The Panola star. ([Panola] Panola County, Miss.) 1856-1857, 1856-10-01
FEMALE ExTRAvAGANcE.

VII EVERY HdHu, ana IN all circles,
we hear complaints of female extrav-
agance. Husbands talk about it,
fathers complain of it, the pulpit
thunders against it, newspapers argue
and declaim upon it by turns. Does
specie 60 out of the country? We are
told it is because the ladies buy so
many laces, brocades, and other
French extravagancies. Is merch-
ant ruined? Half theworld lays it to
the prodigality of his wife. Young
men shrug their shoulders when adj
vised to marry, and says they cannot
afford to pay the milliners' bills
Old men rate their daughters for the
sums they squander on French fnery.
From all sides, fire of wit and OBJ
jurgation is kept up upon the extra
vagance of women, second only in fury
to the fire on SebastopoI the day the
Malakoff was captured. The anathe-
ma mcrantha rises Immediately to the
lips of the men whenever Brussels
lace or brocade, diamonds, India
Shawls, or other feminine extravagan-
ces are mentioned in their presence.
let the fault is not all on one side.
If ladies love choice laces, gentlemen
like fine cigars. From the day labor
er, who will have his beer and tobacco,
up to the rich citizen, who drinks
pure wines and drives fast trotters,
qualification is the rule with men
rather than the exception. Many a
husband, who sOurs when he receives
his wife's bill for gloves, spends twice
as much on oysters for himself
Billiards, suppcrs and sporting ex-
cursions consume their proportion, at
least, Of the family income. In Justice
to woman, too, it must be admitted,
that, while her prodigaIity arises from
the desire to look lovcIicr, which is
but the instinct of her sex, to render
herself more pleasing to man, the cx-
travagance of man. on the other hand,
springs generally from selfish desire
to crafty his appetite or pandcr to a
morbid love Of excitement. At most,
vanity is more partlonahle than glut-
tony or drunkenness. Women squan-
der money on show men waste it on
wine or horses. We rarely hear the
stronger sex denouncing the weaker
as SpcndthriftS without saying to our
selves "talle first the beam from thine
own eye"
70 what do these words tend p
Not to the increase of recriminations
between man and wife, but to the
fostering of mutual forbearance and
self-denial. We wish to impress our
readers that there is no station, how
ever exalted, no condition however
poor, in which one sex does not often
crafty its vanity or appetite at the cx-
penSe of the other. Sometimes it is
the wife who is selfish and spends
more than her share but quite often
it is the husband Custom, however,
has warranted the latter in complain
ing of extravaganza, while the same
custom has closed the mouth of the
former, till half the world thinks wo-
man has no cause. to complain at all.
We justify neither. We say both, as
a general rule, squander too much
But we maintain that if husbands, in
stead of swearing at their wives bills,
would show the example of economy
by reducing their own selfish expenses,
the female sex would not be long in
being shamed into retrenchment.-
The last vices a man sees are his own
If some of us would look at home, in
stead of abroad, we wonld pratc less
about Observation-Disclosures Sun