The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1853-04-27
THE LANCASTER LEDGER.

sY WI published in our paper n short
time since an article from the New York
Pick, relating the Editors night adventure,
and his kindness to an intoxicated lady-
The New York Sachem, commenting upon
the article gives us the following.
FASHIONABLE Ice CREAM SALooNs.-The
Pick walks in the fashionable ice cream sa-
looms in Broadway, and lays about him lusti-
| ly. According to his idea, they are nothing
less thar female grog-shops and assignatioh
houses. 1t is true that wines and liquors of
all kinds are sold at these places, and that
no persons are excluded from them, provided
they conduct themselves quietly and with
dccorum. We do not see how the proprie-
tors could exact more than this, ror why the
same censure does not apply to Stewards
and Bee s, to the picture galcri, S, and, in
fact, the churchcs-for, so long rs y woman
conducts herself properly, she has perfect
right to enter whatever place she ple'tses -
The Pick must have frequently seen our
fashionable .femmes dc pldiSjr issuing from
their fine carriages, side by side with the liv-
cried cquipages from the West End, and
minglng with the fashionable throng that
GIBBS and flows daily ut the fancy shops
We ourselves have seen, more than once,
the mistress of one of the proprictors Of Il
fashionable dry goods establishment trading
and chatting with her paramour across the
counter, while his own wife stood ut the
counter directly opposite, gnawing her pale
lips and clenchiug her hands in jealous ago
ny. Such things are common enough eve
rywhcrc. Probably the ice cream saloons
witness their full share of these transactions:
but it is out of the power of th' proprietors
tn sptnr and t, tl.,.
appearance of respcctabiity in these cstab.
lishmcnts, there is certainly nothing to com
plain Of
As TO ladies drinking, the statements of
the Pick arc greatly exaggerated. Ladies
occasionally lake a glass of wine, or "A hot
punch, there, us they would do at home
But tht instincts of women are all against
intoXication, and we do not believe that such
thing as q drunken woman ever WAS seen
at Tnylor's or Thompson's. The only wo-
men who drink TO excess are the lowest and
most depravcd class Of public cha actcrs-
and they are so well marked BY their person.
al appearance, dress and manners, that they
would never think of such thing as enter
ing one of these places.
We know well that female dissipation
and thoughilessEcss arc common enough,
in all ranks Of society-and that the mar
ried women and young giils of America,
from their almost total lack of occupation,
of wholesome mental excitement, and the
absolute freedom from restrictions of their
daily life, are powerfully melted TO indulge
in caprces and transgrcssiOns, which, at first
innocent or mere mischicvOus, gradually
lead to every consequence. Among the rich,
the passions of women, pampercd by high
living and greatly neglected by their hus-
bands and natural protectors, pcrpctually
lead them to risk everything TO procure the
homage Of men With the classes below.
the universal temptation is the love of fncry
and the vain emulation inherent in wOman's
nature. Going sill lower down, there are
many who are driven to sell themselves even
for bread-though the great majority of
working girls resort to the infamous traffic
of their persons merely for the ENJOYMENT of
Il little social pleasure, denied them by their
position, and for the sake of procuring finer
dresses than they can purchase with their
honest earnings
We have for years past Investigated
thought and written much on this subject
and endcarorcd to view it in strictly prac.
teal light. The conclusions to which we
have arrived are, that women generally have
no inclination TO indulge their sexual pas.
sions except with the man the love but
that, in too many cases, their reluctance is
overcome by the stronger passions of vanity
and love of pleasure. The open and uni.
vcrsal infdclity Of men teaches woman To
suspect that the sanctity attached to female
chastity is Il humbug, imposed upon them as
a bugOcar, and that what men do every day
with impunity, they may do without any ter
rible harm coming of it. Therefore. many
young women, unprotected y the influence
of genuine love, which is ever n Safeguard.
yield up their virtue in moment of discon.
tent and desperation. and to purchase the
qualification of that personal vanity and that
intense love of pleasure which are the bases
Of so many female characters.
This is n subject of SO much delcacy and
difficulty, that no real progress has ever
been made in it. Education and refinement
appear rather to developc than retard the
dangerous faculties of woman-;lnd even
religion too often becomes merely cloak In
which the joyous, elastic, cxuberant, pleas
ure-loying creature, woman, more securely
carries on her merry masquerade. If the
womank rights conventions would turn their
serious attention to this question. they might
do great deal of good, and redeem them
| selves from the ridicule and contempt which
thus far their movements have created.