The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-10-18
For the National Era
INELEGANT LANGUAGE.
BY ELLEN c. HOBBS.

Next to profanity, vulgarisms most tarnish
conversation. Let woman beware of them.
No profane thought could ever pollute the soul
of true woman. The broad command of
God, "Thou shalt not take my name in vain"
engraven on the heart rings sentence of con-
domination in the ears of every offender. There
is no command of the Decalogue more suggest
i've of Gods power, of our own nothingness,
of death and eternity, than this plain assump-
ton, on the part of the Creator of that reverence
due to him from dependent creatures. No
being, true to the innate promptings of an en-
lightened conscience would break the spirit of
the law by lightly using the names of Gods
manifold attributes Far be it, then, from any
one, who has in him spark of manliness, to
take in vain the name of that God who made
him to do his will.
We heard an oath from the lip of woman
the other day but, alas before our eyes rested
on her haggard features, we felt that every gen.
tie virtue of her sex had departed from her.
Could that coarse, cracked voice ever have rung
gladly in human ear? We shuddered as we
passed her, and drew our garments closely
round US we could not help it. A woman in
whose once gentle soul Gods love was taught
by instinct, on public street was deliberately
taking his name in vain We pitied her, but,
Heaven forgive US We loathed her.
Mayhap our sensibiities were rendered more
acute than usual by that street scene, and this
was the reason why we left the elegant man.
sion, whittier we we're bound, less pleased than
ever with the standard of refinement in the
language of our sex. We had called upon a
feEale acquaintance, noted for the delicate
beauty of her face and her taste in dress. She
greeted us, as ever, with pleasant, sunny
smile, and we could but admire the artistic
effect of her infantile features, so warmly col
ored, set off by the chaste elegance of her at
tire. The coup deH was admirable. We are
an admirer of female charms and caught our
self wondering why this same beautiful girl was
so little sought, so little appreciated, as we
thought, in general society. She opened her
lips, and the secret was out. We had been at
tracted by that same fnely-chiselled mouth, the
evening before, in the lecture-room, and it was
but natural that we should ask her opinion of
our favorite orator. II met him on the street,
and l thought he seemed real consequential"
was the polished reply! The charm was bro
ken. We could have forgiven her the want of
ideas, not much affecting strong minded wo-
men. Her beauty was Gods glorious gift, and
might cover multitude of defects; but, alas
the intense vulgarity of that expression, " real
consequential" we would not enter that girl
on our list of friends, for all her hearts love
What worthy aspirations could she be suscepti-
Bile of, whose soul such an expression would
not rssp, after eighteen years mingling in po-
lite society," We say soul, not mind, for we
believe in some delicate, ethereal instinct, which
prompts to nice, oftentimes we might say deli
cious, symbols of ideas. Who does not hear
poetry, unpublished, from the lips of the igno.
rant, while the most arrapt vulgarisms escape
the tenderly bred
IFS real PRETTY" fell from the lips of lady
at the Springs. She was young, rich, and beau
tiful, rightly the cynosure of all eyes moreover,
she had a head and heart; the former we'll
filled, the latter well trained. She was deli
cate, high-minded woman, to whom wise men
loved to listen-yet, that one careless express
sion, real pretty, spoken thoughtlessly about a
trihing object, lost her noble and priced lover.
We do not approve his morbid fastidiousness,
yet like the moral. A host of kindred express
sions pass before us, reproaching US certainly
not for long disuse.
We were struck, short time since, by the
g
friends. We knew her name and her family,
and had right to expect an agreeable COM
panion. A crowd separated us; but, by dint
of effort, we had nearly reached her, when we
heard her exclaim loudly, to the gentleman who
escorted her, 81 believe I shall be punched TO
DEATH" We turned back, and, when afterwards
unavoidably thrown in her presence, had no
reason to change our first impression. We
could not help contrasting her with servant
in our fathers family, a founding, taken from
an asylum, who, during her three years sojourn
with us, was never heard to use single inele-
CANT or vulgar expression. To be sure, she
sometimes too much sighted good old Saxon
English, in dealing with the common details of
life; yet how much oftener did she delightfully."-
surprise US, by the aptness of her questions, by
the elegance of her speech.
Why, once heard woman, moving in the
polite circles of large city, repeatedly exclaim-
ing, soy gorry," in crowded railroad station