Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-02-23
American
Girl and Her
n ChaperOn
Nv PAUL noURcET. Most Widely Read of
Living French Novelists

10y HF first thing that strikes the traveller who has heard much
about the young women of America is the absolute impos'
sibitv of distinguishing the married from the unmarried.
The oft commented fact that they come and go unat-
tended would not suffice to establish this confusion. THE
SIMILARITY GOES FURTHER. They wear the same Jewels the
same dresses, they have the same independence OF laughter and speech,
the same looks, the same gestures, the same full lowered beauty, and,
thanks to the invention of the ehaperon, there is not a theater or res
taurant party or a tea where they do not go, always alone and at the
invitation of any man they KNOW WELL The quality of this off
cml supervision may be measured by this other fact that the young girl
in whose honor the bachelor gets up a party generally SELECIS
HER OWN CHAPERON.
The younger the chaperon the more she is appreciated. The youth
full widow and the grass widow-the woman separated, divorced or
only momemtarily parted from her husband-fl the IDEAL RE
QUIREMENTS of the part.
This habit of self governing without interference is displayed in
the singular ASSURANCE stamped on their countenances.
One of the pleasantest men in New York, a poet, had the idea of
forming a museum of miniatures in which were to figure with their
consent all the professional beauties of the city. I remember exam
ming with a magnifying glass this hundred pretty and refined faces,
trying to guess those which had passed through marriage and those
which had not. BUT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE. And, indeed, WI
could marriage bring them which was not already theirs? Duties, a
husband to tolerate, children to look after, a house to care for.
Today the young girl bears the weight of none of these chains. She
knows this, and also that she is enjoying her BEST PERIOD. She
will not acquire liberty through marriage and will have less opportu-
nifty for amusement. So, as a rule, she marries late. 1t it is not quite
an end for her, as for the young Partisan who breaks with his bachelor
life, it is a little BEGINNING OF ABDICATION.
Most do not try to blind themselves to the fact. owe must have
our fun before marriage ONE of these beauties said to me. GLOW
can we know what will come afmrwardw The divorce proceedings
which the papers publish from time to time prove that this young
person had as much commons sense as beauty. 1sA
At the first glance this absolute independence makes all these girls
LOOK ALIKE. 1t is from them that French authors have con-
structed their stereotyped types of Americans for novels and plays.
She was built by us in the simplest way, with bad manners and a simple
heart, and there was THE DOLL OF ITS LEGS. Yet it was but
a doll, and the two elements composing it are equally false.
The young American woman, when we see her among lis, may APP
pear to us i'll hammered because we compare her with the CONVEN-
TIONAL TYPE of our own girls, which, be it said in passing, is not
very true to life either.
SEEN AT HOME AND FROM NEAR AT HAND, WE UNDER
STAND THAT THE AMERICAN GIRLS INDEPENDENT WAYS BE-
LONG ALIKE TO THE BEST AND THE WORST BREEDING.