The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-11-15


and may feel wl,er she wears then, that
all the portraits OF her naughty. high
born predecessors look down from tho
wall upon her n1asauerading in their
finery with amusement that is in ITSELF
surely In merging this title Of hers
the American girl makes m'ghtier
sacrifice than she dreams.
She Is usually young, In a way UNIFORM.
ed. In some degree ignorant. She does
not perceive the difference. as wido as
the rondure OF the earth from conti-
nent to continent, between the position
OF the American wife and mother ana
that Of the foreign one.
she does not known that unless che
conquers her foreign husband by her
charm. her voice is OF no more effect
than tho sound Of shell. and that un-
less she Is a potent and imperious por-
sonality she must walt until she Is
grandmother before her will has weight
III the disposition Of tbs affairs OF the
family.
She does not realize that the An,cri-
can husband Is the one man In the
world who acknowledges the right and
Independence OF his wife-if not to the
last point, yet far moro than any oth-
er husband In existence: that no woman
has such privileges and indulsences az
the American wife has. and that the
hollow pleasantness OF hearing herself
addressed AS Princess the One OF Coun-
tess the Other Is feather In the scale
beside the lifelong happiness Of having
her own way and tho respect and love
OF good man at the same tjpne
But again, with few inevitable OK
ceptions, the european mobiles who
come to America to barter the dtlos
their fathers won with valor or with
brains never as a rule are men whose
! Intellect. honor or achievements mako
them desirable as husbands.
II they were anything but weak!ings
fortunes in some other way than by
sale of the glories Of their narne and
the honors their mothers wore.
II they were high-minded men they
woul revolt at the drst fancy OF the
whole proceeding.
They are dastards. And why should
an American girl be willing to marry .
weaklIng, a man without honor or .
bastard. and give her children the IN.
lasritance OF his nature and habits. all
for 50 empty return, TOR thing
growing Of less and less weight every.
where and In so many instances born
OF bar-sinister7 Is II for the poor
sake Of having people turn their heads
and say. There goes 30 ana soY
idle ouriousity to see real princess.
roes, as one would ask. Upon what
meat doth this our Caesar feed
But who cares to see how this pseudo
princess born over tho grocery. carries
herself?
In truth. she carries herself very wall.
wherever she Il and wherever she was
born.
sat lately in an opera house not Tar
from royal duchess and with COOK
beside me. You could not have told
which was which. At 40 great distance
was girl whose style and breeding.
taught kings daughters how prlncessee
should do. while they made sou proud
to know her al American.
She was much more your ideal Of what
the wearer OF the coronet should be-
than the well-born lady was.
Why should she not have Kept
this fine style and air OF high breeding.
this beauty and Eraciousness. to shed
lustre on her own country? Why should
she rob America and lend all TO for
eign land gliding Q Degenerate race Win
her youth and sweetness?
And why should che rehabilitate the
house of those who have come TO- grief.
tons OF squande1ing self-indulgence
with the money her father won BY toll
and self-denial and sacrifice?
Why should she carry to France. or
to Germany. or to Austria, or to Italy
not only her grace and loVeliness. out
the fortune which-after the grocery
had given him his start--her fathnr ac-
qured by his industry and skill and
largo ideas, by his patience and frugal.
ity or by his dash and daring In finance,
rathor than retain It In her own coun-
try to help In the development OF her
own people and the building OF their
great national enterprises
RI IL ,.Sv ne1N ey1O
shall she not find them here In all tho
possible splendors Of the old Venetian
merchant princes over again, and all the
possible virtues Of the American ones?
y ct why shall she foster SO childish
and so barbarous tendencies as this
want implies?
And why shall elo be willing to for
sake the land OF her birth. whose lnsu-
utions have given all to her. aud take
another flag In the place OF that radi-
ant one under whose protection all that
ts best In her has come to hoWer. that
other flag under which, II her fathers
had not foreaken 1t, she would to-day
be a peasant
Yet II she must have all that dorni-
nations. princedoms. powers imply. It
may be as we'll, perhaps. that she leave
the shelter OF her own flag; for IT SYM
bolizes a nobler order OF ideas than per.
tain elsewhere In the world and that
need to be kept pure and strong; u
eymbolizes simplicity Of lite, equality OF
men. liberty Of thought, hospitality to
the oppressed.
And with her predileetion for the op-
poslte OF all this. SO far as her sphere
Of thought and action extends she
brings menace to that freedom under
which only can the race progress to its
highest happiness and excellence.