| Show coaching american heiresses for future coronets day of the continental THE SOT the smart american girl is passing and no longer is the future debutante sent to a fashionable boarding school to be finished the english idea of a society education as expounded by the english governess is daily gaining ground among wealthy american mothers pose poise and pronunciation we arc beginning to think said a well known society woman that the place to raise and educate a girl is at home and we have been distressed to find that under french and german governesses foreign tongues were being gained at the expense of file best english pronunciation that is what 1 have discovered in the case of my eldest girl she can rattle off the most mellifluous german and the most dulcet parisian bables but her english sends the cold shivers down your spine and her boarding school deportment lacks the repose that we look for in our girls nowadays the chief aim in the education of the rich american girl is to secure pose and poise and then come tone of voice and pronunciation the cordelia coo and the calm of one born to wear the purple are what all society mothers wish their girls to display in their manner and the coo and the calm are extremely difficult to acquire the best way to obtain them is to engage the best type of english governess as guide companion and instructress for the incipient debutante the reason for the election of the english governess to this high post of trust is easy to explain the english governess is not as a rule neary so clever or one fourth so well educated as the american girl who has gone through college and is looking for pupils but she has the accomplishments that are of value to the girl destined to lead a society career she can sing and play a little paint a little and prattle away in easy french and german she reads poetry aloud sweetly performs nicely private theatricals takes a graceful hand at cards and is nearly always an expert oarswoman that is not her anly athletic accomplishment ment for she skates plays squash and tennis and is a prime walker above all else her voice rich and sweet and low she has a bound healthy body and she is beautifully calm furthermore she is usually well born and as she is ofte hest a clergy mans daughter she possesses a sweet graceful simple manner her way at the table are dainty and dignified and jhc is strictly religious and unassuming why continental and american governesses wont do all these qualities count enormously in her favor with the american mother who is looking for the ideal instructress and associate for her daughters the drawbacks to the foreign gou vernan tc have always been her poor table manners her distrust of the beauties of cleanliness her fondness for parisian novels and her lack of dignity she was nice and clever but not always a lady born on the other hand the american private tutor of the petticoat persuasion has lots of brains but is usually a specialist she wants to grind the future society bud in latin or logarithms and then too she is a victim to nerves and being ambitious is quite hurt if she is not treated as an equal it is obvious therefore how nicely the perfected english article fits into the well paid place and salary offered to the ideal governess on this side of the water that is why so many society women are bringing up their daughters under the care of well bred well born and highly recommended young women from great britain the governess lives with the girl who is in her care and her charge is rarely or never out of her sight she teaches her for so many hours a day and the little girl never leaves the house unattended by miss blank they walk and drive and go to mati nees together miss blank eats with edyth lakes her to and from ridin school skates reads visits picture galleries and goes to concerts with her in short she relieves the mother ot every care concerning the girls mind morals and health she teaches edyth all the ins and outs of etiquette she forms her taste in literature she corrects her speech she makes her read her bible and she shows her every known trick with the knitting crochet and embroidery needles when the time comes for edythi debut she is a good bad or indifferent quality socially according to the governess she has had but two points arc usually to be set down in her favor she speaks with the tongue of an angel and her manners arc as composed and charming as those of an english countess nervousness sharp voice and slang must go my girls possess sharp yankee voices said one distracted mother they are nervous excitable and prone to the use of slang As a last hope I 1 have secured the services of a tall slender placid pretty woman of about thirty who has been govern ass for ten to the marchioness of blanks daughters she is deeply religious 1 she paints beautifully in wafer colors she dresses very simply and her voice is pure gold 1 I am going to pay her just three times the wages that the marchioness kave her she will have her own pretty little room and take tier meals with sarah and susan I 1 allow her one afternoon and two evenings n the week to herself and one months holiday with salary in the summer some of the best blood of the english gentry hows in her veins and she has charming sweet ways and a fine lofty air with servants these are among the prime requisites of the ideal english governess most of the resident governesses who come from england arc hired on the strength of references from countesses count esses and duchesses and one plain but clever damsel who now has the care of a millionaire daughters in new york got an extra five hundred a year tacked on to her income because she had been employed by english royalty and had recommendation ommen dation from i a lady whose coachman wears the same scarlet livery as king Edwards lackeys this governess gocs traveling everywhere the two girls tion is icher care she has taken them through europe she gives them very few lessons ii anything but manners her business is merely to sit by and see that they faithfully and that their high priced masters give them their regularly she has taken charge of their penmanship however for the most fashionable handwriting nowadays is a firm neat compact english hand when those girls arc ready to rut on their chiffon sand enter society they will be able to appear at court drawing rooms ducal house parties and london balls as to the manner born and their governess will have a bank account of chany working woman might be proud already the imported governesses have divided themselves into specialists some take charge only of children and others make a point of fin ashing young girls of twelve and up wards the finisher receives a larger salary than the childrens governess who often hails canada the accent of the canadian governess is never qui teso pure as that of the true blue british article neither hi she as a rule quite so smart an ath 1 lete her form at golf and tennis is not so good and she has seldom enjoyed the advantage in american eyes of having been instructress to an honorable violet or a lady jones such an association with thea peerage sheds a tremendous glamour over a letter of recommendation men dation because the at american mother of a wealthy and pretty daughter wishes to have her educated to wear her possible future coronet with grace and dignity |
