Salt Lake Telegram | 1935-04-16 | Page 4 | Heroines of Yesteryear

Heroines Heroics of Yesteryear car What has happened to the heroine heroine herome hero hero- ine me in the American novel It is becoming coming I increasingly difficult to recognize her b by old standards One used to be able to identify her by four four- things youth routh be beauty lUt virtue and the modest but of a good husband If IC additional data were needed she was a pink- pink girl making in the kitchen or the slender creature on the rose-bound rose veranda preten pretending to read as ns the village swain walked past the house with studied ease Now the heroine need not be bevery bevery bevery very young Indeed her average e age ace is nearer 30 than 18 Beauty is stilT Still useful t to her but begin primarily a privilege of youth it may be c conveniently con conveniently con con- n. n exchanged for ch charm rm which is available at any age acc The marriage certificate is still a desideratum de desideratum de dc but the lack of it il is no no insuperable bar to a happy heroines heroine's heroines heroine's hero hero- ines ine's life me Nor does docs the possession of it prevent her from continuing to be a heroine long after the old- old fashioned novelist would have written written writ writ- ten finis Domestic art ort for her is less likely to consist in knowing when to turn a a. roast than where whereto to find rind the best recipes for maxing cocktails But in no way does the new heroine differ from her young oung predecessor more radically than in her relationship to virtue Virtue in the American novel used to be a relatively simple and definite te thing any heroine knew w when she had It and when she lost it For an unmarried heroine it was washer her virginity for a wife it was marital fidelity The letter o of the law was clear clear and inexorable Circumstances Cir dr had practically nothing to do with th the matter for despite much talk taik of men wolves who hunted girls lambs Iambs it was Vas judged that the lamb could always escape the wolf wol if she really to If It she did allow h herself toe obe 0 e caught she was regarded as a fallen allen woman wo wo- man Matters MaUers are no longer so simple Professor Alexander Cowie in inthe Inthe Inthe the American Scholar