The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-10-05

Toned to have the footman escort hel
to church and to carry her prayer
BOOK the bogus English girl found a
footman absolutely necessary to he1
attendance at divine worship.
But this type of Anglo-Amer1can
girl was succeeded in time by the girl
whose parents take house in London
for the season, go to Homburg for the
late summer, to Paris in the autumn,
and to Rome, Egypt or the Riviera for
the winter. The new American girl
is a cosmopolite, and, comparing the
ways Of all nations, finds her own
quite as good as any. Her American
ism Is not blatant, but deep. She goes
her own Independent but perfectly
proper way, and is politely Indifferent
as to what the English girls think of
her. There is nothing like polite in
difference to win the favor Of the
English, as a race. Straightway they
began to respect, 20 admire, to copy
the American girl. It has divided
English society into American and
Ant1-American parties-one bemoan-
ing and lamenting and deriding Amer
lean customs, the other enthusiastic
ally Initiating them.
London is the battle-ground Of these
two factions. The Americans, how
ever, are steadily gaining and invading
the enemy's camp. American GUS
toms in entertaining get a firmer
footing every season. Ten years ago
the American fashion of smart dinners,
especially on Sunday nights, at splen-
did cafes, with music and flowers, was
unknown In London. To-day it is
rampant, and there are not less than
dozen superb London hotels where
these dinners are the great feature.
Another evolution is the dance for
young girls alone. 1t was inaugurated
over a decade ago by the young I'M
married daughter of Lord Rosebery,
and was screaming success. Of course
there was an outcry from the reac-
tionaries, but the girls and men found
it charming change from the dullness
OF the typical English ball and the
custom has come to stay.
Another American innovation in
English society is a boon both to
health and comfort. This is the fash
ion Of wearing gay little bodices, made
high, at family and informal dinners.
All over England until a few years
dinner" was gone through with reli-
giously in every family of any social
standing whatever. This meant the ar
raging of every woman, no matter
what her age or health might be, and
in the strictest privacy of the family
circle, in low-necked gown for dinner.
The gown, of course, was not fresh-1t
would take the income of a Roths-
child to keep family of girls in even
ing gowns for everyday wear. The
spectacle, therefore, of an English
family dinner was weird and un.
earthly-the seedy and frazzled skirts.
the shabby bodices-the whole
CHASTITY travesty on full dress. The
resi-: 5 to health, too, were something
frightful. English houses are badly
heated, the climate is damp and try
ing and rheumatism and consumption
stalked in the train of the dressing
for-dinner habit. But the American
custom of reserving low gowns for
ceremonious occasions is founded on
good taste, and once adopted it will not
be laid aside.
In France and Italy the influence
of the American woman is not so OBJ
vious as in England, but it is there.
The custom Of girls going out alone
is yearly making Roadway. Former
" it was not safe for a girl to VEN
ture alone on the streets in any
French or Italian city. She would
be understood as inviting insult. But
that is now thing Ct the past. French
seeing well-dressed girls walking
alone, and no longer dream that this
solitariness means anything except
that the girl finds companion un-
necessary. In Paris girls Of the up
per middle class think nothing now
of mounting an omnibus alone. They
are certain to find an English or
American woman in the omnibus who
is going somewhere unattended and in
perfect safety. In the higher classes
the French young person is still strict
ly chaperoned, but by no means to the
same degree as formerly. One no
longer hears a French girl say to her
mother as they sit in the park: MAN.
ma, may I go and sit by papa?" She
not only goes and sits by papa, but
goes out with him-to their mutual
enjoyment, for it must be remembered
that in no other country on earth is
the tie of parents and children so