The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-10-13
9aaahrille Muiun.
WIN. CAMEROE 3 co., PublIshers.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER Is. 1865.
A Sad Case.

I
At New Haven, sad case Of domestic in
deity aud suffering, is now on trial. Tn
plaintiff is Mr.. Harris, a member Of las
years Connecticut Legislature-the defend
amt ms wife, gay, fashionabie rather pref
ty and very sentimental woman Of forty
mother Of baarding- hool girl Old enough
70 have passed through one broken narrisgs
engegement. t lsJ
The testimony reveals a shockiyg state o.
! affairs. 1t shows Mrs. Harris to have been
modern Catherine II. Her loves were
shameless as those Of Pompadaur, and va
ri0us as those Of Nin0n 'Enclos Her house
seemed TO be a rendezvous for WELT rmed
good-looking fellows, who went there "a
make love TO the mistress, wrong the mas
Ter, drink sparkling wines and eat rich din
ners. Her trunk was full of letters abound
ing IN variety and spice equal TO the Coun-
tess Of Blessington's correspondence. Her
diary, which she kept with faithful minute
ness, was little more than a narration of
| swiftly-succeeding amours.
The unblushing etfFontery and cold-blOod-
| ed heartlessness Of her conduci, seem to
have been its distinguishing features. She
/ hardly deigned 10 disguise her loves from
/, her husband. In her household-among
her servants and retainars-they were mat
ties Of current gossip. The daughter, evi-
/ IDENTIFY 8 refined young lady, was compelled
TO witness them, and when she went upon
her knees and with tears bssought her
| mother 70 reform, the base woman rebuked
her assurance in attempting to teach her
morals Miss Harris was engaged 70 be
married 10 high toned young gentleman.
he discovered the crimiuality Of this New
| Haven Aspasia, and rebuked her for it. Her
response was an attempt to ensnsre him in
her hbidinous tolls. as a result, the mar
riage contract was broken.
| And now, this almost broken-hearted
| young lady is forced upon the stage as
! witness against her wrctched mother. While
tears run down her cheeks, she is compelled
| to testify to scenes that would make a Paris
| ian lOrette blush for shame, or excite the in
| dlgnatlOu Of Mercer street. Her evidence, of
| itself, seems sufficient to condemn the de-
| fendant as lacking in every principle Of
honor and deceucy which ennobles and dig
| nihes woman.
But this is not all. The testimony reveals
something more. 1t lifts the curtain, and
unfolds some Of the mysteries of "high life,
at Boston, at Newport, at Nahant. Il shows
the cOncomitants Of late VINE suppers, and
after midnight dinners, and surf-festivities
II pictures to Us young women, moving in
the best clrcles-"the cream Of the cream
slouching in a state Of helpless drunkenness
into the arms Of t0bacco-smOking, billiard
| playing rakes, aud swearing great round
Oaths, like hsh-women Of Billing9gate 1t
presents US the fact that this female viper,
though known by all who knew her at all, to
be vile woman, was admitted into "the
best cJmpany"-that fathers and mothers
glsdly welcomed her as tho associate Of their
daughters, because she belonged to the
! aristocracy Of money because she wore rich
dresses and displayed expensive iewelry
because she lived IN a palatial mansion,
with its "blue ROOM" and its "erimson
room" its Wilton carpets and its Gobelin
tapestry. In short, It proves what a very
slght golden barrier separates the debasing
vices Of the rich from the degraded vices OF
the poor.
Possibly, this is a sample case. The ten
dency Of the age and country is 10 loOseness
in thought and habit, promiseuousness Of in
tercourse, vuigarity Of conduct--to extrava-
giant display and morbid, yellow covered
senNmentality. The austere virtues are
going out Of fashion. A man is rather voted
an old togy who treats his wife rs if he
loved her supremacy, above all others and
a woman is pronounced a prude who vii
not consent 10 familiarities on the part Of
acquaintance thai should be perm tied to
noae but husbands. Conduct hardly ex
cites passing remark nov, which in the
times Of our grandmothers would have been
all-suiicieut ground for social exclusion
Women trayei with gentlemen escorts"
attend balls and concerts with gentlemen
eieerOnes," take long carriage drives with
gentlemen attendants,' throw their b9ur-
doi;s open to "gentlemen friends" and
write letters full OF gushing sympathy TO
''gentlemen correspondents" The result is
that every now and then a husband awakes
to the consciousness that his wife has for
gotten her duties TO him-if, indeed, she
does not disremember his existenoe-and
then some Mrs. Harris is ground to powder
between the upper and neither mill stones
of righteous indignation.
If there be any truth in evidence, this
Connecticut woman deserves the fate which
is probably in reserve for her. She lose
a kind and oyer-indulgent husband. She
will be driven out from the beautiful home
she made the theatre Of her Illicit loves.
She will be separated from the society in
which for years she has beeu accustomed to
move, eDioying the best luxuries of wealth
and position With brand upon her fore
head, with the course Of public opinion fol-
lowing her, she has one alternstive-the
exclusion Of retired life aud the penance Of
austerity, or a descent step by step to deep
er iufamy and more utter degradation, un-
til she reaches the end, where so many like
her have preceded. Society every once in
awhile routes from its moral slumber, de-
mands md crucifes victim, and then goes
to sleep again. In this case Mrs. Harris is
| the predesti1ed sacrifice.
But is the woman now so much worse
than she was while pursuing her career Of
crime-holding levees at her mansion, fit
ting through the saloons Of Newport, luxu-
riaIing in the smiles Of a nabobOcracy which
knew ali about her weakness and her
sn? Is it not the great and crowning reason
which demands her punishment, that she
has been found out; that she has been ex-
| posed in Court and to the pub ic; that she
was not skillful enough to disguise her in
trigues? If her iufdelity had been nothing
more than current chamber gossip, would
she have been otherwise than popular and
favored?
The real fault is in the system Of society
which makes it possible for such women to
exist in respectable circles; which is blind
and indiferens TO the consequences of acts
that tend logically and inevitably TO pre-
ciselv such results. This social world will
roll on after this New Haven trial is finished,
and every little while its revolutions VIII
bring il to the point Of conjunction with
some other Mrs. Harris. The evil is gen
eral, not local; and it will be cured, nOL by
a Connecticut verdict Of evidence, but by
national reformation.
Would th Il some American DuPTS might
come forth and, with eloquent voice,
arouse the people to a conception Of the inn
perious need Of this refoEm.-Albany jour