The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-11-24
yyctropoiifan Morality.

\ New York correspondent of the
Baltimore GG:ctie speaks as follows of
the state of morals in Gotham:
The license given to young girls is
most astonishing. and the sublime con-
fdcnce that parents and guardians have
in their ability to resist temptation says |
volumes in their praise. They ride !
alone, they drive alone, they receive |
alone and they walk alone from early
in the forenoon till after dusk, with all
the freedom of village life. In no city
in the civilized world is the intercourse
between men and women, married and
single, So perfectly untrammc!cd as 1t Is
in New York. That this should have its
necessary effect upon manners and con-
vcrsation is not to he wondered at. Both
are fast getting to he what might be
termed uncommon easy. Let lis hope
that il is, as the old provcrb says, that
Laughing teeth don't bite" and it is at
least charitable to presume, where wo-
men are SO frank and so open, that the
worst is on the surface. 1t is the still
waters which run deep, and the most
dcmurc people who often require the
most Watching. If one We're TO believe
onc-half OF what one hears i'll New
York, one would believe great deal.
But rs those who really do know are
gifted with that discretion which ac-
companies wisdom, and as those who
don't know are very apt To invent, we
may fairly conclude that the New York
devils are not half so bad as they are
painted.
In such condition Of society, life is
of course essentially sensational, and the
two great sensations of the present day
are the Black Crook and the Presbytcr-
ian moraiist, Charles Is. Smyth. The
Black Crook is simply very French
ballet. Thirty or forty young women,
of fine physique, are dressed i'll low neck
and bare arms, with very short skirt !
and nesh-eolored stockings, which reach
very high up. Ballet dancers danced
in Just such a custom in the days ot
our great-grandfatherS, and they will
dance probably in something very SIM
ilar.whcu our grandchildren go to see
them. People know this, and if they
don't want to see these things, or if they
are so bad that they are afraid little
naked truth will be too much for them,
they had better stay away. The Rev
erncd Smyth, it appears does not think
so, or at least pretends not to. He has
heard good deal about the Black
Crook; so he went to Niblo's TO see for
, himself. What he saw there no one
knows. He saw so many things that
nobody else sees, that ! am satisfied that
FOR the time being he lahUrcd under II
/ fit of Authorization, temporary mad
ness occasioued by the temptation to
which he was subjected. st. Anthony
had terrible time when he was tempt
ed by Il fair damSel. What may not
have been the condition of poor Smyth
with forty of them before his eyes! To
relieve his mind he announced that he
would deliver sermon upon his vision.
and accordingly, on Sunday last he
preached to about 5000 people, taking
his text, by the way, from Psalm of
King David, for the purpose, evil
IDENTIFY, of proving that what was
then most worthy Of praise was now
most demoraiizing in its tendencies. He
told his people that he had got near the
stage; so that he could see all that was
TO be seen, and then he went into details
of dressing and person and the manner
of dancing and the ideas suggested to
the imagination, so revolving and shock
ing that many of the audience arose and
left the chnrch, well satisfied that there
was really much less harm in seeing the
Black Crook, bad rs it might be, than
in listening to the Rev. Smyth's CON-
ments upon it. Such pieces as the Black
Crook don't corrupt society. 1t is soci-
ETY. already corrupted which produces
them. In the days of Mare Aureius,
women clad only in the graceful robe of
their own flowing hair appeared in the
circus. The Roman people were not
Mortified at it. Custom had made them
indifferent to such things, and there