The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-09-18
For the National Era.
CAN T
BY GAIL HAMILTON.

OIL it is rery warm. The thermometer
stands many degrees higher than it did last
winter. If then, when we were all burrowine
in snowbanks, DR.. Doremus had preached his
theory that the earth has begun to freeze at the
poles, and is going to freeze all the way down
we should have marveled at the prophetic
power of science, and done homage to the seer
with an anticipatory SILVER at our approaching
congelation; but now-now, when the innexi
BILE, unflinching, Incorporating old sun pours
double broadside on US all day long when
everstretching, never-ending, red brick walls
assume an intenser scarlet, and blear at us
fiendishly; when the broad Aag-stones of the
pavement are but so many witch-tests that we
cross not unscathed; now this gossip of ad-
vancing icebergs and general rigidity falls
on our heated, heavy ears, like the vain bah
blings Of fool.
AT such a temperature as this, it behooves
men to be sensible. Gilt and tinsel answer
very well for certain ATTITUDES; but with the
thermometer ranging from $50 to lO4O in the
shade, human nature does not patiently tolerate
" shams." In the calm complacency of a
balmy spring morning, we look down with a
serene smile on the follies of the world. We
assume a calm and quiet superiority, give it a
pat on the shoulder, and say, condescendingly,
eyes, you will do very well; little rickety in
the joints slight softening of the brain; but
very passable for your riches" Nothing can
exceed our amiability when we are pleased and
comfortable but, laundering up to the neck
in July; keeping the breath of life in us only
by becoming amphibious and web footed, bound
to the earth by no stronger tie than ice cream
and sherbet; wooing to our side every passing
breeze, as if it were the Kings daughter then.
behowered, bespangled, bedizened abomina-
ton, coming betwixt the wind and our nobiI-
ty," is the spear Of Ithuriel to our smiling good
nature, and we feel disposed to pluck its eyes
out with demoniac delight.
Alas that would be an Herculean task.
Cant is the rock foundation, the iron pillar, the
gilded cornioe, of modern society. Cant walks
up and down the earth in broad noon. He has
rudy cheeks and eyes standing out with fat
ness. He is clad in purple and fine linen, and
fares sumptuously every day. But he not only
gides over the velvet carpets of the rich he
treads heavily on the bare floors of the poor.
He mingles his breath with the perfumes of
violets and pansies, no less than with the MAS
ma of great citys thousand odors
which GO to make s 'h 6G Tii"heh Ard EieeEes
we hold, because of a sincere and rational con-
viction that they are just, and true, and right?
We do battle for tneIa bravely; we would
march to the stake without shrinking, in their
defence; but is it because we believe that their
maintenance and PRONUNCIATION are absolutely
essential to the worlds salvation? Is it not
rather because they are OIrS9 We are stiff
Orthodox Christians; is it because, after thor
ough and careful research, logical analysis,
profound thought, and humble prayer, we can
not choose but bow before Triune God? or is
it because we blindly and unthinkingly follow
in the footsteps of our fathers, and worship as
they worshipped? All honor to the religion
we learned at the mothers knee. Earth knows
no purer; can Heaven teach holier? In her
stern contest with the world, the soul needs all
her armor. Whatever of protection against
sin there may be in the loneliness of home, in
the sacredness of maternal love, in the undying
associations of the past, we need them ALL
When the pillows pass over us when our feet
are almost gone, our steps have we'll nigh slip
ped when we are swayed to and fro by every
wind of doctrine, how do we long, with unutter-
able longings, to 90 back to the simplicity of
our early faith. But this ask, Shall ] incon-
tinently shiver lance against those who, for
aught know, are beggars in all that made my
childhood beautiful, and thing to be looked
back upon with underlined and indehnable ten
derness? Shall | entrench myself in my an
cestral Orthodoxy, and hurl terrible epithets at
outsiders-infdel, atheist, transcendentalist,
heretic-when, after all, the sole difference may
be, I first SUCKED the vital air at Andover, and
they did not? Shall wax fierce with an un.
mitigated Know Nothingism, when remem-
Der that at this moment / should be devoutly
repeating AYES and Pater Nosters, if st. Patrick
had but smiled upon my birth2 Far better
that should quietly fear God, honor the powers
that be-Heaven save the MARYLAND use my
earnest endeavors to win men to that love of
Christ which passeth knowledge.
l can see your lip curl with a sinister smile
when direct your attention to the cutlery that
has been raised against hoops. 1t seemeth to
you a fall, doth it not, my countryman? But
let me assure you, you will do we'll to repress
ill-timed mirth. Pettcoats, sir, lay hold of the
past, and stretch forward to the future. Uet
no profane scoffer say this is account of their
overweening bulky And he has little insight
into the hidden springs of action, who can dis
miss them with a sneer. 1t is very possible
that the character of the next generation de-
ponds quite as much on the petticoats which
our girls are wearing, as on the sermons which
they are hearing. Therefore take occasion
to impress upon your mind the fact that great
cutlery has been raised against hoops. Has
beeni nay, it still goes up to heaven, from
every city, village, and hamlet In One re
spect, our great and glorious Republic (may
her shadow never be less y knows no East nor
West no North nor South, viz: in the ridicule
r. L.
conspired to heap on this unofending article
of feminine apparel. Newspapers, for months,
have teemed with stories of the evils entaied
| on the ill-starred wearers thereof. Whirlwinds
have borne then, heavenward; draycarts have
thrust them earthward crowds have crushed
them inward, vanity expanded them outward
Parties have been deferred, matches broken up
modest men victimized, sensible men repealed
and inconceivable horror brooded over the
world. No class of society is exempt from the
besetting opinion. The simple minded country
mother, hearing thereof, beats her eggs with q
quicker and more vigorous stroke, and descants
vehemently on the worldIiness ofthe world. The
city matron, with her dignihed presence, yobed
in satin, clouded with laces, glittering with dia
monds, pendulous with cherries, raises slowly hel
jewelled finger, mods deprecatingly her horticul
tural head, and goes on her smiling way, emf
nently satisfied with her own independence o.
fashions csprices. Grave editors, with the
weight of nations destiny resting on theil
individual shoulders, can find no better way t.
save the Union than to sit in their easy chairs an6
pen long editorials about the cut of woman,
petticoat. Supereilious clerks lounge at theil
shop doors, with their patent kids elevated a
an angle of forty-6ve degrees, and ogle each