The evening times., 1902-07-21
WOMAN'5 WORK IN THE WORLD

Geraldine Bonner discusses in the
San Francisco Argonaut" the differ
enees between American and European
women. This comparison OF cne woman
with another has been a favcrite topic
with man Max o'Ren has discussed
and explained with much 0erscnaI graft
fcation ard given mild amusement to
hearers and readers. Paul Bourget has
called attention to the extraordinary
American, various lecturers of sufficient
propriety Of lang age TO be deemed ap-
propriate to address women's colleges
have given tbsr views (under the cir
cumstances ex ex-E-L2Iy favorable to the
American ifme Bcrnhardt has been
charmed with I beauty and vivacity OF
women in this country, so that fairly
good estimate has been gained OF the
foreign idea of the eternal feminine y
Still the American. bala eiEF the charms
and defects of her own countrywomen
and doing the same by those Of France
and England. IS alvavs entertaining
according 10 Geraldine Bonner, French
and English women unite in recogniz
ing as a defect the Independence OF
spirit, the ability to manage fer herself
and the lack Of the feminine attitude
exhibited by the American woman-the
spirit recognized - Max O'Ren when he
relates how the French woman enters
the room with her husband. the English
woman meekly behind her lord. while
the American woman sails through the
doorway like royal pc ress, while her
husband stands aside to let her pass.
AS Miss Bonner puts It the English
woman felt that with charms Of good
looks. fine clothes and attractive man
ners the American lacked that deer,
rich feminity with which the English
woman Is amply lowered" and the
French woman, while acknowledging
that les Annericaines" are wonderfully
beautiful, SO tall aud so ga natural.
are not so much women as les Fran
caises''-and this l. supposed to be tha
highest enconhIm Tie French woman
can pronounce. The criticism of an
American painter who has spent many
years IN Paris > g:yen in these we-cs-:
They CAmericang) are all so mixed up;
the young men are like girls. and the
girls are like boys am too much of
Frenchman now to like that Miss
Bonner explains the difference as large
ly growing out Of the fact that abroad
they all (the women more or less
frankly want to marry" That IS IN
true, that ever present desire
IS fully set forth in both English and
French fiction, and here it has become
2 matter Of Indifference to q rreat mass
Of women whether they marry or not.
II they fall in love they marry. but if
not it IS quite as well. There are pro
tessions Of all sorts, business, char
tiles; a thousand ayenues Of employ
nent, a ccmplexity CT interests from
which TO choose. And the days when
the unmarried woman st her teens /
was reproached ard derided as an old /
maid are long past and the wish to
know that Mrs will be engraved ol /
cer tombstone is not now an absorbing /
1ne. Miss" or rather no prefix at all |
VIII do a. well Hiss BonEer IS SC un !
kind IS to say that outside Of New Eng /
and, az least ia the West. there being /
more men than women has led the lat
ter to Iook upon men as "a sort Of drug |
n the market II is true the AmerI- /
can woman loves her independence. :
And it is this love of 1t this IN
doubted Joy in being allie to set on by
herself. that makes her less woman
than her European sisters There is I
much truth IN their accusation They /
represent the feminine ideal more per
'ectIy than she does They are neve,. /
and love their menkind /
with devotion, lf-sacrihce. an /
lrdent absorption that We do not know /
n this country. The American woman /
s almost always fonder of her children /
han of her husband Her strongest IN
stinct is the maternal The child comes /
lrst with her; the man has 10 place be-
.ide It. Imagine an American mother /
eaving three or four babies in the care /
Il hireIirgs in ENGLAND ana following /
Yer husband TO India! Yet among the /
British the wives Of army officers by the +
hundred do this ever year.
Another phase OF heir independence I
Z men IS the pleasure American women /
AXE in one another's sNrIo'v- It may I.
lurt the vanity CT men to know It, bu; I
OTIS Of girls and women enjoy these I
-atheriDgs Of their own sex more tnar +
hey do those in which the male clement /
5 included. Look at the tremendous