Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-19
A Graphic and Interesting Delinea-
ton of Character and Traits.
CHIEF AIM TO PLEASE AND MARRY
Companion Between Their Train
ing and the English Girls.
GOOD TASTE IN HANDIWORK

written Tor The Evening Star by Mary H. hrout.
Mrs. Henry Norman has declared that.
of all European women, those Of France
more nearly resemble the oriental type.
Reared in almost oriental seclusion, under
surveillance from birth to marriage, and
marriage itself arranged" in ninety-ni
cases out of a hundred, with little regard
for the prejudices or convictions Of the wo-
man in the case, this conclusion is not SO
wide Ct the mark as might at first appear.
| The chief aim Of French woman Of the
higher classes is to please; and to accom-
plish this all that can enhance personal at
Effectiveness and grace Of manner Is
brought into play. Coquetry is In the blood,
and even those who engage successfully In
serious Intellectual work are apparently as
well versed in the ability to charm as those
who seem to think of and live for nothing
else.
While French women understand in all
Its perfection. the art Of dress, few are
really beautiful, although occasionally
even among the peasants. rare types of
loneliness are to be found This Is espe-
cially true of the women of Brittany.
Whatever may be her faults, indiffer-
ence to her children can not be charged
to the French mother. She goes to the
other extreme and is indulgent and dot
ing to the last degree.
An English writer in Blackwood's Mag
azine, some years ago, gave an amusing
incident which assuredly discounts any
legends of the American spoiled child that
are current in English society. A. gentle
man and his wife had been invited to
ceremonious dinner; the hour came, din
ner was announced, and they did not APP
pear. After waiting a sufficient length of
time the hostess decided to delay no lon
ger but to proceed without them. AT 10
O'Clock they presented themselves, flushed
and breathless, and the explanation which
thew entireIU satisfied their hostess.
who, under the same circumstances, she
said, would have done the same thing.
The pair were dressed, ready to leave the
house, when they went into the nursery to
bid their little daughter, aged three, good
night. The child suddenly decided that her
mother must remain at home; promises,
brides and pleadings were of no avail. The
father then interpoSed, when the child de-
cided that he also must not go. She further
insisted that both should go to bed, and
she threatened to cry if they refused This
would have been insupportable, so both
oheyed, and when the little tyrant had fall
len asleep the abject parents rose, re-
dressed and kept their engagement, in spir-
it, if not in letter.
49, DOte on Children.
It is probable that this absurd indulgence
has fatal effect upon the sons when they
reach manhood, who, INDUCED and caressed
through their youth by their adoring moth
ers, are lacking in that sturdy self-reliance
and independence which reasonable disci-
pline develops.
With the doting love for children charac-
teriStic OF the french as nation, althougn
there is always more or less difficulty in
making desirable matches for their daugh-
ters-they are rarely ever unwelcome. From
the hour Of her birth-although there are
many instances where the child is sent to
the country with nurse-the daughter
usually remains under the mothers per-
sonal supervision; she sleeps in the same
or an adjoining room, receiving her first
Instructions at home, sitting at the table
with the family and appearing In the draw
ing room upon her mothers reception days.
Unlike the English girl Of the same class,
who is relegated to the nursery, who rarely
ever appears at dinner or in the drawing
room with her elders, the French girl has
acquired her knowledge of society in child
hood, and with an ease and unconscious
ness which her English sister seldom pos
sesses.
In many families, although her lessons
are given under her mothers guidance,
she Is carefully instructed by governesses
and masters, music and dancing being OBJ
ligatory-as necessary as a knowledge Of
| reading and writing, since they fit her es-
sentially for the place she Is to occupy in
society.
When girls are sent from home the
schools selected are those under the con-
troll of the church, managed by various re-
selves upon their exclusiveness, receiving
only girls Of the higher classes, carefully
excluding the daughters of the bourgeoise-
the wealthy trading and manufacturing
every name of the old noblesse Of France.
In these institutions. as in the home
training, while a thorough knowledge of
the fundamental branches is requisite, yet
here, too, the chief aim is to make the pu-
pill accomplished rather than learned-a
belle rather than scholar.
Scholars, but Bellies, Too.
There are excellent public schools, which
have increased in number and efficiency
under the republic, and which are attended
by both sexes, there being some difference
| in the course of study in the lower grades,
but none in the higher. Where discrimina-
ton occurs 1t is in the matter of manual
training principally-girls in the Industrial
schools being taught sewing, cookery and
other domestic arts, where boys are in
structed in the use OF tools France not
| having yet advanced to the equality which
prevails throughout the schools of Scandi-
navia.
The people Of the weather. classes, as in
England, do not patronize the government
schools in anything approaching the patron
age of the public schools in the United
States. It is a matter of pride with the
well-to-do Frenchman to pay for the tuition
of his children-of his daughter especially,
and he is unwilling to place her where he
fears she may come in contact with the
children of vulgar people. Furthermore. he
Still looks upon state instruction as a
species of charity-an estimate that eventu-
ally will change.
AS in other European countries, a yoang
girls confirmation is the most important
event in her life. 1t is preceded by careful
instruction by the parish cure, and by spe-
cial acts Of penance: she must go to her
first communion with clear conscience.
When the day arrives she is dressed In
white, half hidden in a voluminous veil, and
forms one of the long procession that files
toward the chancel and kneels to receive
the apostolic benediction. This important
event Is followed by visits of congratulation.
gifts and fetes, in which the young COM
municant is the parsonage Of Importance;
she has crossed the boundary line between
childhood and girlhood, and the ceremony is
second in Importance only to that great
event which has been kept steadily in view
through infancy, through childhood and
during her school days-her marriage.
No Place for Unmarried.
This is the French woman's one career
Like the civilization of China, the social
system Of France does not take into ac-
count the unmarried woman. There is no
place and no provision for such an anomaly.
Failing to marry through lack of attractive
ness, or, what is much more disastrous,