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| She is rarely a liar, a cheat or a fraud. She has the honesty of her thought and the courage of her convictions. If that makes a girl unwomanly, then she is unwomanly. Fashionable girls in New York are always with their mothers; they have had a conventional European education in this respect. |
The New York Girl Portrayed by One Who Dislikes European Fault Finding
Our Girl Learns to Look Out a Little for Herself– She Trusts to the Chivalry of American Gentlemen– We Are Proud of Her
So the English think that the New York girl has more solvency in her fortune than in her complexion, do they? We beg to differ. The New York girl's complexion is as fine as any milkmaid's. She is piquant, pretty, original and new. That is why the Englishmen like her, and wish to marry her. She amuses, stimulates and fills their somewhat jaded fancy.
New York girls are well educated. They speak both English and French fluently, which is what very few English girls do. They have been brought up under the repressive system, the English girls. They are lovely, but sometimes a little depressing. They are hidden from the eye. The New York girl perhaps lacks the “violet by a mossy stone” charm. She has not the cloistered graces of that home education of the English. She has been admired frankly since she was 10 years old.
SHE HAS A WOMANLY COURAGE
She is rarely a liar, a cheat or a fraud. She has the honesty of her thought and the courage of her convictions. If that makes a girl unwomanly, then she is unwomanly. Fashionable girls in New York are always with their mothers; they have had a conventional European education in this respect. The mother is the chaperon, and the girl is stamped with “l'usage du monde et du plus grand, et du meilleurs.” She is well bred in the forms and ceremonies of a court of London and Parisian society, where she succeeds marvelously. Sometimes she offends a Roman mamma by walking across the Piazza di Spagna alone. She cannot always respect the severe Italian “etiquette” and take her maid.
She is a knowing person; she believes in herself, she is independent and breezy. She has been much consulted in her family, where she is the important personage. Latitude in reading and thinking has been allowed her, which to an English or French girl would have been impossible.
She can stand more amusement (some would call it dissipation) than any living creature. A prize fighter would go down under the fatigue which a New York girl imposes on herself– all the subscription balls at Delmonico’s, all the private balls, Tuxedo, Newport, lawn tennis, Lenox in the fall, private theatricals, French and singing classes, sewing societies, charities (for she is a dear creature, and as kind as she is beautiful). She haunts the happy hunting grounds of Long Island; she is seen on top of a four-in-hand.
THE GIRLS SHOULD TAKE HEED
New York girls are well educated. They speak both English and French fluently, which is what very few English girls do. They have been brought up under the repressive system, the English girls. They are lovely, but sometimes a little depressing. They are hidden from the eye. The New York girl perhaps lacks the “violet by a mossy stone” charm. She has not the cloistered graces of that home education of the English. She has been admired frankly since she was 10 years old.
SHE HAS A WOMANLY COURAGE
She is rarely a liar, a cheat or a fraud. She has the honesty of her thought and the courage of her convictions. If that makes a girl unwomanly, then she is unwomanly. Fashionable girls in New York are always with their mothers; they have had a conventional European education in this respect. The mother is the chaperon, and the girl is stamped with “l'usage du monde et du plus grand, et du meilleurs.” She is well bred in the forms and ceremonies of a court of London and Parisian society, where she succeeds marvelously. Sometimes she offends a Roman mamma by walking across the Piazza di Spagna alone. She cannot always respect the severe Italian “etiquette” and take her maid.
She is a knowing person; she believes in herself, she is independent and breezy. She has been much consulted in her family, where she is the important personage. Latitude in reading and thinking has been allowed her, which to an English or French girl would have been impossible.
She can stand more amusement (some would call it dissipation) than any living creature. A prize fighter would go down under the fatigue which a New York girl imposes on herself– all the subscription balls at Delmonico’s, all the private balls, Tuxedo, Newport, lawn tennis, Lenox in the fall, private theatricals, French and singing classes, sewing societies, charities (for she is a dear creature, and as kind as she is beautiful). She haunts the happy hunting grounds of Long Island; she is seen on top of a four-in-hand.
THE GIRLS SHOULD TAKE HEED
She is described in all the newspapers when she comes out. Her fortune, her toilet and her prospects are all matters of every day comment. She has the American idea of being useful; she works as well as plays. She neglects nothing. An early morning walk, or a horseback ride, a plain gown for her hospital work, the toilet of the Queen of Sheba for Delmonico's– she at tends to it all; and when she marries she is apt to make the best of wives, if she chooses. If she does not choose to be the best, she can be the worst.
Neglects nothing, did you say! Yes, so far as foreign ideas are concerned, she sometimes neglects appearances. She sometimes
goes about with too young a chaperon. Accustomed to the chivalry of American men, she does not know how other men are regarding her. Novelists sketch the exceptions, not the rule, as to the New York girl; but it would do the best of them no harm to read the foreign criticisms in novels, plays and newspapers.
Some New York girls are not averse to achieving a reputation for fastness. These few exceptions should not, however, be taken for the conglomerate photograph. They are not the rule. She is not a humble, expectant Juliet, the New York girl. She will marry a lord, if she likes. Some people call her heartless. She needs luxury; she lives in an age of gold. A clever creature, a precious and beautiful combination, of fine mind and splendid physical perfection, she can be criticised as a rose, which opens its glorious petals for all men to admire; but it is hard to equal her.–Mrs. John Sherwood in “Once a Week,” 1889
🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia
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