Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-02-28
For the Gasette.

4 4
For the Gasetts. -
In the last issue Of the GAZETTE, "Aman-
da Janer made her dsbut, and though the at
tempted brilliancy proved to be nothing more
than an attempt, she should be " favorably
noticed" lest neglect and indifference blast
her, young hopes and aspirations, and the
and qucrolousness Of a /" certain
age" come upon. her.
Let it be understood, then, that we under
take no defence of Merschaum-his position,
If tenable, will be held against the combined
broom stick force Of the world--but as re-
viewer, it is our province to consider tho style
and sentiment Of tho. article before us. We
have no quarrel with the ladies Of Cedar
Falls"-as class they have no superiors
among the ladies ofsny other town, and are
by far too sensible to render themselves dis
agreeable and meddlcsome--nor is this a
Cling at them q '.'.' q. J7 't''''&1-''
The style of Amanda Jane" is peculiar
we cannot call II forcible, though evidently in
tended to be so, nor is it agreeable-and gives
to the practiced eye strong evidence Of a dis
ease common to youth and inexperience,- "a
constipation ofthought and diarrllea ofwords.
We count more than eighty " sign posts" in
the article, pointing the finger Of emphasis to
the sharp retort, the cliuching argument, and
faulty orthography-clearly meaning-"take
that you mean fellow"--" now have YOU
-" ha hal how he spells ~ Indeed We
must admire the forethought Of AmaEda
Jane" in this, for we9should certainly have
passed, without discovering, her witty sallies,
and ponderous argument, and might have
been Indifferent to her own bad spelling, il
jcing in good keeping with the general tone
of the article, were II not fur the italics
There was undoubtedly mote in brother
Merschaum's eye, and, in attempting TO re.
move it therefrom, sister Amanda Jane
forgot the beam in her own optic.
e. IL Merschaum wrote "saltcr''f for altar, nc
certainly did not write sawdcr" for soder,
nor did ne say--"if half are true" neither
halter" So much for the style Of this new
aspirant for 9ttewspaper honorss What Of
the sentiments of this writer at once so cru.
dite and so funny? In the first place. we
are told that there Is no " organised associa-
ton" among the ladies'. How does " Aman-
da Jane" know this Is she one of those
prying NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. In every commu
nity-who speak as with authority" upon
every question involving knowledge Of a
neighbours business
We have too much faith in the good sense
Of the ladies of Cedar Falls TO BE- led to be-
licve for a moment that they would take q
course so obviously indicate and wrong
as would be the forming Of All association
like that described by Merschaum IN his first
communicaton,-yet while we have conf
dence in the good sense of the majority, We
have evidence, which though unsought by us
is conclusive, that two or three young ladies
did attempt an association. -
We cannot but think Merschaum was RICH,
when he wrote that the society Of such ladies
would not compensate for the loss of his pipe
It would require something more than ths
society of conceited and brainless girls, as ar
inducement for us to suffer any inconver
fence, however slight it may be. If We art
not mistaken in our estimate Of the "tru,
woman" and if the assertions of some OF tn,
.tairest and best of Cedar Falls can be reliei
upon, ladies' hold these pseudo reformcrs
whether male or female. in as great abhor
renee and contempt as we have expressed.
1t Is said to be dangerous period in tn,
history Of young lady, when she is in tran
stu from short to long skirts, and at suct
times We should not be too severe in our judg
ment upon her acts. When the crisis shall
have passed, Amanda Jane" as well a,
those she seeks to defend, will blush at thei
indiscrction, and, it is hoped, forget thci
/" nursery rhymes" AZ" ~
Is it crime TO use tobacco ? We hold i
is not, and shall continue to consider it NOR,
harmless by far than any of the thousand
and-one" faults OF which ladies are guilty
While, in our judgment, there is much need
ing reformation in society, and among indi
viduals, we 10 not propose to become tn,
Jeremiah Of society and spend our life in on,
long lameEtation over the faults Of our broth
ers and sisters. If each man and woman
shall strive to root out the weeds from tn
garden Of their own lives, leaving each othel
one to the same work, whatever Is faulty ant
WRONG will more rapidly disappear than j
would do, il We should spend our energy ant
time in contending over the faults of another
The good Amanda Jane" might do If hcl
talents were properly directed, we greatly
fcaf will be lost while she persists in occu
Dying the studio or parIor rather thar tn,
kitchen. In other words, very fair house
wife may be destroyed in the manufacture o
very poor and unsuccessful reformer.
49, - - "a STEEL POINTS