Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-07-17
NUMBER 2O7.
AMERICAN ORGAN.

M AN AMERICAN LADY.

The American young lady is si ge,aeris. There
is nothing like her. In all civilized nations Young
ladies' are carefully secluded, watched over. and
deprived in Q measure Of personal liberty. The
spanish duenna is character known in history,
the secluson Of an English school girl is proyerbia
while the French demoiselle Is as carefully watched
as her sister beyond the Pyrenees Still less, find.
ing no prototype to our young lady in civilization,
can we compare her to Hottentot, or a savage OF
any kind therefore we return to our original start
ing-point, and pronounce her SUI geaeris
She Is like necessity, and knows no law She
Is generally dutful and obeys her parents, as far
as they require, but they do not require very
stringent obedience
On her return home from school, she has her
own ideas on the subject of dress, whether she will
go into society," or whether she will be quiet
and studious at home, Mamma suits herself To
either humor. Sometimes mamma keeps about,
and has an eye out to windward but not always
She feels great respect for James own sagacity
ana good sense, perfect confidence in her prudence
and II somewhat out Of society ways as American
mammas are apt to be, she allows her precious
treasure 70 go to Saratoga with a friend hears
complacently OF her frtations with young Rapid
asks her, when she gets home II she is " engaged" I"
and listens very quietly to the good sense and pru-
dence which characterize the young ladys own
opinions Of young Rapids fortune and expectations
This, OF course, is not fair description Of every
-''sAi'y W " O'Ciy young lhuy, DuL we all Know
hundreds OF such cases among our most respecta.
ble families, and we all know that in no country
| save our own could the thing happen.
/ III the Northern States particularly New Eur.
land, the young lady has the mantle of many Pur-
tan grandmothers hanging about her. Her face
wears over all its innate coquetry, soft veil OF
reserve. She is little prudish and distant. Her
manners are slightly wanting in grace, that sweet
est grace Of all, affability She is "highly intel
| lectual, reads Goethe, and has, as Hawthorne ex
presses It, an instinct to attend lectures" Above
| all, she has high sense Of duty, SO long and 1.
rigidy inculcated by her Puritan surrounding tha,
| it has almost extinguished Zone would Think her
natural Instincts, did not nature occasionally assert
herself, and prove that
| "Eyen in Athens there may bo
| ipaJ A sweeter thing than liberty" m
Il the Eastern young lady has fault, it il in
being too good, too learned and too faultles4.
She, is very pretty, beautiful, when very Young
There are no compilations which compare with tie
delicate blooms of the sea coast or the healthfu,
| and brighter cheeks which we find in our Eastern
mountain towns. Perhaps shadow more, what
shall we say, trie more, fllness of figure, would
be an improvement A little relaxing Of the mus
cles, less stern view Of life, would improve the
Eastern young lady When she gets a little nd.
vanced il life she is In terrible danger Of growing
| strong g-minded; but we approach the shadowy Inn
It's Of our subject. We were speaking Of young
| ladies' . h3a' Fa' ~
But as we always want to get out when VIC have
athxed limit TO our meditations, we are rresisti
| bly, in,Peiled 20 senss.nri..s .h. n.rse-e ys-~.
lady when she ceases to be young lady, and bar.
ters her Incompatible independence, "for a name
and for ring" As wife, she Is perfect. No
visions Of the femme ineomprise" rise to trouble
! the pure serenity Of her mind. To her, her hus.
band Is the "rose and the expectancy OF the fair
utut "a, aud sfa1a -
TO have him write some initial Of honor before or
after, his name, IL. D. and D d. fl her with
complacency. All her ambition Is for him. She
Is quite content to grow pale and thin under her
many domestic cares, thinking always of duty
and Of her home and It's treasures If his for
tunes lead him to that Western land whose high
road is said to be marked with the bones of those
who have fallen, "moving farther on" she goes
heroically, carrying the light heart and ready wit
Of" Mary Clavers" along with her. Rememberinr
her New England thrift, she makes the wilderness
TO blossom @ the rose bears untold hardshps
without murnur preserves her strong and faith.
ful piety through long years, during which she
hears not the music of Sabbath bells save In her
dreams; brings up her boys to be sturdy lords Of
fifty thousand acres Of land and future members Of
Congress, and her girls 10 be educated for any
position. In this county or Europe. We forgive
the Eastern young lady such virtues as these; such
consancy, end sublime selfdenial; such apostles
OF good as these wel-educated and well.principled
young women have been In all our great Western
and, make their rigidity Of muscle, their tendency
for lectures, TO fade out Of the picture, and we see
them in all their admirable tnts. sss.
II We have chosen TO speak OF the shadows In
the fair portrait, we have also neglected TO point
out the high lights. Not satisfied with doing those
things which we ought not to have done, We leave
undone those things We ought to have done. Let
| us repair the latter error
Our Eastern young lady reads very good books
she knows Shakespeare we'll and bis glorious
company. As Charles Lamb delightfully."- says OF
bis sister /" she has browsed at win upon the fair
and wholesome pasturage Of old English reading
She reads history, and has no shabby amount of
science. She knows Latin better than French, oil.
though she hasread the classics Of the latter tongue
Accomplishments (of The highest character) arc
not rs much cultivated az the North as at the
South. She prefers hearing one Of Mr.. Emerson
lectures read aloud TO the music OF the Iuost be-
wldering waltz not that she does not like dance
now and then, but all her profound emotions, kind
sympatbies are of the aesthetic. In music she wor-
| ships and cultivates the Beethoven and Mendef-
| sohn school She likes whatever is obscure and
dreamy Is profoundly metapby ysical in mind, while
remarkably straightforward in practice. She j.
the flower OF Northern tree, which, though torn
UP and planted anew, has not changed It's growth.
but perhaps modified lis development.
The Southern young lady springs from a very
different source. Her great grandfather was a cav.
aier. With his disdain Of his interiors, his sbowy
person, and accomplishments, be was not likely 10
leave as an inheritance TO his children the stern
virtues or intolerance OF the Puritan. His fair d..
scendsnt has been born graceful and Handsome
has learned those accomplishments which tell beet
In society. She is Gar more amsble in her mar.
ners than the Eastern young lady and III her know
edge d history Ia not as good, she has French
epigram at her tongues end, which IL more anu
sing, and Is spoken with infinite grace. She has
fine eyes and hair, and a superb person. IL she
has not the delicate loveliness Of the dame Of tho
East, she has more presence; she Is more show,
and admired at first sight
Her manners are perfection. The sunniest smile,
the most 6attering attention to the speaker, be he
ever so dull Tho readiest courtesy in the world
beams from these daughters Of the South. They
are great politicians, and their goal is the White
House. If they fail Of reaching that foreign ap.
pointment Ia the next best. One Southern lady,
Of great beauty and great influence, said she hsd
done everything to gain foreign post for her hus
bond boffo A.. D~...1<.f lard tf ha did unt