St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 11, 1912

Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.

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OSE Dae ee wo te OS, Phe Res og DE cts Fi i esas w Ye, > S > the world, Miss Bissell held me enthralled for a whole morning at the home of her relative, Mrs. Alan H.. Bacon, 5950A Bartmer avenue, where she is stop- ping in her journey. It seemed impossible that a life #0 different from ours, as she revealed it to me 680 . vividly, could: have been going on just the other side I felt uncouth at times. More interesting still is the point ' of-view she brings to her judgment of us, and well Worth heeding, in the light of an unique position ' @he enjoys, are her opinions of us. The daughter of ‘American missionaries, she was born in India and * bas continued to work there all her life, in the city 70 miles from Bombay. So, you ~ See, with the advantage of a wide perspective, being “® part of a civilization in comparison to which ours | is the veriest upstart; and as a sister in race, her ' eriticisms are two- edged. Her observations, too, you Will find are as keen as they are rare. When Miss lh came into the room in her startling Eastern 5 _ costume our conversation, quite excusably, > Was directed to the subject of clothes. I think, an Buy Only Tight be a $ AA a bye my country if I did not wear its dress. But when } pr in America. HAD rather hoped to purchase a good gown or two in America. I do not wear the native dress in India. I should lose caste if I did. The Hindus have a great deal of national pride them- ‘Pelves and they would suspect me of being ashamed _ I go shopping here I find nothing but these absurd } ~ hobble skirts. 4 have always had the greatest difficulty in explaining I could never go back in that garb. to the Indian ladies the decollete worn by‘ the English » ladies," Se a she said. “How a woman can bare her neck Sa whirl around the room in thé arms of a man, 4s believe they do at balls in the upper classes, is hing they cannot comprehend. I am never able P explain or excuse round dances to them, because I “am not convinced of their innocence myself." @ Here 1 could not refrain from entertaining a mo- tary mental picture of some of the Oriental danc- cad who have shocked some in the last few , but I held my peace as Miss Bissell continued: “One woman asked me if I did such things as that, another silericed the questioner And relieved an rd situation with ‘No, of course she does not. is the teacher of the others.’ As a matter of I have attended functions at the fashionable iglish clubs in Bombay and have not felt obliged leave when the dancing began.” Mins Bisse!l was exclaiming dertaively over the , pre

- >, A 2,3 % + ~~ 3 me ne , 2 x Ted 5 i % ; “ A is “a4 ek it *: > a ee ae. Set an Matar a i ee gs thy als 2k Bee Bort He &. ° Ve ep eee eae: Se - Phe ooo. SSA ee + Sa ty gees art Oe sey LO fi 4 a sen I | and the women are bold,/ examining her own costume. “It consists of two same way. For the rest, this eight-yard length of but Rather Transparent. e thrown back your arms are quite free." recommend it, but—well—the drapery is transparent, the waist, and I should think the time spent in drap- maker to sew up a few seams and attach hooks and side and tied with a string round the waist. The goods. bangles... So Miss Bissell and I did not quarrel over tion with the Eastern customs,’’ Miss Bissell went impressions and conclusions are formed. Surely, with the idea of liberty. When I was 15 years the books. and periodicals that we had in India and just as I had pictured it, the men brave and fine, the She Went to School “Don't you think old Mount Holyoke may inal conservative estimate of us?” I suggested. later, in 188, 1 returned again, and it was not much ry is gone from the men, spirit of America today, and ‘Everybody’s doing it,’ answer they tell me: ‘Everybody's doing it.’ If ‘ev- doing. I don't know who this everybody {ts who “And weren't you, as a young girl, permitted to “Yes, I did, but I do not now. Recently I have you'd think my calling would be protection enough. modesty! HAVE seen as many as four at a time fiirt- of them f© collect their fares. Each of them looked young fellow, did not notice them, did not even smile city. piaining how, in India, fashions and dressmakers, parts,’’ she explained. ‘‘This jacket, which is always drapery completes the Brahman lady’s costume. T is a very practical garment. You see, the She stood up that I might sketch her, and the cos- bare legs were visible up to the knees at the back, ing it each time it is put on would finally amount to eyes in the first place. Also there were some several practicability of this surplus of material was not ex- But it was all undeniably picturesque, the beaded the costume. on. “But it is in comparison to what I saw on they didn’t dress “like this nor act like this of age I came alone to America to be educated. At from what my parents and brothers and sisters had women beautiful.” at Mount Holyoke. have had something to do with your orig- “Of course,” she said, ‘in my protected life then different. and assertive. the watchword. I protest my surprise that young erybody’s doing it,’ why it must be all right. So makes these laws, but it is plain to an outsider travel alone and didn't you travel safely in Amer- had to ask the protection of the conductor from in- But,’ she exclaimed, “‘I do not wonder at the bold- Tells of Girls Flirting ing. with one street-car conductor. They craned up into his face and smiled. In this particular in- ir return. His conduct was perfect. It was not a “However, I wonder the men don't take advantage hatpins and hooks and eves are unknown, I was busy made of nine sections put together in exactly the Garment Is Graceful skirt is divided; and when the capes are tume may have had modesty and practicability to there were three inches or so of bare skin all around as much as it would have required the home dress- yards of the drapery gathered into a bunch on one plained, unless the lady just didn’t want to cut her jacket, its Oriental scarf and the gorgeous jewels and “My opinions may be colored by my long associa- previous visits to America that these present formerly. It seems that Americans are obsessed that time I had formed my idea of this country from told me of it. And on landing I found everything “What school did you attend?” I inquired. OM >: HOLYOKE,” she replied. I had not so wide an opportunity for observing. But “Now,* how changed everything seems. “Have a good time!” that seems to be the ruling girls are allowed to go about as they do, and for everybody is striving to do what everybedy else is that. everybody is not doing the right thing.” ca?’ trusive strangers on the trains. Yes, even I, and ness of the men when young girls are so lacking in With Conductor on Car. ‘i their necks after him when he stood in front stance I noticed that the conductor. a handsome St. Louls conductor. I witnessed that in apother of the forwardness ef the girls oftener than. they do.” . ee ee Ss Naat Sea Poe Lease + Tee Foi ee eee ee 3 os ae tes Beh 1 ‘ ee bbe, a ee } * : ¢ : : : The chival- | \ i

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IN INDIA TOE wipow MUST OibNI IN THE Rack GROUND” “The American principle of throwing girls their honor and giving them freedom is right, isn’t it?’’ I protested. ‘‘Liberty develops self-reliance. If the weak ones fall, it is not the fault of the system, but some other cause.”’ “TI think it is the failure of the mothers to instill in their daughters the right ideals in the first place that is most at fault. But even with the proper early training you cannot expect girls to venture forth as they do here to school, where there is so little dis- cipline, and not meet and yield to temptations. Under the circumstances I am not surprised to learn that in certain communities where I have visitéd the fam- ilies of high school students are continually stealing away to some other city to -avoid the disgrace brought upon them by their daughters. “If it is only the weak who fall, then the strong ones should be forced to set an example of reserve and propriety. “T approve of strict enforcement of discipline in the high schools and on through the universities and elsewhere in society. upon Shocked at Conditions in beg eninge Stores. (¢ to your economic Independence, I am ype to learn of the terms upon which the young women in the American depart- ment stores are employed.” 7 “You mean the low wages? But you told me a self- supporting woman is glad to get $2 a month in In- dia,’’ I observed. “I mean just what I can see with mv she retorted. ‘‘That every time a girl ment’s spare time the floorwalker comes and leans over the counter and they carry on a flirtation.’ “Isn't it a pity if a man and woman working side own. eyes,”’ has a mo- by. side cannot be on good, friendly terms?” I oOb- jected. “But I can tell,’ responded Miss Bissell. “by the expression of their faces the difference between evil intent and harmless comraderie, and I have been re- volted by what I saw. “Boarding houses, too, I wonder are safe places to live in. At a certain boarding house where I stopped I was revolted at the familiarity with which the women permitted the men to address them at the table. One young woman openly carried on a\ flirtation with a married man.”’ ( “But flirtations have always gone. on, again, ‘‘and if they are in the dpen’— “Flirtations with married men on,”” Miss Bissell interrupted among the very young, never. Girls. are not re- sponsible before they are % years of age They | should be guided and guarded. As it is these i. dependent American girls have had the bloom brushed off of them while they are still under age and it is perfectly apparent they are lacking in maidenliness and other desirable clisrarteriatien.” “But you say a girl matures much earlier in In- dia and is married by the time she is 10. How does she. go about getting ac: juainted wit ™ I remarked. oe Girls Never Acquainted nie Men in India. E never gets acquainted. Her marria ge is “arranged od her parents. A Brahman lady spea her husband's first name once in her life, and that ts at the marriage cere I protested ; i should never gO vehementiy, “and (é RLS SHOCK A WOMA

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IMAMERICA THE MERRY WIDOW SEEMS TO PEA POPULAR IDEAL” ) mony. She refers to him always with the collective ) inipersonal pronoun. The Brahman lady is not edu- ) cated. I heard one of them say, ‘What need has a) Brahman lady for learning? These are my school’ referring to. her children—‘and those are my gods,’ pointing to her husband. | “And a Brahman lacy never eats at the table with. She would lone caste? she did.’ man. to her—if her husband or any other —most precious of ali things “Don't vou think that is carrying maidenly reserve a little too far?’ I asked. “T have not lived so long in colored to their ways that I do not see the injustice of. their beliefs. They go to the other extreme .of formality and ceremony. But I should like to ree 4a India and become so / will not prove the ) tics ‘O

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women to be as the men? Widows and Old Maids Are Treated Better I NE Miss Bissell went on to BBY, flere. . ~ Fy = ~~ j somehow remindtful of the Sphinx— ‘are you ite ett gg gta Og tO ggg gay a — time as corruptible tin poll American standard, a measuie of which I should like to see transptanted to India,” “ls the posi- ( happy medium struck between the modes of life in ) tion with which the widow and the ‘unmarried woman India and in the United States. “Tl should like to see a point of balance tween the rapidity of changes in America slowness with which things move in India.” “You think American women are too independent, yet we do not think we are entirely free unti¥ we can yote,”’ I informed her. “Ah, yes.”’ she said feeclingly. ‘You women seem very earnest and sincere in your desire for the bal- lot and honest in your Intentions just now. But are you sure’—she leaned her chin on her hands and looked far, far bayond-me, assuming an- expression ( found be- ; and a question her. are regarded here. I know of one, She igs 2% years « f age. There are no old maids in India. It in because her health ts deMcate that she has not married, but people you spend your time?’ they ask. “It is very come for miles around to look at ‘What is to become of you? , ornaments and whatever beauty she possessed if} } ( } ‘ ( ( \ but } ) ;

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graceful as {t js incomprehensible to them. To be a widow is to be In disgrace, and it Is in reforming ¢ hideous state of affairs I am particularly interested.” ee “Among the more Uberated classes {t fF, ae longer necessary that the young widow should herself into the open grave of her husband and be buried with him,” eortinuéd Miss Bissell, “but ~ ihe ix held accountable for his death by her sings in previous existence, and she might as well be she be still young, only 2 or 4 Year she must shave her head, shed all ti i al Though old perhaps eves of her husband. cae Widow Must Stay in B Continual Humiliation. etc HiE goes about In the one black drapery, af is not even permitted this little Sochaaii cever her back with. She wears @ ; keeps always In the background and 6eeu She is regarded ws and every body . pression, affliction toe her family, her. ‘Miserable creature! Her fate is ig TS “Now [In this country a popular ideal the ‘merry widow.’ IT should not like to see t trerne traneplanted, but I am fiterested ‘nm forr: of the attitude toward the widew in ‘ ready | haye seen some steps of advance ibe voung men Who now afte #ent to Engiagd & , educated are declining to marry girls of # 4% insist upon young widows as wives.” “I should think a few ideas of Amer pendence sown among the widows themse work well,” | suggested. “We have tried educating a few of thpeiy Government normal schools and. giving . tions to teach, but, alas! the poor things into lives of disgrace more miserable on before.’ 4. Tears of sympathy welled up inte her s eves with thie remark, Hiow, do ) polite to ask a great many questions, and they only come to the end of their list in ques- tioning me when I tell them .that it is because, as they say, IT take hands with God,’ that I am not married. ‘ : “But the. position of the-efi mgié-& set-se dis-/ are Christians \ fot. Pv a oy eg Res ie cy EB ee oe } ES “They must have very little moral said “How can they be ‘expected to have . know nothing of i He They have nothing ... upon. That ie why + am

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