Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-08-26

:. Fashionable F5iIies. I've make the io,-
Iov;no extract from an article under this heao'
in a late number of Flint's Western Review:
The article is copied into MIR. Hale's Magazine
for April:
There are in the United States one hun
dred thousand vounp ladies'. as Sir Ralph Aber-
crombie said of those of Scotland, s. the prettesl
lassies in a. the world" who neitherkno~ how 10
toll or spin. who are clothed like the lilies Of the
valley-who thrum the piano, and lew OF tne
more dainty the harp-who walk as the Dpie
saws. softly. lest briskcr movement might snap
tapes drawn to their utmost stensions VINO nave
read romances, and some Of the interior ot Tue
theatres-who have been admired at the eXahiha
tons Of their high schools--who have wrought
alee5raic resolutions on the black Doard-wno
have shown themselves no mean pfoncieh,S 'i
the casuistry of Paey-who are in short the very
roses of the garden the ottar Of i!e--who. YET eau
never expect TO be married. or il married TO iive
without-sha!l speak or forbear?-puttmg their
! lily hands to domestic dr'hge'y.
4, We 70 into the interior Of our recent wooden
country. The fair one sits down TO clink the
wires Of the piano We sec the fingers display
ed ON the KEYS. which we are sure never prepar-
ed dinner. or made garment tor their rohus-
! tious brothers We traverse the streets 81 our
own CITY. and the wires of the piano are drum
! med in our ears from every considerable house
! In cities and villages from one extremity "f the
union to the other. wherever there ID house,
and the doors and windows be,oken the pres
ence of the mild months, the raging OF the piano
wires is almost as universal 4 sound, as the do
mestic hum OF life within.
We need not ertcr in person. Imagination
toni lDrn q
pinioned and bishop slceved, aad detn"med with
hair torn from anotiler's scalp, and red iced 10
Questionable class Of etymoo.Y, yscui!O more,
dinong. as Sawney would say, at the wires, az
though che could in some way hammer out of
them music, amusement and husband. Look
at the taper and cream coored fingers. Is she
an utilitarians Ask the fair one, after she has
beaten all the music on, of the keys pretty talr
one, canst talk to thy cid and sick father, so as
to beguile him out Of the headach and rheumatism!
Canst write good and straight forward letter
Iof business:' Thou art chemist. | remember
at the examination. .Canst compound, prepare
and afterwards boil good puddingH 'Canst
make one of the hundred subordinate ornaments
of thy fair person? In short tell US thy use IN ex-
istence, except to be contemplated Us pretty
picture, unless it have a mind, heart, and we
may emphaticalIy add, the perennial value OF
utility"
1t is sad and lamentable truth, after all the
ncessant din We have heard, OF the march OF the
mind the talks about Lyceums, and the inter
minable theories. inculcatiOns and euOgles OF ed
ucation, that the present is an age vi unbounded
desire of display and notorety, Of exbaustless
and unquestionabe burning ambition; and not
an age Of calm, contented, ripe aud useful know
ledge for the sacred privacy Of the parlor. Dis
PLAY, notoriety, surface, and splendor, these are
the first aims of the mothers, and can we expect
that the daughters will drink into better spirit!
To play, sing, glide down the glddy dance. and
get husband, is the lesson; not to be qnalihed to
render his home quiet, wetl-ordered and happy
1t is notorious that there will &c no intermedl-
ate class between those who toll and spin, and
those whose claim to be ladies' is founded on their
being incapable Of any value or utility. Al pre-
sent we know of none, except the little army OF
martyrs, yclept school mistresses, and still small
err corps Of editorial and active blue stockings
If it should be nv lot to transnigratc back to
earth, IN the form ofa young man. my first ho-
images in search of wife would be paid to the
thoughtful and pale faced fair one, surrounded
by her noisy and refractory subjects, drilling
her soul TO patience, and learning to drink Of the
cur of earthly discipline, and, more impressively
than by thousand sermons, tasting the bitterness
of our probationary course. in teaching the young
idea how to shoot. Except as aforesaid school
mistresses and blues, we believe. that all other
damsels, clearly within the purview Of the term
ofiaty, estimate the clearness of their title pre-
cseIy in the ratio of their uselessness.
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