Mending their manners

March 21, 2011 by Iva P.

 

 

From Europe Viewed Through American Spectacles by Charles C. Fulton. Text written in 1873.

The large number of American ladies in Paris is having the effect of checking the offensive manners of young Frenchmen to unprotected ladies on the streets. A year ago a lady of youth and personal attractions was sure to be accosted if she attempted to go out alone, and persistently followed by these young street-loungers. Two or three of them have, in the meantime, been punished for their offensive conduct to American ladies, which has had the effect of very generally remedying the evil complained of. On the boulevards, and in the neighbourhood of all the large hotels, American ladies move about shopping or promenading, singly or in couples, with perfect immunity, and are as respectfully treated as if on Baltimore Street or Broadway. We record this gratifying improvement with pleasure, and in behalf of the ladies return thanks to those who have taught them better manners. The police are also very watchful, and are doing their best to render the streets of Paris as safe to the unprotected lady as those of any other city.

The young French ladies, who never venture on the streets without a gentleman friend or a duenna, are astonished at the bravery of American ladies in venturing abroad alone, and persist that it would not be safe for young French ladies to follow their example. If their fathers and brothers would knock a few of these scamps down, it would soon give them immunity also. But the fact that respectable ladies do not venture on the streets leads to the inference that those who do are not respectable, and they are regarded as such. A Frenchman, however, can tell an American lady at a glance, and, knowing that she refuses to pay any attention to French customs, gives her a wide berth.