THE AMERICAN GIRL IN FICTION.

Western Star, Issue 1339, 23 March 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE AMERICAN GIRL IN FICTION.

In studying American girl-life as represented in American fiction, many i points of contrast to girl-life at home strike us, but tiiree of these force themselves upon our observation with special distinctness. They are, first, an amazing frivolity ; second, the want of anything like an ideal of home-life; and, third, the absence of due parental influence. The frivolity of American social'life is not frivolity as we sober English folk understand the word. We certainly know—or we thought we knew, until we became acquainted with the details of American life— what frivolity means, but it appears we have only a vague glimmering of the word's significance. Our London season and the career of the girl who goes through it—participating in all its gaieties aud distractions—we have hitherto regarded as a tolerably complete ideal of frivolity. But this whirl of dissipation (as we consder it) is a mere mill pond compared t.> the maelstrom of American fashionable society, and girl's existence is stagnation compared to the career of the American belle. The London sesson, as its name implies, is the matter of a season ; when it is over country life is resumed, and a period of at any rate, comparative quiet ensues, which, with certain intervals for autumn or Christmas festivities, is continued over seven or eight months of the year. Her " fun" over for the season, the English girl goes to her country home and there vegetates and takes a rest — generally contentedly enough. But the American girl's fun is never over and every season is a "season " to her in the social sense. There is a town season, which is evidently a whirl of festivities by night and by day, a wil'i dream of balls aud dinner parties, of supper parties and luncheon-parties, of theatre-going and driving, of tritiumphs,. and bouquets, and beaux. Then there is an exodus to some fashionable seaside or mountain resort, where the same round of gaieties —with a few variations to suit the season and locality —is resumed at a rate faster and more

furious than ever. " Fun "is not t the more affair of a few weeks to the American girl, it is a matter of all the year round , and when she is not driving or pickaicking with her numerous male admirer?, she is skating, or sleighing or yachting, or theatre-going in their company. She takes her gaieties as a matter of course, ahe has no scheme of life apart from them. One of the prettiest and moat pathetic scenes in Mrs Hodgscn Burnett's " Through One Administration "is that in which the her.iine, Bertha, is made to declare her naive terror at the mere idea of not having " a good time " all her life long. —From The Woman's World.