Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-05-01

Scathlng Arrangement Dy a Can
did Swedish Writer Call
Them Selfish, Poor Mothers
Characterized by Lack Of Self
Control, Naggers Of Husbands
Spoilers Of Home, and Follow
Lives of Social Butterflies.
ELOW are some of the first In
pressions made by America /
general and American wome
in particular on Ezra A He
= n an ,observant and up-to-dat
young Swedish newspaper woman, nov
in this country for the purpose o
sending back descriptive article
about us to the paper which employ
her, leading Liberal organ of Stock
holm, the capital Of her native land
The article is reprinted from the Bos
ton Herald:
America Is like a painting. a thea
ter curtain which is, at first. taken TO-
the real scene, looked at, criticised
and Judged. Then all of sudden yol
discover that there is peephole II
the curtain, that the perspective wa!
only painted. and you realize that be
yond there is something quite differ
emit
There is SO much to listen to and sc
much to see. ia Il
The first OF all those things which
you have never seen before Is the
American woman. eEE5s
One comes from Europe; from Der
lin, where the domestic "hausfrau'
mends stockings, bears childrenland is
eminently respectable; from that gay
sinner, Paris, who keeps an open
house for the worlds intelligence and
where Marie Antoinette still puts her
high small heels on the asphalt pave
ment; from the Scandinavian coun'
tries, where the women 60 silent, hur-
ried and dreaming between the office,
the university and the home: from
Rome. Madrid or Lisbon, where the
woman. be she rich or poor, dances
with naked feet on the sunlit road,
and, with Jug of wine on her shout
er, smiles with her dark eyes and
sings out: Your health.
IRON these one comes to America,
to the American woman. S M 4
You find yourself in the eddy-whir!s
OF "a main sthoroughfare, you feel the
pulse of a mighty town Of millions,
You saunter between buildings OF
many stories above ground.
q Or you but no, / will not try to de-
scribe any great American city. Even
though l have the admiration OF
ldilettante for the gigantic engineering
skill which is the creative power over
here, / will not tire readers with that
which is close at hand for the Euro
3pean visitor to stop and look at.
The Woman the Attraction.
The woman in the river OF human
ity is always the startling thing where.
ever she is. She is the life OF the
street; she it Is who gives the street
its color. But In Europe she is never
what she Is here in America. Over
there wherever you meet herr she
melts into the surroundings, she is
like the pearl in a beautiful ornament
on which the jeweler has spent much
laborious work.
4 She Is a part OF the whole. Her
very figure. her walk, her way OF
dressing, her manners, have sprung
directly from her immediate surround
ings.
a She is the child OF the natural seem
cry. the child OF the architecture.
Look at the Scandinavian countries
with. their small frame houses or big
stone palaces, with their door knock
ers, their high, spacious rooms and
windows, through which the sunbeams
play on we'll scrubbed floors. Look at
the German cities, with their irregular
streets, their corbel-step houses, their
market places where the grass grows
between the cobble stones. Look at
the white loggias on the green hills OF
South Europe. the old doge palaces,
the gothic art In the chateaux OF
Paris, the slender spires, the broad
avenues. Look at England-crowded,
but old-fashioned and dignffed. All OF
them make a picture in which the
woman in the street Is detail; beau
tiful, peculiar and stimulating.
N But here in America, the painting is
wonderfully changed. There is not a
spark OF phantasy, Of dreams Of veneer
alton, OF longing, Of old-fashioned
beauty, nothing which amalgamates
with the grace, the poetry, the pic
turesuueness in feminine personality.
Isla Type Unique.
The woman In America is not like
the woman anywhere else. She is
nearly related to the English woman,
but the English girl is softer In her
makeup than the American. She does
not, however, possess the brilliant
treasury Of practical mind combined
with Intelligence which is character.
istic of the woman OF the new world.
What first impresses you is the phys
zeal superiority OF the American
woman. Here is personal cleanli-
ness which is lacking In Europe. I
believe that bathrooms are more pow
erful agents in the development OF a
nations health than almost anything
else. S#
Il Her physical type is strong and
elastic. She has way. OF raising her
head and carrying her body with q
self-consciousness born of perfect and
unrestricted liberty.
TIE German woman has an unre-
fined but honest expression OF face.
Her Dutch cousin is like her, but is
more rigid, and lacks the Anglo-Saxon
suppleness The woman of South Eu-
100 o-.-o -on -on or nnaps