THE BRITISH GERMAN VIEW.
Under the title "lite British Woman," the Lohal' Anzeiger publishes an article which in nfany respects is very flattering to the fair sex of the Angle-Saxon race. The writer' says, amongst other things :—The English natiou has always distinguished itself by its high esteem for the female sex. There are, as Lord Byron cays • in & letter to Thomas Moore, nowhere saoh a great number of well-nurtured, well-fed, striking beauties, milky-white and rosy-red delicateskinned girls even amongst the lower classes as in Kogland. But not a little is due to the care and consideration which is shown to women in all classes of the population, and which thus makes a mental and physical deterioration impoasible. Even the poor Englishman watches over hie mostly pretty, well-made, and healthy wife with a care which has something poetical in it. -With these characteristics in the character of the English, their . love for home life is closely connected. The climate has certainly something to do with. it, for in his damp island the Englishman feels doubly the want of a comfortable home; but this is one of his moat venerable virtues, aad is at the same time the reason why there are fewer cases of divorce in England than elsewhere. There is cer?.iiuiy another irnpurtnnt reason for the Utter f*«6. tingluh girls mostly marry aC
an age when good sense begins to get the better of oiher feelings; they aro, when they entor upon the married state, more or less independent; beings, who c*auob later on excuse themselves with not having known what they were doiug. The married state is, therefore, a much more natural one than in Germany, but it is wanting in that deep m-.d heartfelt affection which oue meets iv Gtormau Wadded life. English giils aloo have their little rotuaucd. They alao marry for love, but it is free from sentimentality. Tne -British girl kaows nothing about that transcendent '.ove which the Gorman woniau is capable of, who is happy iv the thought of her love. iv i£ugl»ud in cousuiorod more a a a mutual undertaking ; the wife is there the adviser, the helpinale, the useful compiiuiou of her husband, aud, if ueceasary, she fulfils t.heao tiutiee with admirable self • sacrifice ; in short, the practiodt side of '.ho afl'iir steps also here into the foreground. \Vith all this, niarriayei iv England are oa the wliole happier than iv other countries, because one considers them to be more of a contract than the height of all earthly happiness. As expectations b&furehaud are more discreet aud prosaic, one insets with Jeas disappointment. The Englishman considers it more judicimia to give the wife her real rights than extravagant love, for the arbitrariness even of a beloved despot appears to him unbearable. Apart from Mie fact that the northern climate in itself demands a sober view of life, the whole bringing up of the young English girl is fitted to produce io. The freedom which is allowed them in e>s.rly years iv friendly intercourse with men exercises them iv the fesliugs of right and wrong, aud lets them attain a firm moral standpoint; therefore, English girls never need to dissemble or to play the hypocrite—their characters become firm, and they are soon able to act sensibly without the advice of others, and are also able to judge sensibly the character of others.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9433, 3 June 1896, Page 4
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560THE BRITISH GERMAN VIEW. Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9433, 3 June 1896, Page 4
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