Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-02-08
Societv---its Evil Tendencies.

Those whose position in a community l.
considered the .frst-enabling them to con
troll the mannuverings of what are considered
the select and refined of society, WELD an in
huence that has engendered more evil, and
wrecked more heightened and elevated minds
than the modeI-makers of human actions and
associations have ever dreampt of. This is
theme, perhaps, of which few have given refec.
tion-but it is assuredly one that calls fol
thought and study among the most generous
and enlightened. The "Pride of Place. is a
false and dangerous pride, if it excludes from
its circle, from a question of calling or suppos.
ed dignity, 4 lady or gentleman of reputable or
sensitive feelings,-bish integrity, and unim-
peached virtue. In the apparent unnoticcd
and silent operations of such pernicious dis
tinctions, the originators are but little aware OF
that cankered and bitter f%eeling-of mortiica-
ton and wounded sensibility-which they in
tentionally infict. That there should be diyi-
sions and distinctions in society, no sensible wri-
ter will dispute. But in our country-in a
country where the heritage by birth bring no
virtues and no honors-these distinctions
should alone apply to the vulgar, the ignorant
man--whose character through every trial has
been stainless and pure, and whose talents and
merits have won him the esteem and confidence
of the lowest as well as the exalted, when he
finds that through some conventionalism of
society he is debarred from mingling among
the beautiful and refned-from a circle that he
would adorn instead of tarnish-a sinking
feeling of bitterness, shame, contempt or ha-
tired, inevitably takes possession of his breast,
and according to the nature ofhis temperament,
will be the extent of the evil thus inflicted.
Such system of dishonorable exclusion, has
no local habitation-but in every cline, section
and community of our Union, gives evidences
Of its deleterious operations-not seen or re-
flected upon by many, but nevertheless GER
tain and indisputable. 1t is a species of mi
mic-acistocracy borrowed from the old world
in the first place, and kept up and adhered to,
as a general remark, by the purse-proud, the
weak minded and the vicious.
We despise the. man and pity the lady, whose
tongue, actions and associations, are conducted
by a rule and compass--who, in the street or
treading the carpet, act and speak as if the
notes were before them--those notes which
govern that ellie circle, to mingle in which, (and
perhaps for the purpose Of destroying past
misconduct and shame0 they have smothered
every honorable feeling Of pride and delicacy,
and smiling awhen the heart despiseth,' sacri-
rificed every spark oftrue ana genuine indepen-
dence-fnlly verifying the adage, in the posi-
tion they have sereptitiously attained, that
"what glorifes some would be death to Others
The mind becomes Disguised and the heart
sickens while rejecting upon such disggraceful
exhibition Of fashionable liberation and immo-
rality! In the seclusion which pride points to,
it is there that the truly noble and enlightened
mind, conscious Of its. real dignity and worth
irrespective of circumstances or events, can
the bitter smile of proud contempt, and
within its reach that spirit and energy
which gather strength through wrong and in
suit, carve for itself a pathway to hopes and
Of the hearts aspirations, far more eleya-
led and pure than those have reached who have
cast the slur and made evident the slight.
Sustain and encourage those, of either sex,
who maintain an unsullied character, and who
have given evidences Of high-tonedfeeling and
refinement, and society will assume a healthy
md peerless dignity, to be admired and sought:
but bring within its radius a reputation dishon-
pred and virtue once sacrificed, though clothed
With the passports Of professional right and
accomplishments, and society be-
zones the charnel-house of pestiferous va
breeding a moral pestilence instead Of
1iffusing purity, and drawing around the hearts
IF earth's ~loveliest creatures a sympathy with
,ice and a fallen name. They, too, in refer
,nce to their valuation Of the opposite sex.
IRE too apt to be dazzled by some worthless
distinction, deemed legitimate in their sphere,
enquiring into the real and solid merits
# the puppet with a name, who, like the moth.
5 caught by the beauty and brilliancy which
and captivates-while the humble, but
and meritorious, through conventional
are thrown out Of the gay coterie in which
they mingle, either to muse in sorrow upon
fashionable and sesdistinctions, orato cult
a hatred, a misanthropy aud bitterness,
entirely foreign to acheerful, mild and yielding
nature.
But ever thus, we are afraid, will Be the tone
feeling and action in what is termed the high
sr circle Of society; and while we are far from
assuming the egotism of attempted reform,
we can, at least, take the privilege Of abiding