The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-06-02
SUITABLENEss OF YOUNG LADIES
FOR WIVES.

A column of the New York News is de-
voted to this tender and interesting subject,
! and the editor arrives at the conclusion that
| if American women are to be judged of by
those he meets in New York. with their SUI
perfciaE accomplishments, aimless strng-
giles. useless van;ties and unreal pursuits,
none of them would be fit for wives, were
it not for the redeeming fact that OCCASION
ally good sensible mother cducates her
daughters with proper sense of their true
! dignity and usefulness as women, cultivat-
ing their hearts, filling them with gentle-
ness. and their minds with truth, and by
example, impressing on their pure minds
consciousness of the noble duties of wives
and mothers.
How different the picture by this journal
from that of society in New York in former
days, when wealth was not considered re-
! quisite to an eligible match; when hearts
and character, and not purses, were con-
suited, when the wife was expected to be
an assistance to her husband and it was
her pride to be such. and the married pair
passed through life smoothly, loving their
children and each other.
What now constitutes an ''oligible match
| in the estimation of fashionable lady of
the great metropolis According to the
| News, it is an old man with money sufficient
to support a ''paldtiat mansion in Fifth
avenue, carriages horses, livefied servants,
to pay all bills unquestioned and willing
| ness on his part that the lady shall have
| perfect control of her time, and the manner
in which it is used, whether spent at the
opera. shopping, or masquerade, regardless
of family cares, duties to either sick
| child or husband. If the ''Old codger" only
has the good taste not to make himself ri
diculous by scrutinizng the character of
guests, and to be oblivious to any "tittLe
pccuLiGriheS'' in the conduct of my lady,
and not intrude himself upon her in society
unless by her order, the acme of fashiona-
BILE felicity is attained. To the unreasona-
BILE and unnatural state of fashionable socie-
tv in New York, and the frightful extrava-
rance of the females, the News attributes
the great numbers of that most despicable
of all characters, ''the fortune hunter" male
and female To illustrate this, it says, take
the young professional man, either the doc
tor, lawyer or clergyman. with nothing but
their profession to depend upon, their posi-
ton as public men, the feeling and tastes
acquired through their professional studies
and associations, all prompt them to aim at
respectability and character, and to main
tain such position. Should they marry
lady without money. of equal position in
society, it would cost them at least $4,000
a year to keep up, as married men, the same
degree of responsibility they maintainedas
bachelors on 81 900. 1t must in the very
nature of things be many years before
either Of the professions can OF themselves
produce $4,000 year; the result is, they
must become fortune hunters" or not
marry; for if they marry otherwise, they
sink into obscuritv, to raise up family III
'genteel poverty"
Whilst the picture by the News even of
New York society is evidently overdrawn;
whilst, thank Heaven, it does not apply to
the smaller towns and rural districts of any
portion of this vast country, there are Pc
culiar causes operating in New York which
account for. though they do not justify. the
social corruption which cbaracterise the
wealthy classes of that city. One of these
is the fact that so many of its nabobs are
ilIiterate, coarse, reckless men, like Hunt
ington, and others, who might be named,
who possess no earthly ability in the world
except a capacity for making money
toads with precious jewel in the head"
but none the less toads for all that. The
educated and refined circles are thrust aside
and thrown into the shade by parvenuo
aristocracy, like that described by the
News. which worships no God but Mammon.
and knows no standard Of virtue or merit
save money. We cannot believe, however,
that such people constitute majority, even
in New York. The respectable middle
classes and the toiling multitules are mado
of nobler and more generous materials.
THE PROFITS OF HLcQp."-H is Z
favorite phrase of the abolitionists thatthe :
revenues of the Southern States and people.
when in any way, however ren1oteiy Hacc-
able TO slave labor or to slaves, are the
wages" or profits of blood" 1t might
be curious study to exhume the historical
antecedents of many of the colossal for
tunes of Northern millionaires. We have
reason TO know that some of the most pious
of our abolition friends now enjoy the COM
forts of palatial mansions, handsome in
comes, and supurb seaside estates, which
owe their origin to the same "profits OF
blood" and in some instances, where the
slave trade with its attendant horrors of
the go middle passage" is the source, tho
figure might be heightened as our friends
referred to sometimes heighten it. and these
mansions and estates might be said to be
cemented and watertd with ''blood'' Itself.
An instance of this kind Is recalled by Ex-