Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-23
OUR BACHELOR GIRLS
THEIR CLOTHES, MANNERS, INDIE
PENDENCE AND WAY OF LIVING.
From the London Telegraph.

From the London Telegraph.
Bachelors should be taxed" This con-
tention is made from time to time in the
United States with bitterness or mockery
of spirit. The bachelors themselves are
rather pleased to be the subject of the dis
cussion that it provokes. 1t fiatters their
self-Iove, and they listen with snug com
placency to their arraignment as luXuries,
especially as they have been rudely shocked
by President RoOsevelts broad and bold
proclamation that mans domestic virtue
is in proportion to the size of his family.
Bachelors he says, shirkers of duty,
and he holds them accordingly in contempt.
Indirectly, the pride of the bachelor has
been attacked from another quarter. His
peculiar realm has been invaded and he
sees himself no longer sovereign there In
the United States the bachelor girl is not
a negligible quantity. The wonder and
derision with which she met al first, even
in this land, which is wont to feed upon
daily sensations have died out. The
bachelor girl has grown in power and in
numbers. If the bachelor man resents her,
it does not break her heart; if the public
in general disapproVes, so much the worse
for the public The sacredest feelings of
her own family are trompled onto" as Ar
temus Ward puts it, without remorse up
and doing is her motto. Her engagement
ok is crowded from cover to cover. Ennui
is the least of her troubles. She is so proud
of her ability to make her own way that
she feels herself unique and superior. She
is likely therefore, to be bombastic and
tiresome. Her independence, too newly ac-
quired makes her often ungracious and
ungraceful AS far as appearance goes,
however, the bachelor girl who prevails at
the present time would delude the unwary
into thinking that she was of the old
school. She shuns eccentricities of dress,
the unbecoming masculine lines at the one
extreme, as carefully as the rouge-pot and
high heels at the other. Her clothes are
only little simpler than those of her sister
in society They are made of excellent
material are becoming in style and color,
and usually are suitable for her work. She
does not swear or smoke cigarS-although
she reserves the right to do so If she wishes.
Her manners are simple and direct. II
they lack little of the old-time graceful
ness and gentlenesS they have the compen-
sating quality of being without affectation.
The social settlements have been boon
to girls of this class. They form step
ping-stones between college and Bohemia.
1t makes the transition easy, and the cloak
of philanthropic ideals has peculiarly fas
chatting qualities. Allied to this sort of in
terest are other movements, in which bach
elor girls of sentiment and education may
become twentieth century ministering
angels One of these is the great system of
organized charities employing tens of thou
sands of workers, another the profession Of
trained nurses, and a third the promoters
of economic and municipal reforms
Literary and artistic bachelor girls-writ-
ers sculptors, illustrators, painters and
the like-also hold their devotion to ideals
responsible for their manner of living. They
live in all kinds of ways, in proportion
degree of their success. They are to be
found in places as closely resembling those
of the Paris Latin Quarter as brand-new
America can furnish. Many of them are