Hide Article Text (OCR)
E-JSE-er9r.16.ceton'tn.thisan.»♦♦*«-*•5t.a, ♦ r- -*'s ♦p- +L ♦. r- +MRS. PROCTOR CHASE WELCH, FORMERLY OF THIS CITY, NOWOF NEW YORK, MAKES POINT OF INTEREST TO SOUTHERN WOMEN.I.[. orThe following item, from the -New.York Tribune, will be read' with interest by the friends of Mrs. Proctor Welch, who was formerly Miss Kathrine Coyle, of this city. While her friends here were unaware of her close relationship to General Robert E. Lee, they are very much interested dn the write-up which, she received in the- New-York papers:J'%* r ■ • • .» *■ • — . • * »- * • .The European women arter the war will be in much the same position as was the American women after the Cival War. And from the Southern woman of the United States she may learn a valuable lesson of what not to do. For it was the Southern women who made reconstruction in her beriddled land so difficult; it ’was they yho ’held fast to 'Southern tradition, who dung to aristoracy, who preserved Rancor and hatred and blockadeddemocracy, new life and progress. Men and commerce in the South were democratic, but their wives and homes entirely opposed to the new order.This is tlve opinion of Ivl-Iss Betty Lee, grandniece of General Robert E. Lee, cousin of the oratoricalPatrick Henry and, according to her statement, “Southern to the, backbone and completely Northernized.” By way of a living she is a professional entertainer among smartpeople and headed for the musical comedy stage—not the indolent,evehjengaged Southern girl of yesteryear.“Yes” she repeated, “the Southern women are responsible for just that slowness and. lioplessness in the upbuilding of the South- that has been close on to failure so often. But, oh, they are changing vastly now. This is the reconstruction period for the Southern woman. And yet she hasn’t been commercialized.“Her men have worshipped her. She must not touch the hem of hergarment of business; that would be pollution, desecration. She must not get her hand tanned or her nose freckled; she must be a beautiful doll.“But the new Southern girl has taken her place, the girl who iscoming North to school, 'who spends• • • *her summers campaigning for suf-. . • . * •frage, who enters business and pro- .fessions in cold, heartless New York. But really the woman’s clubs are doing wohders down South; suffrage is Aides. The girls areseeing that new life and activity are worth more than all their aristocratic society and old famlies put together. They are seeing that red blood is quite more fun than blue blood.” She giggled softly.“Dear me, thought, how horrified is the generation of managingmammas. I, for instance, a stagey*person—horrors! Hands up, hatedbreath, unmentionable! But the oSuthern girls understand it. They feel as I do, that New York and the North mean freedom. Ooh, I love the get-ivp-and-get the snap and go and hustle and ‘pep’ of the North, where what you are depends upon what you do, and not upon what you once were. What good do my ancestors do me now, I ask?” She snapped her fingers, laughing wick-edly, this daughter of Southern heroes. “The war’s over. I can’t live on Uncle Robert’s reputation,can I? No. I have to get out and move a round. But my friends would have me a Southern lady, with nicewhite hands and a nice rich husband.’“I so perfectly love my work that I’d brave anything for it, anyhow.* iAnd I have almost. New York’s»really a hard place, you know. The girl who 'works knows that. But,* y **believe me, I'd rather be working and trying and hanging to a strap herethan languishing around down Southhaving a man ask me if the moon.. .isn’t lovely, if the moon isn’t charming— .in fact, if the moon isn’t exquisite. ,■ / * * • * # ' i ' • I .... '.f. ' * 'I. . ■. .* 1 •#•»*• j . .. .. ^ • ...Southern girls don’t like the tango type of man, usually. They like strength in their men just as all other girls do. But they often don’t get it, for Southern men have the idea that women are a thing apart from ordinary life, f nd theytreat them accordingly, talking#about the moon and things like that.”n“Are the Southern men so able to influence their women that they can talk about the moon no matter how much the ladies may hate lunar conversation?”“Indeed, yes. The Southern man rules the house. Believe me, he does,” repeated Betty Lee with added emphasis, “And, you see, he’s more capable than his would would be. He knows how to deal with situations better than she does, because—well, because he deals with them, I suppose. But she, as I say, must just be sweet and serene. At least, she used to be sweet andserene; now she’s up and doing a• «great deal more.“The -Northern girl thinks she can’t learn anything from the girl in the South, though she admits that the Southern girl can glean all sorts of pointers from her. But if the girl up here would just acquire some of the Southern girl’s gentleness and refinement and beautiful courtesy she would gain a lot. If I had a daughter, do you know what I’d do? I’d send her South to school where she could learn just what it means to be a genuine lady. Then I'd bring her back, let her travel and work, and find out how to be a ^vomen. She would then bewell rounded. The North and the,. .South oughtn’ to be at all strangers to each other. They ought to get together.“Me? Oh, I'm heading for the musical comedy stage. Now, that’s a wicked world for the young girl, I’m told” (she drew down her piquant little face in mock solemnity), “hut I'm safe. And that/s good old Southern trainng. You see, Southern ladies don’t smoke or drink, or even peep over the danger line. Yes, they flirt, but what’s that? Well, anyway, stage stuff is going to be just work and fun for me, and not wickeon^s and cafes and fat, rich men. Oh, no, I doa’t mind if my men friends drink; .Southern men do. And 1 don’t object if a girl at the same table has her little gold-tipped one;I admire her graceful pose, as she smokes. But as for me, well, 1 simply couldn’t get away with it; I’d put the lighted end in, sure.“Oh, you see, there’s some advan^ tage in being a Southern born and bred. But also there’s the advantage of being a Northerner by naturalization. I’m both, thank heaven! And if that Southern girl of once-upon-a-time does stay down there say. But I‘m for the North heart still just beauing, why, let her, I and soul.”iTOII1pelboxdo!cidwhaftgivdo]mued.inbulaisyfanteiofanonadallt;FJ
Newspaper Details
Thomasville Daily Times Enterprise
Thomasville, Georgia, US
Mon, Aug 16, 1915
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Thomas C.
GA, USA 22 Feb 2018
Other Publications Near Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville News
Thomasville Progress News
Thomasville Federal Mortality Census
Thomasville Weekly Times Enterprise
Thomasville Times Enterprise
