The Detroit times., 1910-01-31
WOMEN FEEL
LIKE G0DDESSES"
American Girl Brought Up With
False Ideas, Declares Mrs. Hills
in Discussing Divorce.

NEW YORK, Jan 31-"The Ameri-
can woman has been set upon a
pedestal and treated as II she were
superior sort OF being. something
outside the laws and experiences Of
common life, until she has come 10
believe il true" said Mrs. Newell
Dwight Hills, wife of the pastor or
Plymouth church in Brooklyn, when
questioned upon her statement at a
recent european meeting that women
are TO blame for the high divorce
rate.
The American woman has been
raised upon a false conceit," Mrs.
Hills went on. she is pretty and
sweet and attractive as usual thing,
but so are German and English girls
and girls of every nationality. She
may be more talkative and self-as-
sertive. but IL is a question whether
she is better prepared for real work
in the world for making and main
tanning a home. or. falling that. for
the support OF herself or those de-
pendent upon her
The German and English women
are far better housekeepers than we
are The French are far better busi-
ness women and as for art, we have
not. vet produced an Angelica Kauf-
mann. a Xigee. lie .Brun, Rosa Bon
heur. In literature We have. had no
Nine. de Stael, no Nine. de Sevigne,
no George Sand, no George Eliot, no
Elizabeth Browning: not even Jane
Austen or Charlotte Bronte or Mrs.
Humphry Ward.
Even Want Foreign Servants.
eve have had no such actresses as
Rachel. Siddons or Bernhardt. In
business we have had no such hnan-
cial success as the Bon Marche, con
Quoted by Nine. Boucicault We i'm
port most Of our prima donnas. Even
in domestic service we seek maid or
any other nationality than American.
lust where the superiority or
American women really lies il Is hard
TO say. but every American. man or
woman. emphatically claims IT, and we
thoroughly believe in it
When asked why she thought
American women had never produced
great names in art and literature,
Mrs Hills said that she thought
it was probably because women IN
this country did not devote them
selves seriously TO study. and perhaps
because they did not have the op-
portunities that foreign women have.
Probably. she said the difference is
temperamental, because we are not an
artistic nation.
a young TngIishman once took the
ground from under my feet. Mrs.
Hills continued. when. after saying
that HIS couutrywoman dressed I'm
better taste than American women
because they were more individual
and not at all alike as our women
on Broadway or Fifth avenue are, he
added. 81 don't care 10 talk with
American girls They are always
ready TO talk, but they don't know
anything
Husbands Right In Quitting.
Mrs Hills said that Investigation
showed that In two-thirds Of the suits
brought for divorce on the ground ~
desertion the men were justified I'm the
desertions. as the wives were al.
solutely incompetent 10 care for a
home
1T is fair 10 ask II women are fus
titled in resorting so frequently 10
\ this final resouTce-that is. II they arc
really playing the game fairly" sha
went on. IT is unusual for conditions
! To be so fixed that a woman cannot
modify them TO the point OF endur
ance, and for the sake of society and
the state. very great amount OF
personal suffering should be endured
before woman takes the final stem
toward severing the marriage tie
Mrs. Hills said that just how much
suffering should be endured was
matter for each conscience. and when
IL was suggested TO her that il was a
-debatable question whether the good
OF society was conserved by great
suffering on the part OF many indi-
dduals she replied that every law
was accompanied by some suffering.
"A girl looks upon Injuries as
necessaries and spurs her husband on
until he falls under the merciful hand
of Providence or he yields to tempta-
tion." she said. I'm either case she r.
regarded az a victim in a misfortune
OF which she was the real cause. II the
husband resists temptation he strug.