Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-08-17
"nAD MORALS OF sARArOGA..
WhHt tbe women Do---TTow they SpeIitI
Their Time.


Some disguised correspondent Of morn
ing paper, writes from Saratoga in thii
wise:
The moral atmosphere Of thi.
place is mephitic. From O'clock till II
there streams into the dining room a con.
slant procession Of ovcr-dressed women, 81
hippant and loud-tongitcd men. Indeed
there Is no time when the men are not loud
Of tongue. and the women ovor-dresscdl
They breakfast in robes fitted, by right 81
value TO the ballroom, and by right OF
tasteiuness 20 the rag-bag. Their heads
look like the models Of the London Hair
Dresser's Convention. They sweep down to
the spring in robes whose delicate borders
bring back fringe of mud and dust. They
loung in the parlors or on the piazzas in
costly and untidy array. They disappear a
little while, and come down 10 diuner in
raiment which dazzlcs and for the brief
hours OF dancing in the evening, no tongue
can describe their ruilles and fouucos and
iurbelows. Dress is not a capital offence
certainly, and good dressing Is a cardinal
virtue. But il Mrs MADISON said that she
could never forgive any young woman for
not knowing that she looked as pretty as she
could, nor for seeming 10 know it, she would
have stored up here such a burden of inn
plaCability as would have hindercd her en-
trance TO the kingdom. For there is no mo-
ment Of the day when these damsels lose
their consciousness that they are looking as
pretty as they can.
They smile and giggle and smirk in the
fall belief that ali eyes are riveted upon
them. They bowl in the alleys and are
loud when they mean 10 be gay. They play
croquet on the lawn, and are bold and im-
pertinent when they mean TO be sportive
and arch. They promenade in the parlors
and wriggle and twist when they mean 10
glide and swim. They dance in the ball
room and mistake impudencc for badinage
and noise for ioyousness, and self-assertion
for selfpossession. There are girls here
sweet as rosehuds and modest as violets, but
they are out Of place in the mob of Others
and one longs 60 gather them up and set
them down elsewhere before these artificial
airs can shriyel them These fashionable
young ladies asdibly comment ON the cos
TUNES Of their ncighbors, audibly smoker
/ beg pardon of a polite world, but it is
exactly what they do-at a toilet less fash
ionable at a complexion little less fair at
manners a little more rustic than their own.
They paint and powder 20 degree which
arouses in one a desperate longing to get
each and all Of them under pump and
mercilcssly force them TO confess their honest
skin, and never moro hide it. And worse
than all, they lace tin ones two hands could
span their tortured waists. There is hardly
a woman here under forty who would con-
toss TO girdlc twenty-four inches. II all
the rest is folly this is crime What vitality
can there be in frame 80 cruelty maltrcated
and deiormed2 What wives and mothers
can these silly, piuablc, installing creatures
bccomc2
The mothers of these snowy girls are
plain and quiet sitting in corners feeling
themselves az a loss, aud silent i'm seli-de-
Tense. The daughters override them with
out mercy, going where they choose dining
and flirting by themselves indebted 20 the
parental purse for money, but NOT 10 the pa
rental presence for protection, nor the pa
rental wisdom for guidance.
There is little matchmaking, for there
are no eligible men here. Ii is noticeable
that the young people are uvy young, school
girls and lads; and the older folks have
given up the irivolties oflirtation, and wear
high dresses, and SIC in the parlor and fan,
instead Of promenading the long piazzas 10
be seen.
There are but .w0 or three beauties. One
we had stealthily admired from corners aud
behind newspapers, bot when, to-day at dim
ner, she put both elbows on the table, and
gnawed her corn from the ear, we wcpt tears
for the betrayal Of our hopes, aud gave her
an.