Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1864-05-12
LES CITY, FLOYD COUNTY, IOWA THURSDAY MAY 12 1864

i The public debt, during the last
three years, has run up from one hun
dred millions to four thousand millions.
and all the gold of the country is need
cd to pay the interest on it. But ap-
parently without thought or care, the
immense importations continue, of la
ces, silks, jewe!ry, carpets, shawls,
velvets, pictures, wines and liquors
Injuries which can easily be dispens-
ed with, and which must be, and are
paid for, in gold So the actnal can't
tai OF the nation is fast being sent ont
OF the country, and with the seeming
of increased wealth, we are daily he.
coming poorer. The unparalleled de-
/ probation Of the national currency.
and the enormous rise Of all The neces-
sarics of life, distressing the poor and
carrying terror TO every household.
are the first fruits of this unwisc and
unpatriotic policy, and the precursors
OF greater disSster to come. Il is not
difficult for the most obtuse and indif-
ferent to see, that unless change
comes over the peole, all this must
end in national bankruptcy, and that
not far off.
The guilt Of the unscemly extrava-
gance Of the times, is laid mainly up
Oh the women of the land. The spirit
of our first father is still extant, and
man is quite as ready today, as was
his great progenitor, to plead in ex-
.enuation Of his sin and shame "the
woman enticed me, and / did eat :"
but in this instance we feel that the
charge is just one. The women of
the country are guilty Of the most
heartless and shameless prodigality,
and one would think the race of life.
to them, was to see who would outdo
her cOmpeers, in costly fnery and
over dressing. The opening Of the
spring fashions has been signalized
already by the most insane mania for
costly vanities of dress, and personal
adornment. Opening Day." in New
York set that city all ago, and we
are told Of fabulous prices that were
paid for bonnets and spring wardrobes.
Ladies of this city ordered their spring
toggery thence, without regard to cx-
pense, or went thither to select il.
Chicago has, Of course, followed
New York "afar off," and we have
had here a succession Of opening
days" when the millinery establish
ments were blockaded with carriages.
women went crazy over "loves of bon
nets" aud feathers, and flowers, and
ribbons, and all the other gossamer in
sigma Of female vanity. Scores or
bonnets have been bought in this city
during the last two weeks, for thirty
dollars each--agd forty, fifty, sixty
and seventy dollars during the same
time, have again and again been paid
for this single article Of head gear.
One hnndred dollar bonnets are in the
markets, and will find purchasers.
IOu are told daily of Mrs \, who has
just bought a magnificent five bun
dred dollar clOak-of Mrs. Il, who has
bought one hundred and twenty dol
lars worth of trimming for a single
dress-of Miss c, who has received
an engagement ring worth eight
cen hundred dollars, aud so on
10 the end of the chapter. Every
where, this insane passion for dress
aud show obtrudes itself upon you.
In the street. your progress is imped-
ed by the trailing costumes Of won.en,
bedizcned with feathers and flowers,
aud jewelry. dressed as only fallen wo-
men dress for the promenade, in Eu.
ropean cities-iu church this glitter
and gaud comes in between you aud
your dcvotiOns.
And all the while the country is
drifting ON to ruin--and the streets
are filed with limping soldiers, gal
liant fellows who have been manned
for life, in the service Of their country,
and who are now in poverty and des-
titution-the widows and orphans of
our brave men, whose bones bleach
on Southern battle-fields, are suffering
from semi-starvation and other sorest
distress-the hospitals in this city,
and all over the land, are filed with
wounded, suffering. dying soIdiers-a
wall Of sorrow arises fronl thousands
of desolate hearthstones, where sit
broken-hearted " Rachels, weeping for
their children an refusing to be COM
forted, because they are not, ,"-in
Southern dungeons are incarcerated
thousands of our grandcst heroes,
pinched with hunger, swarming with
vermin. with insufficient clothing and
fires, neglected. insu.ted, and pining
in tue fetid atmosphere-half mil
lion of our brayest and best young
men, " the flower Of the land, ;" are in
camp, or on the field, soon to crap
pie with the rebel hosts in deadly con-
flict, when, may God give US the VIC
tory ! since defeat now, will be almost
ruin-and the whole nation, North
and South, stands listening with 'ba
ted breath, for the clash of the coming
conflict, or which now, more than ev-
er, hang such tremendous issues.
On one Of our trips to the hospi-
tails of the South, we met the wife of
member of the rebel Congress, a
cultivated woman, who bad been bred
in ailluence, who taunted Us with the
gorgeous display made by the wives
of the Federal officers, then visiting
the locality in,large numbers. "Look
at your white-faced, cold-blooded
Northern women she said, show
much do you suppose they caro- for
your sick and wounded soldiers? Do
you think we, Southern women, would
/ go Haunting around in silks and jew
elry, when eight thousand of our men
were pining in hospitals, as eight
thousand Of yours are here? No, in
deed we long since gave our jewel
ry for the comfort of the hospitals,
and if our men need the sacrifice,
we will wear homemade nigger cloth,
and eat bread made of corn meal,
/ ground by our own hands. But your
cold blooded Northern women, what
do they care for their soldiers. or
country, or what would they do for
We resented the insulting
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