The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-15
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN
COMMENTS ON NORTHERN WOMEN
MADE By SOUTHERN VISITOR.
The Stout Woman Made Shapely with
Proper COrsets-A Test of Good
ness-Odds and Ends.
New York, March Is.

I was prepared to find an even greater
difference between Northern and Southern
women than between the men, says a
Southern woman in the New York indie
pendent. But 1 am forced to the conclusion
same everywhere. They only differ in
manifestations. In the North, for instance,
they are frank rather than coquettish. At
the same time they are personally more re-
served, less confidential than we are in the
South, because they have more impersonal
topics of conversation than have. They
are more interested in the world at large
and less interested in themselves 1 think
this may grow out of the fact that they are
not noticed as much or approved as often
and CALAMITY women in the South.
Indeed, they are apparently without that
self-consciousness which limits our ways
from the glance of eye to the length of
a step. This leads to what we should con-
slider the most astonishing results. L ac-
counted on this basis for the naive expos
ure OF feminine legs on Fifth avenue When
1 in New York recently 1 saw many
sober maids. matrons and grand-matrons
walking there with skirts lifted as high as
if they had been wading through three feet
of water. / conclude that this cold indiffer-
ence to their neither extremities arose not
from lack of modesty, but from the evil
dent indifference of the public. However,
if woman showed such economy of skirts
in any Southern city. enough excitement
and enthusiasm could be generated along
that street by the sight to iengthen self
consciousness down TO her boot heels very
quickly.
1 do not know if social life in the North
is more or less elastic than il is in the
South. but evidently it is less formal in
some ways. A closer relation exists be-
tween romance and reality than we admit.
Love affairs are openly confessed and APP
parently receive a recognition. a general
sanction that we permit only near the end
of an engagement. At the same time / was
told that il is not admissible for a man TO
make love to woman unless he is 'in
earnest To US, whose vocation consists
largely In coquettish dexterity at parry
ing the gallant speeches of our man kind.
this seems an unreasonable, prosaic hard
ship. And this reminds me OF another i'm
pressive characteristic of Northern men;
they are not rude. but they are unconscious
OF how much and how cunningly women
differ from men. l recall in this connection
a long walk with a gentleman who is
product rather than an exponent of New
England. He was an excellent comrade.
but he allowed me 10 crawl over a stone
fence. snake through a thicket of briars
and up a hill one-quarter of a mile steep
without ever offering me the least assist
ance. Had a Southern man treated me in
this fashion / should have died of exhaus-
ton and Indignation. AS IL was | climbed
the situation with fortitude that L have
never showed before or since. felt
humorous exhilaration in conforming TO his
strenuous notions OF sex.
These are some of my first impressions
OF the North. More particularly | was
amazed at the indefatigable energy of
these people. What we know as leisure is
an experience they can never have. They
have no capacities for resting. Their brains
have been wound UP by 2C9 years of indus
trious living. and they never run down."
/ with party OF New York people in
Connecticut who thought they were taking
a vacation. Now, with Us a vacation Is
kind OF Nirvana experience. We take our
holiday lying fiat upon our backs. We go