The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-12-27
IHE AlIIERIc an QUEEN
WON Al n inn o r FL nj Y AND n 81
Tic LfEEl DEs cRiHED FOR
FERN Jsfi REApERs. d

~ = = " 49,
TIC LIFE pEs cRIHED FOR
GERM AIN REApERs d
From the Aiuenchner Ne9este CHI
richten. Il
Among the most striking and nov
el features Of American life Is the
position Of woman This ID briefly
but comprehsnsiyely described III the
phrase. wholly un-European. The E.l-.
ropean woman is, first Of all, q wife
and mother, In Germany the home
is the foundation Of the family, and
so, in an extended sense, Of the great
nation family Of the State. The man
considers 1t his most precious prfyil-.
ege 10 be protector and Pfoyider toI
his wife and children; the more faith
fully he performs this function, the
more soltcitously the woman Keeps
his home and brightsns IL with the
most precious characteristics Of her
sex
To Yankeeland THIS restricted con-
ceptlon Of the family and State is
strange. The American man is the
money.maker of the household, and
nothing more. But to-day the strug-
gle for the dollar is not half SO fierce.
" strenuous as the battle for the
franc, the mark, the shilling. In Dol
larica men become rich, or, at least,
well to do, in rush. The natural
result is that in the family partner
ship, IN the well.to.do classes, the wo-
mans responsibilities as wife ana
mother are not great, She does not
have to toll ceaselessly, sweeping and
cooking, because she can hire others
to do 1t. She need not turn every
penny over hundred times before
spending 1t, for she is literally sup.
lied with spending money. OF
course, this is not the case in all mid
die class families, but It Is in most.
The woman is an expensive ornament
lin the home, rather than an important
cog in its machinery.
Out Of these circumstances the posi-
tlon of the American woman, at home
and in public, has developed SO that
is a queen whom the man serves with
devoted zeal, and whose gracious
smile he values as the best reward
of his efforts. Lamprecht rightly
speaks Of an almost medieval reyer-
ence for women in America. : :
Mammals wish is law. Mamma is tif.
ed Of arguing with the imported help.
Papa mast give up his home and take
his family to a hotel. Mamma takes
her daughters to the country for the
summer. Papa can come out for the
weekend; and he's suited, for he, the
dollar maker, doesn't know what to
id with himself away from town.
Some fine day mamma packs up and
takes the girls OF for a year in Lon.
don or Parls-it's up to papa to send
The checks Ladies first" is an al
most sacred motto in the United
States-more than anywhere else. An
other is: Never contradict a lady"
and however false statement made
by a lady in conversation may be, no
ran will contradict her. 1t would be
..bad manners" He would be no ia
dies man"
The press. in America the servant
OF public opinion and the ruler OF the
Iueople, takes its keynote from the uni
yersal chorus in praise of woman. The
great trinity that governs the news,
papers is the dollar, politics, and wo'
man. To "the great American wo'
man" leading articles are constantly
devoted. She is continually exalted
as the most beautiful, wise, and
charming woman in the world. Woe
TO him who does not add his voice to
This chorus Of praise! - IN the
schools of America, too, woman plays
part in which she is not seen in Eu'
rope. The education of boys is almost
entirely the work of women, who train
them to the national respect for wo
men. The position of the sex appears
still more plainly in the much'talked
az co.education. The result Is
that the American man is nervous al
most to the point of hysteria, like a
woman, always going to extremes
and his conduct and his tastes are
fcmfnized. He seldom has the fine
strong masculinity of the German