The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-25

sons we should say that one who
wants to ind "the flower of American
womanhood'' should not go to the
homes OF the very rich alone to find
the object Of his search and any fall
ure of these favored ones to come up
TO the full standard of the very best
of American women is perhaps du"
more to conditions and environments
than to anything else. The circum-
stances OF ease and idleness and wealth
under which they live are not such as
to form and bring out the best traits
of female character, the possession OF
which has placed American women on
the high pedestal they properly occu-
by.
But we are not condemning the very
rich, as this Boston man by Implication
ignores all others. This republic Is not
country OF class or of class distinc-
lions and prejudices; at least 1t should
not be, though our Boston friend APP
parsntly looks at it that way. The
best women are not confined to either
the palaces or the novels. or to the
homes of the middle classes. They are
to be found in all situations and con-
ditions Of life. Some OF the finest and
best examples OF American woman
hood have developed among the
wealthiest people OF the land. and 9TH
ers equally good have come up from
the lower walks of life and have been
among the most shining specimens of
their sex, just as other beautiful and
enobling lives have been lived among
the middle classes.
And so we maintain that II is wrong
to speak OF those who are so eagerly
sought by decayed foreign noblemen as
1.-THE flower Of American womanhood."
for the statement is unjust ana mis-
leading. 1t would cause foreigners
who are not fully informed regarding
this country to think that we have no
marble halls. and whose lives are pasa-
ed in the ease and luxury which go
with great wealth. But at the same
time we know that these are the wo-
men who so often become the prev Of
foreign fortune-hunterR.
We know OF course that ranv Of
the alliances between American wo-
men and foreigners turn out we'll.
whether the husband be a titled noble
man or plain citizen. To deny this
would be to condemn all foreigners as
a class, and that would be as unjust
as Is the classification of the Boston gen.
tleman But while this is a fact 1t is
true on the other hand. as all must
know who try to keep themselves in
formed. that many rich American girl
is merely the prey of some foreigner
who wants her for her money only, and
who has absolutely nothing to COM
mend him to any good woman unless
title is looked on as compensation
for the absence OF all the elements and
she should unite herself to the poorest
workingman in the country, IL he Is an
honest true man, than sell herself
body and soul for a title. as many
of them do-and repent their folly a.
soon as the glamour OF nobility has
fallen from their eyes. 1t needs only
to read the newspapers of both hem
ispheres to learn the grievous mis-
takes of many Of thsse marriages
For all this, there is an element Of
good sense and sound reasoning in the
Bostonian's contention. Many a good
American girl sells herself, or is sold
by ambitious parents, for a title. and
soon finds that she has committed a
happy marriages are made known to
the world. Some OF the mistaken vic
TINS suffer in silence and the public
knows nothing Of IL while other cases
are aired in the courts and add to the
list of scandals IN high life that are
made public to the delight Of a curious
or salaeious public. II some way could
be devised to discourage the unworthy
foreign noblemen who entrap and de-
prave good American women IT would
be good deed, even though the vic
Tins do not solely represent the flow
er of American womanhood"
| TInder the terms OF this. latest divoroe