accustomed to the
varied and abundant markets of the
other parts of the country can realize.
There are not many kinds of food to
be had. and what there is rarely suits
northern tastes.
The average southern woman who
starts to keep house for others than her
family rarely does it in the businesslike
fashion of women in the north. and this
is in a way peculiar. as some of the most
successful boarding houses in New \ ork
nave always been conducted by south
ern ome But their point of view
| seems different at home. and things are
likely to slip along in the best way they
can. Il am beginning to get a little bit
tired of paving my board in these
southern places" said a girl who had
been in the south for some time, only
to be treated afterward as if | were an
invited guest of the family" That is a
truthful enough description of the way
things go in the south. and this fact is
a great compliment to the innate re-
finement and politeness of the southern
people. Although n may be paying
board to the woman who conducts the
house. her inclination is to treat every
body in her home as if he or she were
n guest. This naturally has its intiu-
ence on the bOardcr. who feels a little
bit like expressing his opinions or feel
ings.
Possibly this treatment prevents the
bOarders from complaining sometimes
when they want to. But what is thatin
comparison with the great advantage
that comes to from the cour-
teSv and unSclfShneSS in such Il way Of
settling the differences between land
lady and buardcr? Many of these
southern women are quite incapable of
keeping house in the way necessary to
look best after Il hGuseful of people,
but they are all polite. really consider
ate and genuinely refined. y woman in
a high degree typical of her class had
been wealthy during her husbands life
time. was pretty and liked the admira-
tion that men in the south always show
to ome She was a poor widow. Her
daughter. reared to wealth. taught
,, school, and she was supposed, in her
! old-fashiOncd. roomy home. to have the
best house in town. She WAS charming
in her languid. polished way to all the
guests. never had much on the table
and made everybody feel as if the gath
ering were Il house party. The only
reason we had not better things to eat
was the manner in which the providing
was done. The negro mammieS in this
town used to go from house to house
: Will Nv ~" nm -
good ones had not beer sold by the time
she reached our house, the boarders
Jared well that night. But if the de-
mand had been large and mammy's sup
ply small. they had to depend in more
than the usual measure on the charm
of the hostess smile and manner. The
market might be full of green peas and
other spring vegetables. while they ate
hominy and canned corn. That was
merely because the hostess had never
been in the habit of going to market.
She had waited for years for the old
negro vegetable peddlers to come to her,
and did not alter the habit merely be-
cause she happened to have 90 persons
in her house who were paying-rather
literally. too-for being there.-Chica-
go Inter Ocean.