The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-26
The Unserene American
BY ADA PATTERSON

Rita an English writer. who has
lust sailed from our shores, was wont
to criticize US, bravely to our 9,i face Said
One morning read that tith ~ So 80
"the American woman has not the Sc
renity to stay at home and take care OF
her family" Rita said in effect, that
the American woman Is so ruiz OF steam
she must move about constantly OF sas
DR.. Belle Mcdonald, member OF the
Board Of Health Of New York, who told
me that American women sit about SO
much that their bodies spread and wld-
the cause of that defect in the Amerl-
can woman's figure that every foreign
artist eritietzesahsr s sS.,1 broad hPs
II we Judged by appearances we should
believe the member Of the board or
health. For Rita Is as far from q mod
ell of the quality she lauds In English
as the North Pole from the South. She
Is a woman Of gypsy darkness, with
sharp features and q tWttchlng stare.
She can organize no classes In serenity
school of corresp ondence. The Ameri-
can physician. on the other hand. moved
as we fancy Juno must have moved,
with a slow, splendid grace, and regard
ed whomeyer crossed her vision with
the ox-eyed gaze that stirred the adj
miration of Joye.
Serenity, thy name isn't Rita, and ie
easily might be DR.. Belle Mcdonald
Wh5e the p9ntt Ct srHsh
though the English woman's month or
4 two in this country does not make. OF
her an encyclopaedia Of informatlon
Isn't 1t true in your zone or obserVa-
ton as in mine. that the American
woman is mentally intensely active;
The slnggish-mnaed; laisyerained
unless she has been transplanted, as
often happens along the seaboards. We
may not always approve her held OF
activity Of her mind, but 1t Is active.
Even II the American girl concentrates
her mental powers upon dress. she con-
centrates With an amazing thorough
ness.
II the middle-aged woman focuses
all her mentality upon her housekeep-
ing, she does her housework with a
woman of the vlliage chooses the pur-
suit OF engaging herself in her neigh,
that excltes our admiration. even
though 1t excite, at the same time,our
anger. II she be suffragette. or a
nun, the work she does Is we'll done.
Students Of character agree that the
one. The American woman can do
whatever she wishes to do with that
| mighty anStQe---her nina.
| It Is her intense mental activity that
| makes the American woman a travel
| err. She wants to know how the other
half lives. even If 1t be content to live
on a tight little island and follow lot
| OF absurd, moldy customs about CROWN
| Ing a kinglet. She studies the island
and Its people as the naturalist tudies
| a bug under a. microscope, 1T Is mental
activity, which the English woman has
mistaken for lack of serenity,
Now as to those broad hips We
| must admit them, mustn't we? II we
deny them. our tailor and dressmak-
ers may ba called to refute our testl-
rnony. We are only In the beginning
| OF the athletic age OF American woman
hood But we've only a given amount
of vital energy, and II we consume Il
| all In mental channels, the law OF con-
servatop OF energy demands that we
not make, an ovardraft by extra physt-
cal exertlon.
golting, or playing tennis. or sailing
nor for that matter do men, Wher
| American women have solved most Q,
those problems which English wonier
! have let their male ancestors OF tive
centuries ago settle for them, they vii
turn their attention to those spread
4 Ing hips, and diminish them 30 fast |
will make the sloW-tongued, athleti
sIIngltsh women blla&