The Xenia sentinel. [volume] (Xenia [Ohio]) 1863-186?, 1864-07-12
Ladies' National covenant.

A Lady friend and subscriber has han
ded to US for publication the following ad
dress, delivered bJ Miss NJ D. Eastman, a
the organization of sLIiies' Nationa
Convention" in Pennsylvania. We give
tito our readers with pleasure, and thinl
they viii fad it worth an atssntive read
ing:
Never before in the history Of our country
were incongruous scenes and elements so
strangely and confusedly mixed. remem-
Der when a child, I was shocked to know OF
reading an account Of the plague in Lon
don during the reign Of Charles the Second
that this fearful visitation wrought no
change for the better on the wicked mon.
arch or his Court, but seemed rather to in
crease the frenzied rage Of their excesses;
and that the same spirits, deeending from
the Court, extended to the middle and lower
classes and the city, with the curse upon
it, sounding day and night with the rattle
ofthe dead-cart and the hoarse cry of "bring
out your dead, - was also the scene of ribald
mirth and shameful speculatiens in shTouds
and collins. Is net the same spirit in ours,
ascendant now? A civil war, the worst
demon Of strife, is ravaging this beautiful
land with the awful carnage Of its noblest
sons, and yet the daughters do not put on
saekeloth. By no means. They were never
before bedeeked so gorgeously. Oriental
magnifcenee must to-day yield to the gay
and costly garments which enshirne Amer
ica's fair daughters. The dying groans of
the patriot are borne in the same wave with
the sound Of music and the dance. The
noise Of treading columns the strains of
martial music, the booming Of cannon, the
bursting of shells, the snap and roll Of
musketry, the clash and clRng Of all Warlike
sounds mingle into one with the beat Of
mufled drum at the soldiers funeral. The
sobs and wailing Of the bereayed rise from
the des0late hearthstone and mix with and
fall in jarriig cadence with the voice of
reVelry and Of mjrth. The gaily bedizen-
ed female flashing in jewels and Haunting
4 in costly foreign fabrics, almost moeks as
she passes by, the gpief-strieken sister, whom
this war has clad in the habilimeRts Of Woe
The sin is. over the land. It turks in high
as well as low places, Shoddy, and Shoddy,s
wife and daughters stand in this no more
implicated than the cultivated and refined.
The nation is surely going on to Madness
Fashion and extTavagauce are running a
wild race, and nearly all the daughters Of
the land equal with them in the course, furies
in wild infatuation for the glare and gil
ter of foreign elegancies. In 1861 we i'm
ported to the amount of $3.50, US, ,895, but
we more than balanced this amount with
our exports, and SIS, 54S, ,53I in bullion were
sent back to US. In 1852 the balance Of
trade was against us 10 the amount of $50,
Al, ,904, and in 1868 it had increased to S54
700, ,962- This year so far as I can ascer-
tain, the excess is greatly increased, and q
fearful balance viii stand against US at the
close Of this fiscal year. Now it is proper
that we awake 20 this truth, and look
whittier we are dashing, and if possible,
save ourselves before the whole nation is
ruined. Since the 1st Of January, in New
York alone, for dress goods, wines, and
cigars, We have paid over 500, 600.
This does not include nearly all the impor-
tatiQRs, but is merely an estimate Of those
particular articles in the port Of New York,
which is indeed the largest but not the only
receptacle for foreign articles in the coun-
tTy,
Sl00,O00,OO0, expended for fnery and
iuxuries in FIVE months Think of It'll Enough
to pay the whole interest of our national
debt, and all wasted in inery and folly by
the men and women of land sweating and
groaning under the crushing heel Of Marsl
Does God forgive q nations sin, while that
nation, although,smitten, bends not2 Do the
pride and vanity, the prohigacy and extrava-
gance of this land, ascend gratefully to
Heaven? Is that fit incense to offer ON
impotence? God s promises Of national bles-
sing were 10 his own people-not to the
proud daughters Of Babylon or of Tyre, and
let us beware lest We fall in that class upon
whom maledictions are pronounced. And
shall we sit with cold Indifference, when we
are able to remedy this evil I say, and
not unaivisedly, that the women Of this
nation can save it from Bankruptcy, and oh,
wbata glorious record if we do i'll It can
be done TOO. without much personal sasri-
zee exeeptSf vanity We are not asked TO
rive m comforts; we are only asked to
wear American instead Of forign fabrics, fora
few years in order that the ruipous effects Of an
axcsss Of importstiohs over cur expectations,
NAV be rsmedied We all know the effects
efthis draining Of gold from the country.
Nota family in the land but feels the ex-
oTbitant pPices TO which all 4ecessaries have
risen, and any person Of ordinary foresight
must know, that We haye net reached the
height Of our difhculties, for if this expor-
tation Of gold goes on serious calamity is
certainly threatened to the whole system of
national finance; and the plain question
before us is. Are we wiling to deny some
fs,s luxuries Of dress, to aid in saving the
paiion. thus saving ourselves? A feeble
voice suggests that the very revenue Of the
country will be lessened if the importation
decrease-that the specie, which is obtained
from the customs, enables the Government
10 pay the interest on its bonds in gold, or
its equivalent The Government it isl true,
has 10 pay annually somewhere in the
vicinity ofS100,O 600, 600 interest. Last year
it drew from the customs S69,009,000, and |
from internal taxes obout S39,0OOOO0, but /
owing to the depreciation Of currency, the
amount drawn from internal taxes, was less J.