Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-26
M AIDS OF BRITAIN
COMPARISON OF THE GIRLS OF
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
The Irish Damsel Born coquette-
Settles Into Staid and Prac.
teal Wife.
Lady onslow In the Queen.
Bright and fierce and fick'e is the South.
And dark and true and tendrr is the Nor h.

Lady onslow in the Queen.
Bright land fierce and hck'c is the South.
And dark and true and tender is the North.
doctor of large experience once told a
friend of mine he could usually tell the
nationality of his hospital patients, not
only by voice and accent. but from the ma
uonal symptoms. An Englishman's COM
plant in nine cases out of ten is II cannot
eat;' whereas the Irishman always has "a
great impression (oppression) on his heart
and the moan of the Scot is invariably "a
sair head" have often thought such self
diagnosis gives clew TO some of the pre-
vaiiing characteristics of each race, show
ing the plegmatic practical qualities of the
Englishman, who consumes his beef and
beer as long as possible; the emotional, ex-
cltable nature of the Irish Celt, whose
imagination runs away with him, giving
the heart double work to do; and in the en-
curance that succumbs to nothing less than
the hopeless misery of "sar head" the
harder nature and heavier brain of the
Scot
comparisons are not always od!ous: on
the contrary, they generally very in
teresting, and the basis of all analysis or
criticism. We must be very unobservant
II, in our way through this world, do
not notice how often some attributes cling
to certain races. In these islands racial
peculiarities becoming more and more
obiiterated; modern facilities of travelling,
frequent migration of all classes from one
country to another will in time make us
all exactly alike, and wonderful example
OF the fusion of races, Brton, Dane. Gael,
Celt Norman and Teuton. Yet hereditary
habits of thought and speech die hard. and
Tor some few generations longer there will
be distinguishing features by which north
may be known from south. east from. west.
Varieties Of Excellence.
Without being able to pigeonhole my
compatriots quite neatly as my friend
the doctor, fancy have not lived nearly,
half century among them without being
able to make tolerably accurate guess at
the nationality of member of my own
sex and class before / have been many
hours in her company This article not
being written for the purpose of a moral
lesson or sermon is not the place for a
disquistion on what may be called the
heavy virtues and indeed, in many good
qualities feminine British and Irish alike
are beyond criticism. All are good but
1T is the varieties of excellence that are in
tereSting to observe.
English stiffness and reserve. of which
we used to hear much and which were
made the subject of much satire by our
Gallo neighborS. are fast disappearing UNI
der the cosmopolitan influences of modern
life; but one sees traces of them yet in a
shy constraint of manner observable among
strangers Reserved, in the real sense of
the word. the Englishwoman is not; not
half so much as the Scotchwoman. She
may meet you at first with some slight SuS-
picion of a stony British stare until she
knows who you are; but once satisfied on
this vital point, she will, if your rank is
equal to superior to her own, not I'M
frequently, after a few days acquaintance,
confide to you embarrassngly intimate de-
tails of her private life.
On the other hand her Irish sister, Will
be genial and ELUSIVE the moment you
meet, and will prattle away in a seemingly
most confiding manner; but it is all on the
surface, merely the social exterior, and
only to friends who are friends indeed will
she allow a glimpse of her inner life.
Scotch femininity is reserved If you like,
combining the ineXpansiveness of the Eng
lish with the intense reserve of the Irish
nature
Men Her Vassals.
An Irish girl is a born coquette and is
somewhat audacious in her fiirtations,
though developing, like a reformed rake,
into the best and least Eighty of wives.
Yet she is rot half so sentimental; nor do
these abortive love affairs. that are like
preliminary canters before the arduous race
of matrimony, go nearly SO deep with her
as with the staider and quieter English
firt OF fiirtations it may always be said
that the more conspicuous and even daring
in appearance the less dangerous they are.
1t is the hardly noticeable, stealthy affairs
that one day astonish the social circle by a
runaway match. or turn out such deadly
earnest that even parental WISDOM ana au-
thority have to give way.
Though Englishwomen no longer live, as
they are represented in old-faShioned Carl
catures, in a chronic state of calculating
''shocking.'' they are still very easily and
often quite unnecessarily shocked by any
deviation from the commonplace in others
of their sex; for, alas, one of Their faults
is an entire absence of that sense of humor
with which the Hibernian mind is bubbling
over; and it IS such a valuable possession
to poor mortals often tiding them over
many dangerous bit of troubled water.
Witty and Gay.
Take her altogether, the Irishwoman has
the brightest spirit. the gayest wit Of the
three, and is far the easiest for mere
Acquaintance TO get on with. Young men
will tell you if they enjoy dinner party 1t
generally turns out the lady they were
paired with was Irish or American. On 4
Journey if you show some small civil:ty to
a fellow Traveller and she responds, genially
accepting it as something natural and pleas
ant you may make a shrewd guess-even
without touch of the brogue to guide you
that the lady comes from the Emerald
Isle, or, at any rate, is not an English
woman The latter would probably make
you feel with freezing politeness that such
casual contiguity gave no claim for any
intercourse beyond barest civility. Then
in a country house wet day, or among
a dull party, what blessing is the indomi-
table gayety of the Irish girl. who is never
bored, pleased with everything, and herself
pleasing in consequence, who Will cheer
fully talk to the duilest guest whom all the
rest avoid, go out driving with the elder
ladies' and is never cross or standing on
her dignity; who is attractive to the men,
vets disarms the censure that would other
wise be lavished by her own sex on her
somewhat daring coquetry by unfa!ling
good temper and lack of intrigue.