Year: 1874

4 writer in the Arcadian. speak
ing Of 'sThe American Girl at Home, y
says: Among the sad things of life
is certainly to be elassed that con-
tempt for simplicity whl.h IS in grain
ed in the heart Of the American girl
offashioa in very early years. She
has drunk copiously Of the oxymel of
prec0cious coquetry long before she
is capable OF appreeiating the glory Of
true fashion and the fun Of that efiior-
'escence of passion of which true CO.
quetry consists. We are no especial
admirer of children who are constitu-
tionally shamefsced, who hang their
heads before company, and creep
back into sensitive silence, as soon as
soon as an opportunity permits them
to do 50. But we admire as little
the undesirable elfrontry Of the hot
house child who has been brought up
under the bell-glass Of society," and
has nothing natural left in it except
ing the original sin, which crops out
IN the form of impertinence. 1t is
this abnormal self possession which is
the early characteristic of the Amer
lean girl. For this she has to thank
her mother and the fashionable fools
who are her mothers friends. II is
Inevitable that the adolescence Of
such q child should be marked With
much that is fast and morbid and
trenching on the verge ofviciousness.
In this school she acquires those mer-
etricious manners, that slang, that
swsgger, that devil-may care air,
which have rendered her a notoriety
wherever she has travelled abroad.
The foreigner who comes to this
country, and who observes the free
and easy manners of our youth, and
especially of our young girls, is
amazed at their boldness and reckless
ness. We are aware that some Bit
terness and unfairness have been
shown towards the American girl at
home; that she has been maliciously
represented as a young lady whose
principal amusemeHts are eyoung men,
novels, and candies, and whose only
exercise consists in premenading
Broadway; but we are inclined to
take less unfavorsble view OF the
matter than this. AT the same time,
it is not possible to deny that there is
grain OF truth in the charge, and we
are not amazed that q whole wheat
field Of accusations should spring
from grain that has been planted
aud tended with such malicious irri-
grafton. Girls are made, it is true.
for something else than to ft into
some quiet nook at home, and rest
contentedly there during the remain
der Of life. There are some good
pious souls we know who would have
every young woman, rich and poor
educated in the arts Of housekeeping.
They would have Clorinda, whose
father is a biIlionsire. descend TO the
kitchen, make bread aud pastry, and
fsmiliarizs herself with the practical
working 0ut of oil the more common
recipes in the cookbook. just as they
would exact the same task from
Jane Smith, whose papa is not worth
anything at all. How far these ad-
visers are 10 the right il may be diff
cult to determine, bat the fault with
the average American girl. who holds
neither very high nor q very low
position 10 life, is that she does not
aequaint herself with any OF these
processes, and IT, like Henrietta in


Les Femmes Savantes,' she were
asked what she saw in marriage TO
attract, all the answer that she
could honestly give would be, "A
husbaud.' This is sensible, so
far as it goes; but we rnn in danger
Of seeming very handrum when we
add that if husband is to be expect
ed to remain all that q young and
exscting wife wishes him TO be, the


kitchen and its correistiSes must re.
ceise large share OF that wife's at


tentien." a