Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-03-13
Women Largely ssls-suppertIns.

WOm0U e1bUOsy 0OusOoppOs s"0s
The French woman shops with
market basket and not with q tele-
phone, that modern promoter of high
prices. Essentially q home-maker and
q home-keeper. she enjoys an eco
nomic independence that her Anglo
Saxon sisters do not know. Many
French girls are self-supporting be-
fore marriage. and remain 80 after
wards. Even where they do not
earn their living. they have a dot or
dowry-for which the parents save
from the girls babyhood-and she
pays her personal expenses from it
1T 10 rarely. indeed" said Q
French woman, that one sees In
France the helpless, incompetent wom-
an, who can turn her hand to moth.
ing. having never learned to do one
single thing well. Adaptable and en-
ergetic, the French woman can do
most things in the most efficient man
ner possible-her knowledge il never
scrappy and what she knows she
knows consummately." The new wom-
an may be near at hand In France.
but when she arrives she will come
without strident voice or social revo-
luton, and will scarcely have more
power than now.
The Peasant At Home.
In journeying In rural France the
French peasant Is seen at home and
at his best. He Is not on dress pa
rade as Paris is upon its boulevards.
He is shrewd. almost cunning; digni-
fed, almost courtly; uneducated fire.
quently, but never boorish; possessed
Of all the homely virtues. frugal. seri-
ous-minded and devout. To the
stranger he is hospitality itself. and to
his own countrymen he has q per.
feet genius for friendship.
High Regard for Woman.
With all their family quarrels. there
Is q continuous entente cordiale
among the French peasant folk. Three
appeals arouse their enthusiasm to its
highest point: Woman. as wife and
mother; the tricolor with its declara-
ton Of liberty. equality. fraternity:
and the republic. which to them stands
for political, social. economic progress.
Characteristic Of the French, in deli
acy, woman-adoration and felicity Of
speech. was the manner :, which the
sad news Of the death oI the distin-
guished French statesman, M. Theirs.
was announced to his widow: Mad
anne. your illustrious husband once
lived" Again. a presidential candi-
date. q peasants son, who married q
woman of doubtful reputation. was
sharply attacked in the Paris and pro-
vincial press for his political views.
but never a word was published re-
garding his wife. No woman's name
is dragged into the public prints Of
France.
The English have q scornful in
sular way
OF calling the French light. The lev
ity
Is in the judgment only. which yet
stands;
For say foolish thing but oft enough
land here's the secret of q hundred
creeds-
Men get opinions az boys learn to
spell.
BY reiteration. chiefly the same thing
shall pass at last for absolutely
wise
And not with fools exclusively. And 90
We say the French are light, as II We
said.
The cat news or the milch cow gives
us milk
lis q bullet light
That dashes from the gunmouth. while
the eye
Winks, and the heart beats one; to
flatten itself
To q wafer on the white speck Of .
A hundred PAGES OF? Even 80 d.
So strongly undivertible of aim
Is this French people
"All idealists.
And 80 am strong to love this noble
France,
This poet of the nations. who dreams
on
Forever after some ideal good
Some equal poise of sex. some un-
avowed love
Inviolate. some spontaneous brother
hood,
Some wealth that leaves none poor
and finds none tired,
Some freedom of the many that re-
spects
The wisdom of the few"
And this 10 not Paris. but France!
II the supreme test of tomorrow's
world is what it>makes Of the individ-
ual In his daily life, there are many
lessons to be learned among the
grave and gentle. idealistic peasant
folk Of La Belle France.
Copyright. 1914. by Joseph B. Bowles.)
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