The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1859-08-10
MISCELLANEOUS.
A Letter from an Agonized Man.

Mr.. EDiroR:-My name is Muff. am
married man. have wife, one son and
two daughters. | was happy once, but
iend has usurped my quiet home of late,
and my peace has fed. The name of this
demon is " Society,"" in the fashionable ac-
ceptation Of the word. Mrs Muff was once
as notable as she was comely, and managed
my unostentatious household affairs with a
wise economy, and yet in liberal and gen
teel manner. Mrs. Muff was also a most
excellent mother-lenient, and yet good
disciplinarian. My children always minded
when spoken to; We're punctual at table,
and ate with fork, thank heaven! Look
on that picture, and now on this" as they
say in Macbeth. | quote from memory,
Mr.. Editor, and will you also have an eye
to my punctuation? for was put to pri-
vate school, and don't know about it. By
the bye, Mrs. Mutf always disdained throw
ing away educational advantages, just be-
cause they were public, and used to say,
% are me Harry shzli always 3 q
"a pabHe. schoal;" fshe used to call me Jere-
miah them and would add facetiously--for
Matilda is witty" at private schools its all
pay ana little profit, while parents have the
work to. do with the children at home.'-
Forgive me that loiter DER the past
Well, Harry became nineteen and Jane
seventeen when mother son and daughter
were bedeviled at one time, and the demon
begat in them such swarm of vanities that
| can only compare them to flies in June
Harry bsgan to talk slang, wants fast
crab to tote over the road" seizes night
key, and never tells where he spends his
evenings, comes and goes as he pleases, and
not at all as please; dressing, as he says
in a :" stunning" manner, and which, fear
involves much expense, for his mothers de-
mands on me are stunning" indeed. Jane
,cas rosebud, neat, intelligent, pretty, and
sprightly; now she is none of these. and is
rather simpering ninny, mildewcd by the
adulation of society" But oh I! Matilda !
that should have to add you to the list .
The sensible mother has all at once become
mentally near-sighted. Her children. like
crowned heads, can do no wrong. Every
extravaganza is excused and explained by
set Of phrases, such as "nerves," "excite-
ment," position "claims Of society,""
and much more fiddle-faddle of the same
sort. She that had early to bed and early
to rise," always on her lips, now, night az
ter night, sits and allows her children to
dance till 2 a. m, and cannot read in their
palid cheek and glazed eye the fearful bar
gain she is drawing with the devil, in the
dance ef death. won't join it.
If Mrs. Muff is blind to any mental or
moral defect of her childron, she is equally
SO in regard to their personal attributes, and
she bopes me and every body, suppose,
with a catalogue of their perfections.-
Harry is splendid, and considered the best
dancer in society" Jane, she does not hes
itate to say, though she is her mother, is, to
her mind, the most beautiful and graceful
girl that has come out This is sheer non.
sense, even can see. Jane is very well,
but has turn up nose, and not a small
foot. She is, suppose, something of fa-
vorite, because she is very easily amused,
and win gisgle at anything.
l can't tell, nor would you read, all the
nonsense, discord and arrangement "soci-
ETY. has brought into my house. Vague
hints 1Eerc put out this morning, like lob
ster laws, that Jane, before long, must
have what Harry calls " bangup." What
shall do? know what it is, for I went
to one this Winter, at the house of an old
friend, who. would not let me off. l went
just as was ready to go to bed, and came
home not far frOm the time | should get up.
The house was metamorphosed so, the ow-
ner would not recognize it under week at
least The young fry drank up the best
wine and usurped the supper room pretty
much; they danced till three, and the ell
ders nodded and would gladly rebel against
/" society" if they dared. saw by my
friends manner that he was bored, and he
told me, sub rosa, that it was all his wife's
doings; and | thought to myself there are
more Mutfs than one in the world.
When is this slavery to a world to end ?
It has made me widower with wife,
childless with q child, and houseless with a
house. | am forgetful, not ungrateful.-
My second daughter, Mary, is what Matilda
was once, brick" (Hary's words AGAIN.
an angel, mean. She is still fond of her
/" governor" Gather, would say) but l
tremble for the day when the demon Of fash
ionable life may lay hold of her.
Yours, with respect,
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