The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-11-24

there is time enough for enjoyment and merri-
ment long before ssthe hour when church-yards
yawn" for nightly jewellers
! Need repeat here the delightful truth, that
woman nowhere shines 10 such effect as before
her own hearth; and that, in proportion as the
4 sphere Is contracted in which her faculties are
called upon 10 act, SO will her powers of pleasing
be enlarged2
! There is youth in the day. as there is a
youth in man They should dwell hand in hand
together, interchanging gadness and beauty
Compare her, who, like Aurora's handmade,
greets you at the cheerful breakiast-table with
rosy smiles and cheeks (Iyote them not vulgar)
with flowery trophies Of her mornings ram
| Bile in her hand-herself as fresh and gay, with
the wearied fair you saw the preceding night,
her eyes paling as the stars pale at days APP
preach, and her beauty blighted, is that Of the
flowers brought, like her, into the whitening at.
mosphere OF riot. Compare the two, and ac-
count to me for the motives which can lead the
latter lady to make such sacrifice of health and
beauty, and style it pleasure! ! maintain that
she has no motives at all satisfactory 10 her own
mind but thai the bad taste of the matter must
be laid, with other mighty changes, either al the
door of fashion, or to the ostentation--to the
false indulgence, or the ambition of parents
There ere many who, proud of their daugh-
ter's superior strength in this particular, set dan
ger at defiance But while they admire. let
them respect this excellency of constitution,
and beware how they reduce its strength 10 a
level with the weakness of the less Fortunate
Woman has full need Of all the powers with
which nature has gifted her, if she would not
prove rather curse than blessing, in the sphere
to which she is called. Why, then, are these
powers to be wasted in frivoty, or, rather say,
in untimely amusements II our daughters, |
repeat, are blessed with health as great as the
fondest parent could desire, we may depend on
| it the time will come soon enough when that
gift will be largely drawn upon by the cares and
Illness incident to their future stations If they
must keep the night alive, now, for the fun Of
OF the thing, they will have enough of the
watches Of the night in after times, and
leisure to regret the strength Of body they have
wasted.
An English party always strikes me as an as
sembly got together by people who dread such
meetings from some cause or other; and accor-
dinghy, seek to rid themselves Of the painful tax
by one mighty and overpowering effort, going
forth almost into the highways, aud obliging all
to come to see what number of people. they
can gather together, and what an expense they
can afford to put themselves to. The grand af-
fair oyer--their friends are no more thought of,
till another year gone tells that il is again time
for them to be hospitabte And it is to patched
up meetings like these that we are TO send our
daughters No one viii dispute that the physi-
cal effect Of these parties are far from whole
some. have always found that their moral eff
fects were as little enticng to audicious parent.
When will people do in England as is done on
! the Continent, that is, throw open their doors,
at an early hour, on certain night in every
week, or fortnight, to all their acquaintance with
whom they are on terms OF amity and pass with
them a cheerful serious or joyous hour, just
as suits the individual taste, time Of life, OF
their guests, and let conversation, dancing, and
play, 60 on, each in its snug corner, without the
restraint Of ostentation and fnery2
! One word on the most meiancholY, part Of our
SUBJECTIVE immediate and often irremedabfe,
mischief which follows ".grand ball" In the
severest part OF our winter at an hour, whose
breath strikes TO the bones even of the strongest
under sky rude and inclement, or distilling
dews and fogs, poisonous as the malaria OF the
Pontine Marshes-the weak girl is led, flushed
| and joyous-and, in her Joy, careless and UNI
| guarded--from the heated scene, into the raw
air. There are some, who, smothered in cash
mere, are hurried at step into close carriage,
| and thus escape at little Iish but in circle
where fortune is not so favourable, what danger
| is not incurred in waiting for the hired convey
ance, and in its cold. rickety fabric, when ar
| rived
| There are few readers whose recollection will
NOT serve them with some unhappy instance, IN
death itself, has followed upon this exposure
| For then comes the cough, and the pale cheek,
and life burning itself out fast in fever The
| laughing eye becomes extinct and sunken, only
to be lit again by the fearful blaze Of consump-
ton, as If death held his watch-tower there
The stream of life is polluted, weakened where
it looks for strengthening, Peevishness and dis
content seize on the once unrufiled temper
Then have we hours Of hope and moments of
despar the selfaccusations of the wretched pa
rent, the Pickering hopes of the victim, and the
deserted hearth.
We natural guardians, whose breasts are not
4 open to other emotions, think how you would
suffer if wife or daughter were ordered TO the
south. Think on the travelling expenses to
Devon, Montpelier, Madeira think and tremble
have refrained from touching on the moral
effects Of my subject, partly as | could not do
them Justice, and partly because too many Sc
we're truths must be told, and partly--if ] may
close this lecture with joke-because there Is
no hard hitting allowed in this peaceful arena
we all fight here, as we dance-in gloves.