New-York tribune., 1900-05-27

their books with delight worthy of a better cause
"Once launched out into society the German girl
is apt to marry young. Her thoughts tend always
to things domestic, and the chances of future hus
band and home play great part in her girlish
dreams. The possibility OF being old maid is re-
garded In the light of misfortune. She is con-
vinced of the fact that it is her duty marry and
that spinsterhood is fate to be avoided at all
costs. The actual betrothal is formal affair. A
man is expected TO ask the parents for the hand
of the girl before he proposes to her. The event
is celebrated by dinner, it is announced in the
In hs R to h 0na eo
are as numerous as anywhere else. and when
of her choice she does not mind showing her devo-
ton openly before any one who happens to be
present. for it is the custom for engaged couples
to be somewhat demonstrative in company. Every
two young people who appeared to avoid each other
in public. and such behavior would give rise to
and a certain amount of gossip is caused if a
couple discover that they have made mistake and
provide the furniture plate and linen for the future
and a bs7 the s OF heF
IN addition to her trousseau.
in her element and blossoms out into the state
for which Nature has created her. In her married
girlhood. Even if girl she may have been
ties, after her marriage she loses these interests
and settles down contentedly to domestic life.
and his home place of rest and comfort. Her
crowning glory is her talent for housekeepMing ping 1T It
succeed with limited sum in the task she sets be-
fore herself of creating coSey home, where every
thing is neat and spotlesS and where the daily
work goes on with monotonous but regular steadi-
Her home is her kingdom. and her husband and
children entirely engross her and take up all her
thoughts. She seems to feel the desire for
other interests, and Germany knows no 'Noras' OF
the Ibsen type In fact, Gretchen is so taken up
with her home life that her talk is often restricted
to it and her servants, with perhaps an item of
local gossip thrown in for change. She delib-
eratey shuts all larger interests of men and events
of her domestic life and consequently is not
in A position to converse otherwise than In
stricted fashion. German men sometimes deplore
that their women folk display inability for serious
conversation and recognize that it arises from the
narrowness of their domestic world but on the
whole they would fight shy of girls who read
'Turgenef' and 'Nietzche' and discussed poll
tics and metaphysics with equal gusto. They would
capacity administer their comfort. and pre-
fer their 'hausbacken' Gretchens as they are. Per-
haps If look more diligently for the cause of
the comparative narrow mental horizon of German
girls may find II in the fact that they rarely
never travel. Their minds and hearts would per-
Cmes, but impressions are granted them,
and naturally their immediate surroundings
the universe to them. They have no oppor-
tunity of realizing that the world extends beyond
the street they live in.
"In Germany the question Of gentlewomen earn
ing their living is still in its infancy. A girl
of the upper classes rarely leaves her home for
that purpose, unless forced to stringent measures
by absolute poverty; whereas i'll England girls
strike Independently. sometimes merely
the great woman question has begun to seethe in
Germany, and the signs of approaching changes
in the world of women to be found in German
contemporary literature