Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-11-01
ARE NOT FRIVOLOUS.
French Women Unjustly Accused-Wha t
Frivolity May or May Not
Mean,

I have often in England heard French
women called frivolous. The English
have the happy knack of attributing 10
other nations the many faults and foil les
which are to be found in theirs.
How can French women, who, or all
the women in the world are the most
initiated into the affairs OF their has
bands he frivolous?
IL frivoliry consists in trying to remain
young and pretty as long as possible
without ever becoming ridiculous. Then
French women are frivolous, if you Ike.
If frivolity consits in making a homo
cheerful. gay and attractive, then She
is frivolous. And she does that with
such success that in France, outside of
the aristOcracy and the wealthieS,
classes. among the professional and com
mercial classes, you will not find more
than one man out of five hundred who
belongs 70 a club-and this is perhaps
the best testimonial that French women
receive at the hands of the men.
If frvollty consists in seeing that 4
man does not altogether get absorbed hy
the cares of profession or business. then
she is frivolous. And she mas enough in
fuence over her husband TO see TO that
French women frivOlousi Is she friyol-
Gus, this woman who is the friend. the
contidante of her husband and his part
ner in business? Who, in important. ~
well as in insignificant subjects. has
both a consultative and deliberatiye
voice in the household?
1t is she who knows, with her economy
and good management, how to face dan
ger, when, from one cause or another.
the family revenue diminishes. She is
never kept in the dark on that subject.
She expects to be informed of the situa-
ton always, nay, she demands it.
If this woman were frivolous, how
could you explain the alteration for the
mother which, even to the lowest of the
low, you find in French children? How
could this be, unless she We're the ex-
ample of all domestic virtues?
The French woman, unlike her English
sister, receives a sound business educa-
ton at home and at school. In the mid
dle-class and common schools she is
Taught household and commercial book
keeping, and is given lessons in purchas-
ing and other useful expenditure.
She is taught how TO know good ma
terials. She is taught cooking useful
and palatable dishes and the dainty ac-
commodation of remnants.
As q wife, she is able TO help her
husband and often TO manage his bust
ness. In the small commerce she acts as
his clerk. more generally as his cashier.
and in large commerce she is an active
partner She knows the price of stocks
i'm the market quite as well as he does.
In France it is the wife of the trades
man who has charge of his books and
his cash box. and never were either en-
trusted to better guardianship. Go in
side a fashionable shop in Paris, or q
humble one in the provinces, you will in
variably see madame through the little
square hole over which is written, Pay
here" madame, all smiles, receiving the
money with most graceful thanks, book
ing it and keeping il.
If she loses her husband, * il for her
moral loss, not a material one; she can
80 on without him perfectly we'll She
has the whole business at her fingers
end. She is the mistress of the place.
and so acknowledged by all the employees
of the firm. France owes her prosperity
TO the shrewdness and the industrious
habits OF her women