A young Baltimore lady told me one day that she often invited twenty or thirty girl friends to lunch with her. Not the shadow of a man at these parties. The same kind of entertainment is given by numbers of young ladies in Society in other cities. At these lunches there often are as many as forty or fifty of Brother Jonathan's fair daughters; and they, with no other helps than their tongues and their teeth, spend three or four hours most merrily without the aid of man, and have a "real good time," as they call it.
There are numerous women's clubs in the United States, These sanctuaries are never profaned by the presence of man. The very postman and tradesmen only approach it with bated breath.
The members have their library, drawing-room, dining-room, boudoirs, bedrooms. They make music, read, write, chat, and pass time very agreeably.
One of the most important ladies' clubs is the Sorosis Club, of New York. Once a year the ladies of Sorosis give a banquet, to which gentlemen, as well as ladies, are invited. It was a source of sincere regret to me that my engagements in the South prevented me from accepting the kind invitation of the President to join that brilliant gathering at Delmonico's.
This spirit of independence in woman produces excellent results, it must be confessed. You find, in America, women who, by their talents, have won for themselves positions which numbers of men might envy. And do not imagine that I am speaking of blue-stockings, spectacled spinsters disdained of Cupid. Not at all. The American woman has always tact enough to remain womanly. Even among the heroines of the platform, I have always noticed a little touch of coquetry, which proves to me that man is not in imminent danger of being suppressed in America.
Only a few days after I set foot in New York, a friend took me to visit the offices of the principal newspapers of the city. Passing along a corridor in The World's offices, I remarked a lady writing in one of the rooms. My friend led the way in, and presented me to her. I found her to be a pretty brunette of about twenty or twenty-two, delightfully piquante, and with most distinguished manners. I was struck with her simple bearing and her intelligent expression, and, on leaving the room, naturally wanted to know to whom I had had the pleasure of being introduced. I learned then that this young American girl did all the literary reviewing and gossip for the New York World, and took up as large a salary as a writer on the staff of the Paris Figaro.