The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-12-27

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From the duenetner Neleste. Mach
richten. A
Among the most striking and nov.
e! features of American lie Is the
position Of woman This Is briefly
but comprehsnsiyely described IN the
phrase, wholly un-European. The Esl.
ropeati woman is, first Of all. a 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 it his most precious privil.
eye TO We protector and proyidef to
his wife and children; the more faith,
fully he performs this function, the
more solicltously the woman keeps
his home and brightans It With the
most precious characteristics of her
sex.
To Yankeeland this restricted con-
ception Of the family and State is
strange. The American man is the
moneymaker 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
larlca men become RICH or. at least,
well to do, in a rush. The natural
result is that in the family partner
ship, in the well.to.do classes, the wo-
mans responsibilities as wife AMI
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
II lied with spending money. o.
course, this is not the case in all mid
die class families, but It Is in most
The woman is an expensive ornament
In the hone rather than an importani
cog in its machinery.
Out Of these circumstances the posi-
ton Of the American woman, at home
and in public, has developed SO thai
is a queen whom the man serves Will
devoted zeal, and whose gracious
smile he values as the best reward
of his efforts. Lamprecht rightly
speaks Of an almost medieval rever
snce for women in America. : : ~
| Mamuas wish is law, Mamma is tif
ed Of arguing with the imported help
Papa must 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 Paris-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 lady
and however false a statement made
by lady in conversation may be, ne
ran will contradict her. 1t would b.
bad manners" He would be no 'la
dies man."
The press. in America the servan
OF public opinion and the ruler of the
PEOPLE, takes its keynote from the uni
yersal chorus in praise Of woman. Tht
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 exalte'
as the most beautiful, wise, am
charming woman in the world. Wo'
TO him who does not add his voice t.
this chorus Of praise! "'F In TIL
schools of America, too, woman play
q part in which she is not seen in Eu
rope. The education of boys is Amos
entirely the work Of women, who trail
them to the national respect for VIC
men. The position of the sex apePar
still more plainly in the much-talked
O! co.education. : The result u
that the American man is nervous a
most to the point of hysteria, like
woman, always going to extremes
and his conduct and his tastes ar
fcminized. He seldom has the fine
strong masculinity of the Germal
man,