Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-03-11
AMERICANS MARRY FRENCH
Subject is Interestingly Discussed h.
an Army Nurse.

AMERICANS MAHhN fhENSn. y
Subject is Interestingly Discussed ~
an Army Nurse.
An American navy nurse, who admits
she's slightly jealous, furnishes per.
haps the first really thoroughgoing and
expert opinion on the Franco -Amert;;
can marriage situation in France
After year and a half in France this
American girl finds French femininits
delightful" with knowledge OF cap
tivating masculine hearts that would
put most American girls completely
out of the running. She suggests the
advisability of presenting President
Wilson with a petition to send all
American troops home at once, in
the name of American debutantes.'
Her letter written to a relative In New
York, appears in the New York Even
ing Sun: ..
You seem rather incredulous about
so many of our American boys having
married Frenchwomen. Why, l won
der? I don't see any reason why they
should not. The Frenchwoman Is q
delightful creature. Even we Amer1-
can and English nurses can see that
much as we should like at times to see
otherwise, for we're still human and
still feminine, and it goes rather hard
with lis to see some Of the finest of our
soldier lads marrying pretty little
Alines, Maries, and Ninettes.
We think we could find better mates
for them, and some Of US think that a
few could be found without even going
outside Of France. But still they are be-
ing captivated-we call 1t captured
when we talk among ourselves-by the
Frenchwomen. Louise told me last
night that she had It on positive au-
thority that In the netshborhood OF
100000 American soldiers and sailors
had married Frenchwomen over herel
No wonder we are jealous-only don't
tell anybody that we are, for maybe
I'm the only one of us who is ready ,to
admit 1t even to herself.
Still as I've just said, don't blame
the boys. These girls are really almost
irresistible, and they understand the
art of Irritation better when they are
born than the average American wo-
man understands If after her fourth
divorce. They know how to dress, too,
to bring out the very littlest as well as
the greatest of their charms. AND
they know how to talk to our soldiers
with their eyes and hands and SHOULD
ers better than we Americans can talk
to them in their own; United States.
rhexsspeaka a. .nnipersal lapguageratfae
language of appeal-and they never
fail to make themselves understood.
Besides this more or less superb
cial charm, the Frenchwoman Is truly
q woman. They make wonderful wives
and mothers. I've been hero long
enough to see that They make even
better wives and mothers than they do
sweethearts. They're wonderful house.
kaepcrs, although, except among the
upper classes, they do run to TOO
much furniture in their parlors and
too much garlic in their kitchen, TO
suit my plain tastes. But how they
co understand food conservation and
economy. Mr. Hoover could learn quite
4 few lessons from them If he cared
to study them.
And on top Of all this femininity they
are fighters. They are the bravest wo-
men as a class, believe I have ever
,,nown, and the most consistently pa
tr.otic. Their patriotism is so deep, so
much a part of them, that they never
think of saying anything about 1t. Ii
vou separate Frenchwoman from her
love of France and her desire to serve
France, you would have to tear her
limb from limb and pick her to pieces.
it goes all through her, and enters
subconsciously into everything she has
done since she has been a Frenchwo-
man. You know something Of what
they've done since the summer of 1914
from your reading Of the papers and
magazines, but that full history can
never be written.
So, why shouldn't our boys love
them, and marry them? Anyway
whether they should or should not
they're doing it. Can't you do some
thing to persuade the government to
have them all brought home? We're
thinking about presenting petition
to Mr.. Wilson while in France, begging
him. in the name Of American debutan-
tes, to send our boys home.