TY--WOMEN.

The women of America are unquestionably, physically, as far as beauty is
concerned, and morally, of a higher standard than the men; nevertheless
they have not that influence which they ought to possess. In my former
remarks upon the women of America I have said, that they are the
prettiest in the world, and I have put the word _prettiest_ in italics,
as I considered it a term peculiarly appropriate to the American women.
In many points the Americans have, to a certain degree, arrived at that
equality which they profess to covet; and in no one, perhaps, more than
in the fair distribution of good looks among the women. This is easily
accounted for: there is not to be found, on the one hand, that squalid
wretchedness, that half-starved growing up, that disease and misery, nor
on the other, that hereditary refinement, that inoculation of the
beautiful, from the constant association with the fine arts, that
careful nurture, and constant attention to health and exercise, which
exist in the dense population of the cities of the Old World; and
occasion those variations from extreme plainness to the perfection of
beauty which are to be seen, particularly in the metropolis of England.
In the United States, where neither the excess of misery nor of luxury
and refinement are known, you have, therefore, a more equal distribution
of good looks, and, although you often meet with beautiful women, it is
but rarely that you find one that may be termed ill favoured. The
_coup-d'oeil_ is, therefore, more pleasing in America--enter society,
and turn your eyes in any direction, you will everywhere find cause for
pleasure, although seldom any of annoyance. The climate is not,
however, favourable to beauty, which, compared to the English, is very
transitory, especially in the Eastern States; and when a female arrives
at the age of thirty, its reign is, generally speaking, over.

The climate of the Western States appears, however, more favourable to
it, and I think I saw more handsome women at Cincinnati than in any
other city of the Union; their figures were more perfect, and they were
finer grown, not receiving the sudden checks to which the Eastern women
are exposed.

Generally speaking, but a small interval elapses between the period of
American girls leaving school and their entering upon their duties as
wives; but during that period, whatever it may be, they are allowed more
liberty than the young people in our country;