same
time the characteristics of the generous comrade, the good fellow, and
the fine gentleman; who in moral courage in time of terrible strain,
or in physical courage when one's back is to the wall, never quailed,
is an American woman; and thousands of my countrymen will say the
same.

You cannot produce this type without freedom, without giving them
opportunity, and taking the risks that are inherent in giving free
scope to personal prowess. But they are not the women whom our blatant
newspapers exploit, nor the women who buy the British aristocracy to
launch them socially, nor the women who pervade the continental hotels
and restaurants, nor the women whom as a rule the foreigner has the
opportunity to meet. They are the women who have helped us to absorb
the 21,000,000 aliens who have entered America since the Civil War;
the women who stood behind us when we fought out that war for four
years, leaving a million men on the fields of battle; the women who in
the realm of housekeeping, to come down to practical levels, have
revolutionized these duties and turned a drudgery into an art as have
no other women in the world. The best answer the American can make to
the luxurious lawlessness of some of our women, is to point to the
house-keeping and home-making of his compatriots, not only at home but
right here in Germany. Fifty years ago it could not have been said,
but to-day there is no doubt in my mind that American house-keeping is
the best in the world. In comfort, in the smooth running of the
household machinery, in good food and drink, perhaps in too lavish and
too luxurious hospitality, we are nowadays almost in a class by
ourselves in matters of housewifery.

The English attitude of women toward men is somewhat that of
comradeship, and once married the man's comfort is looked after with
some care; the American attitude of women toward men, in the more
luxurious circles, is often, I admit, that of a spoiled child toward a
gift-bringing uncle, and she permits him to worship her along the
lines of a restricted rubric; but in Germany the subordination, the
unquestioning and unthinking adulation, the blind acceptance of
inferiority have not only softened the men but robbed the women of
even sufficient independence to make them the helpmates that they try
to be. There have been women of social and even political influence:
Bettina von Arnim, Caroline Schlegel, Charlotte Stieglitz, Rahel
Varnhagen, and lately Frau L