Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
and an unlimited supply of the world's goods--to be considered by
Europeans of no great significance, socially speaking. It is madame and
mesdemoiselles who are all-important. Monsieur is thought a worthy
person, with some excellent qualities, such as freedom from
uncomfortable jealousies and suspicions, and both capacity and
willingness for furnishing remittances, but a person rather destitute of
polish--invaluable from a domestic point of view, from any other
somewhat uninteresting. But madame and mesdemoiselles have every
possible tribute paid to their charms: their beauty, their wit, their
dash and sparkle, their independence, receive as large a share of
admiration as the most insatiable among them could desire.
It must be owned that the American spirit, tempered by European
education or influences, makes a very delightful compound. And it is
astonishing to mark how soon the toning process does its work--how soon
the most objectionable American girl of the sort known as "fast," or
even "loud," softens into a very charming creature who makes the
admiration bestowed upon her by European men quite comprehensible.
That this admiration is returned is perhaps not less comprehensible.
American women, as a mass, are better educated than American men, and
are particularly their superiors so far as outward grace and polish and
the general amenities of life are concerned. These qualities, in which
their countrymen are deficient, and the blander manners which accompany
them, they are apt to find well developed in European men, whatever
other virtues or faults may be theirs; and when to this fact is added
the spice of novelty, the strong liking that American girls manifest for
foreigners, and which has been the cause of putting so many American
youths in anything but a benedictory frame of mind, is easily accounted
for, and the marriages which so frequently take place between our girls
and European men may be explained, even on other grounds than the common
exchange of money on one side and title on the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account